diff --git a/gitnexus/src/cli/analyze.ts b/gitnexus/src/cli/analyze.ts
index cec7074c3..dc6270f2b 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/cli/analyze.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/cli/analyze.ts
@@ -328,8 +328,10 @@ export const analyzeCommand = async (
   };
   await saveMeta(storagePath, meta);
   await registerRepo(repoPath, meta);
-  // Only attempt to update .gitignore when a git repository is present
-  if (repoHasGit) {
+  // Only attempt to update .gitignore when a .git directory is present.
+  // Use hasGitDir (filesystem check) rather than isGitRepo (shells out to git)
+  // so we skip correctly for --no-git folders even if git CLI is available.
+  if (hasGitDir(repoPath)) {
     await addToGitignore(repoPath);
   }
 
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/cli/index.ts b/gitnexus/src/cli/index.ts
index 6f5164f5c..f0e88acc3 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/cli/index.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/cli/index.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ program
   .option('-f, --force', 'Force full re-index even if up to date')
   .option('--embeddings', 'Enable embedding generation for semantic search (off by default)')
   .option('--skills', 'Generate repo-specific skill files from detected communities')
+  .option('--no-git', 'Index a folder without requiring a .git directory')
    .option('-v, --verbose', 'Enable verbose ingestion warnings (default: false)')
    .addHelpText('after', '\nEnvironment variables:\n  GITNEXUS_NO_GITIGNORE=1  Skip .gitignore parsing (still reads .gitnexusignore)')
    .action(createLazyAction(() => import('./analyze.js'), 'analyzeCommand'));
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/storage/git.ts b/gitnexus/src/storage/git.ts
index 3b4381b93..b9330ff91 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/storage/git.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/storage/git.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { execSync } from 'child_process';
+import { statSync } from 'fs';
 import path from 'path';
 
 // Git utilities for repository detection, commit tracking, and diff analysis
@@ -47,7 +48,6 @@ export const getGitRoot = (fromPath: string): string | null => {
  */
 export const hasGitDir = (dirPath: string): boolean => {
   try {
-    const { statSync } = require('fs') as typeof import('fs');
     statSync(path.join(dirPath, '.git'));
     return true;
   } catch {