diff --git a/.github/CODEOWNERS b/.github/CODEOWNERS
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b87a769cb70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/CODEOWNERS
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Any PR that inadvertently includes lazy-lock.json will require maintainer review.
+# See .github/workflows/check-no-lockfile.yml for the CI enforcement.
+lazy-lock.json @oriori1703 @tjdevries
diff --git a/.github/workflows/check-no-lockfile.yml b/.github/workflows/check-no-lockfile.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0c6f3e5a02d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-no-lockfile.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Prevent lazy-lock.json from being accidentally included in upstream PRs.
+# Fork users are encouraged to track this file in their own repos.
+# Contributors working directly against this repo should add lazy-lock.json
+# to .git/info/exclude to ignore it locally without touching .gitignore.
+name: Check No Lockfile
+on: pull_request_target
+
+jobs:
+  check-no-lockfile:
+    if: github.repository == 'nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim'
+    name: Check No Lockfile
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout Code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
+      - name: Check lazy-lock.json not included
+        run: |
+          if [ -f "lazy-lock.json" ]; then
+            echo "::error::lazy-lock.json should not be committed to the upstream repo."
+            echo "To ignore it locally without modifying .gitignore, add it to .git/info/exclude."
+            exit 1
+          fi
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 68486fc3d35..b8309b80a5d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,10 +5,9 @@ nvim
 
 spell/
 
-# In your personal fork, you likely want to comment this, since it's recommended to track
-# lazy-lock.json in version control - see https://lazy.folke.io/usage/lockfile
-# For the official `nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim` git repository, we leave it ignored to avoid unneeded
-# merge conflicts.
-lazy-lock.json
+# lazy-lock.json is intentionally not ignored here so that forks can track it
+# without needing to modify this file - see https://lazy.folke.io/usage/lockfile
+# Contributors working directly against this repo who do not want to track it
+# can add it to .git/info/exclude instead.
 
 .DS_Store