diff --git a/internal/check-browser-gates-guarded.mjs b/internal/check-browser-gates-guarded.mjs
index 02c478bd5..4949d32dc 100644
--- a/internal/check-browser-gates-guarded.mjs
+++ b/internal/check-browser-gates-guarded.mjs
@@ -22,12 +22,13 @@ if (process.argv.includes('--list')) {
   console.error(`${names.length} script(s) launch a browser: run each as internal/browser-slot.sh bun run <name>`)
   process.exit(0)
 }
-// Files that NAME the import pattern in a regex without importing playwright (the guard itself, and the
-// detectors that look for it). Listed by path, not skipped by content, so a real import added to one fails.
-const DETECTORS = new Set(['internal/lib/playwright-guarded.mjs', 'internal/check-browser-gates-guarded.mjs', 'internal/lib/browser-gates.mjs'])
-const DIRECT = /from\s+['"]playwright['"]|import\(\s*['"]playwright['"]\s*\)|require\(\s*['"]playwright['"]\s*\)/
+// A REAL import, not text that names one: a static import statement at the start of a line, or a literal
+// import('playwright') / require('playwright') call. The detectors (browser-gates.mjs, this file) spell the
+// pattern inside regex literals, escaped, which none of these match, so they need no exclusion and a real
+// import added to one still fails. Only the guard itself imports playwright, by design.
+const DIRECT = /^\s*import\b[^;\n]*\bfrom\s+['"]playwright['"]|\bimport\(\s*['"]playwright['"]\s*\)|\brequire\(\s*['"]playwright['"]\s*\)/m
 const files = execFileSync('git', ['ls-files', '--', 'internal', 'plugin-designs'], { cwd: ROOT, encoding: 'utf8' })
-  .split('\n').filter((f) => /\.(mjs|js|cjs)$/.test(f) && !DETECTORS.has(f))
+  .split('\n').filter((f) => /\.(mjs|js|cjs)$/.test(f) && f !== 'internal/lib/playwright-guarded.mjs')
 const bad = []
 for (const f of files) {
   const code = readFileSync(resolve(ROOT, f), 'utf8').replace(/\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\//g, '').replace(/^\s*\/\/.*$/gm, '')