diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index fb010600db..8396cbf08d 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -37,6 +37,4 @@ rust/target/
 docs/
 .github/
 .pre-commit-config.yaml
-.clang-format
-.gitattributes
 format.sh
diff --git a/tools/check_repo.sh b/tools/check_repo.sh
index 48eba5bea8..60cf057c97 100755
--- a/tools/check_repo.sh
+++ b/tools/check_repo.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 # Checks whether the repo is clean and whether tags are available (necessary to correctly produce vllm version at build time)
 
+# Some Docker builds intentionally omit tracked, non-build files from the
+# context. Restore only those paths from the mounted .git object database before
+# checking cleanliness so release builds still see a coherent worktree.
+if [ -f /.dockerenv ]; then
+	git ls-files -z -- docs .github .pre-commit-config.yaml format.sh \
+		| git checkout-index -f -z --stdin
+fi
+
 if ! git diff --quiet; then
 	echo "Repo is dirty" >&2