diff --git a/.claude/hooks/guard-main-checkout-bash.selftest.sh b/.claude/hooks/guard-main-checkout-bash.selftest.sh
index a007b0ab44..49a7834c5b 100755
--- a/.claude/hooks/guard-main-checkout-bash.selftest.sh
+++ b/.claude/hooks/guard-main-checkout-bash.selftest.sh
@@ -170,6 +170,35 @@ expect allow 'grep -rn "he said \"sed -i\" once" .claude/'
 expect block 'node -e "console.log(\"hi\")" > pkg/out.json'
 expect block 'sed -i "s/\"a\"/\"b\"/" pkg/x.ts'
 
+echo "== a shell COMMENT is text, not a command (#10570) =="
+CWD="$MAIN"
+# The measured false blocks: prose in a comment put a real `>` in operator position and the
+# next word was named as a write target. Nothing in either command writes anything.
+expect allow "$(printf '# rename foo -> bar\necho hello\n')"
+expect allow "$(printf '# sitting 1 landed; card stays open for sitting 2 -> pm:dispatched goes, pm:queue returns\ncurl -s https://example.com/a\ncurl -s https://example.com/b\n')"
+expect allow 'echo hi   # then; tee pkg/x.ts would write it down'
+expect allow "$(printf '# step one; then a -> b\n# 2> is not a redirect here either\ngit status\n')"
+# Recall is untouched: a real redirect on a LATER line still blocks, and so does one on the
+# SAME line ahead of an inline comment.
+expect block "$(printf '# rename foo -> bar\necho x > pkg/x.ts\n')"
+expect block 'echo x > pkg/x.ts   # write it down'
+expect block "$(printf '# a comment; with a separator\nsed -i s/a/b/ pkg/x.ts\n')"
+# Word start is the whole rule: these `#`s are not comments and must not change a verdict.
+expect block 'touch foo#bar'
+expect block 'rm -rf pkg/x.ts#old'
+expect allow 'curl -s "https://example.com/docs#frag"'
+expect allow "curl -s https://example.com/docs#a-real-redirect-would-be > /dev/null"
+expect allow "grep -n '#' README.md"
+expect allow "sed 's/#//' README.md"
+expect allow 'echo "# not a comment > pkg/x.ts"'
+# `${x#y}` / `${#arr[@]}` — a parameter expansion, not a comment. Swallowing the line here
+# would drop the redirect behind it, so the negative twin is the load-bearing case.
+expect allow 'echo ${x#pkg/} '
+expect block 'echo ${#TOK[@]} > pkg/x.ts'
+expect block 'echo ${x#a} > pkg/x.ts'
+# an escaped `\#` outside quotes is a literal, not a comment opener
+expect allow 'echo \# not a comment'
+
 echo "== shapes this guard deliberately does NOT claim (documented fail-open) =="
 CWD="$MAIN"
 expect allow "bash -c \"sed -i s/a/b/ $MAIN/pkg/x.ts\""
diff --git a/.claude/hooks/guard-main-checkout-bash.sh b/.claude/hooks/guard-main-checkout-bash.sh
index fafcff9854..3f367a0f6d 100755
--- a/.claude/hooks/guard-main-checkout-bash.sh
+++ b/.claude/hooks/guard-main-checkout-bash.sh
@@ -61,6 +61,15 @@
 #      in that tail put a REAL ASCII `>` in operator position, so the guard named the
 #      following JS fragment as a write "target" and blocked a pure-read command (#10247).
 #      Single quotes take no escapes: inside '…' a backslash is literal, as in a real shell.
+#   4. shell COMMENTS are text, not commands — both quote-aware passes stop at an unquoted
+#      `#` that starts a WORD and resume at the next newline (#10570). A comment cannot
+#      write anything, so reading one as a command is a false BLOCK: prose arrows (`->`,
+#      `=>`) put a real `>` in operator position and the word after it was named as a write
+#      target, while a `;` in the same comment first split it into its own "segment".
+#      The word-start condition is the whole rule — `foo#bar`, `${x#y}`, `curl 'url/#frag'`,
+#      `sed 's/#//'` and `grep '#'` are NOT comments and are left exactly as they were. A
+#      comment never begins inside '…' or "…" (layer 1 owns those) nor inside a heredoc body
+#      (layer 2 has already dropped those lines before this pass runs).
 #
 # Redirection is recognised on ASCII operators ONLY — `>` `>>` `<` `<<` and their fd-prefixed
 # forms. No non-ASCII codepoint is ever an operator or an operator boundary, and this is
@@ -138,10 +147,19 @@ strip_heredocs() {
 
 # --- split the command into shell segments, honouring quotes ---------------------------
 # A separator inside '…' or "…" does NOT split, so writing *about* the ban is never caught
-# by the ban.
+# by the ban. The same goes for a separator inside a COMMENT: `word` tracks whether the
+# next character would open a new WORD, which is the only position where an unquoted `#`
+# begins a comment — the comment then runs to the next newline and never splits, tokenises
+# or contributes a target (#10570).
+#
+# What resets `word` is exactly what delimits a word in the shell: start of input, blank,
+# and the metacharacters `; | & ( ) newline > <`. `{` and `}` do NOT — they are reserved
+# words rather than metacharacters, so `#` right after one continues the word. That is not
+# cosmetic: this pass splits on `{`/`}` anyway, and treating the `#` of `${#arr[@]}` as a
+# comment would swallow the rest of the line — including a real redirect behind it.
 segments=()
 split_segments() {
-  local s="$1" seg="" q="" ch i n=${#1}
+  local s="$1" seg="" q="" ch i n=${#1} word=0
   for ((i = 0; i < n; i++)); do
     ch="${s:i:1}"
     if [ -n "$q" ]; then
@@ -156,9 +174,20 @@ split_segments() {
       continue
     fi
     case "$ch" in
-      "'" | '"') q="$ch" ; seg+="$ch" ;;
-      ';' | '|' | '&' | '(' | ')' | '{' | '}' | $'\n') segments+=("$seg") ; seg="" ;;
-      *) seg+="$ch" ;;
+      '#')
+        if [ "$word" = 0 ]; then
+          # comment: skip to (not past) the newline, which still separates as usual
+          while [ $((i + 1)) -lt "$n" ] && [ "${s:i+1:1}" != $'\n' ]; do i=$((i + 1)); done
+          continue
+        fi
+        seg+="$ch"                                   # foo#bar, ${x#y}, url/#frag
+        ;;
+      "'" | '"') q="$ch" ; seg+="$ch" ; word=1 ;;
+      ';' | '|' | '&' | '(' | ')' | $'\n') segments+=("$seg") ; seg="" ; word=0 ;;
+      '{' | '}') segments+=("$seg") ; seg="" ; word=1 ;;
+      ' ' | $'\t') seg+="$ch" ; word=0 ;;
+      '>' | '<') seg+="$ch" ; word=0 ;;
+      *) seg+="$ch" ; word=1 ;;
     esac
   done
   segments+=("$seg")
@@ -168,6 +197,9 @@ split_segments() {
 # The whole argument list matters here, and `read -r -a` would promote a QUOTED ">" or
 # "sed -i" to a real operator/command — exactly the false positive that makes a guard get
 # disabled. So: quotes are stripped and their contents are inert.
+# A comment is inert here too: `have` is already the "a word is open" flag, so an unquoted
+# `#` with have=0 is at word start and begins a comment (#10570). `foo#bar` and `${x#y}`
+# reach this point with have=1 and stay part of the token.
 # TOK[] = token values (unquoted); TOP[] = "op" for an unquoted redirection operator.
 TOK=(); TOP=()
 tokenize() {
@@ -187,6 +219,14 @@ tokenize() {
       continue
     fi
     case "$ch" in
+      '#')
+        if [ "$have" = 0 ]; then
+          # word-start `#`: comment, inert to the next newline
+          while [ $((i + 1)) -lt "$n" ] && [ "${s:i+1:1}" != $'\n' ]; do i=$((i + 1)); done
+          continue
+        fi
+        tok+="$ch"
+        ;;
       "'" | '"') q="$ch" ; have=1 ;;
       '\')
         i=$((i + 1))