diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7bcc9b2..73c5d25 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ See [SCAN_COVERAGE.md](SCAN_COVERAGE.md) for the full catalog of supported detec
 | Category             | Examples                                                                                 |
 | -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | IDEs & Desktop Apps  | VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Antigravity, Zed, Claude, Copilot, JetBrains suite (13 IDEs), Eclipse, Android Studio |
-| AI CLI Tools         | Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Kiro, GitHub Copilot CLI, Aider, OpenCode, Cursor Agent  |
+| AI CLI Tools         | Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Kiro, GitHub Copilot CLI, Aider, PatchWarden, OpenCode, Cursor Agent |
 | AI Agents            | Claude Cowork, OpenClaw, ClawdBot, GPT-Engineer                                          |
 | AI Frameworks        | Ollama, LM Studio, LocalAI, Text Generation WebUI                                        |
 | MCP Server Configs   | Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Antigravity, Zed, Open Interpreter, Codex |
diff --git a/SCAN_COVERAGE.md b/SCAN_COVERAGE.md
index ee0eba0..c0516c8 100644
--- a/SCAN_COVERAGE.md
+++ b/SCAN_COVERAGE.md
@@ -45,9 +45,13 @@ Detection is cross-platform — binaries are located via `$PATH` lookup and home
 | GitHub Copilot CLI    | Microsoft | `copilot`, `gh-copilot`     | `~/.config/github-copilot`      |
 | Microsoft AI Shell    | Microsoft | `aish`, `ai`                | `~/.aish`                       |
 | Aider                 | OpenSource| `aider`                     | `~/.aider`                      |
+| PatchWarden           | OpenSource| `patchwarden`                | —                               |
 | OpenCode              | OpenSource| `opencode`                  | `~/.config/opencode`            |
 | Cursor Agent          | Cursor    | `cursor-agent`              | `~/.cursor`                     |
 
+PatchWarden detection is binary-first. A repository `.patchwarden/` directory
+may contain stale task artifacts and is not treated as installation evidence.
+
 ## General-Purpose AI Agents
 
 Detection is cross-platform — home-relative paths and `$PATH` lookups work on macOS, Windows, and Linux.
diff --git a/docs/adding-detections.md b/docs/adding-detections.md
index 466b972..99bdbcd 100644
--- a/docs/adding-detections.md
+++ b/docs/adding-detections.md
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ The CLI tool detector uses a `cliToolSpec` struct:
 | `Binaries` | Binary names to search for in `$PATH`, or home-relative paths (use `~` prefix) |
 | `ConfigDirs` | Config directory paths to check (use `~` for home directory) |
 | `VersionFlag` | Override the default `--version` flag (e.g., `-v`) |
+| `MetadataOnly` | Set to `true` when the binary must never be executed for version discovery; missing metadata reports `unknown` |
 | `VerifyFunc` | Optional function to verify the binary is the correct tool (e.g., for generic names like `q`) |
 
 ### Example: Adding a hypothetical "DevPilot" CLI
diff --git a/internal/detector/aicli.go b/internal/detector/aicli.go
index 3626d45..81ae47a 100644
--- a/internal/detector/aicli.go
+++ b/internal/detector/aicli.go
@@ -15,12 +15,13 @@ import (
 )
 
 type cliToolSpec struct {
-	Name        string
-	Vendor      string
-	Binaries    []string // binary names or paths (~ expanded at runtime)
-	ConfigDirs  []string // config directory candidates (~ expanded)
-	VersionFlag string   // flag to get version; defaults to "--version"
-	VerifyFunc  func(ctx context.Context, exec executor.Executor, log *progress.Logger, binary string) bool
+	Name         string
+	Vendor       string
+	Binaries     []string // binary names or paths (~ expanded at runtime)
+	ConfigDirs   []string // config directory candidates (~ expanded)
+	VersionFlag  string   // flag to get version; defaults to "--version"
+	MetadataOnly bool     // never execute the binary for version discovery
+	VerifyFunc   func(ctx context.Context, exec executor.Executor, log *progress.Logger, binary string) bool
 }
 
 var cliToolDefinitions = []cliToolSpec{
@@ -104,6 +105,12 @@ var cliToolDefinitions = []cliToolSpec{
 		Binaries:   []string{"aider"},
 		ConfigDirs: []string{"~/.aider"},
 	},
+	{
+		Name:         "patchwarden",
+		Vendor:       "OpenSource",
+		Binaries:     []string{"patchwarden"},
+		MetadataOnly: true,
+	},
 	{
 		Name:        "opencode",
 		Vendor:      "OpenSource",
@@ -236,6 +243,9 @@ func (d *AICLIDetector) getVersion(ctx context.Context, spec cliToolSpec, binary
 	if v := versionmeta.FromBinary(ctx, d.exec, binaryPath); v != "" {
 		return v
 	}
+	if spec.MetadataOnly {
+		return "unknown"
+	}
 	flag := "--version"
 	if spec.VersionFlag != "" {
 		flag = spec.VersionFlag
diff --git a/internal/detector/aicli_test.go b/internal/detector/aicli_test.go
index 2375f19..c09e471 100644
--- a/internal/detector/aicli_test.go
+++ b/internal/detector/aicli_test.go
@@ -165,6 +165,114 @@ func TestAICLIDetector_FindsCursorAgent(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestAICLIDetector_FindsPatchWardenFromNPMMetadata(t *testing.T) {
+	mock := executor.NewMock()
+	shim := "/usr/local/bin/patchwarden"
+	target := "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/patchwarden/dist/index.js"
+	pkgRoot := "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/patchwarden"
+	mock.SetPath("patchwarden", shim)
+	mock.SetSymlink(shim, target)
+	mock.SetFile(pkgRoot+"/package.json", []byte(`{"name":"patchwarden","version":"1.6.2"}`))
+
+	det := NewAICLIDetector(mock)
+	results := det.Detect(context.Background())
+
+	var got *model.AITool
+	for i, result := range results {
+		if result.Name == "patchwarden" {
+			got = &results[i]
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	if got == nil {
+		t.Fatal("patchwarden not found")
+	}
+	if got.Vendor != "OpenSource" {
+		t.Errorf("expected vendor OpenSource, got %s", got.Vendor)
+	}
+	if got.Type != "cli_tool" {
+		t.Errorf("expected type cli_tool, got %s", got.Type)
+	}
+	if got.Version != "1.6.2" {
+		t.Errorf("expected version 1.6.2 from npm metadata, got %s", got.Version)
+	}
+	if got.BinaryPath != shim {
+		t.Errorf("expected binary_path %s, got %s", shim, got.BinaryPath)
+	}
+	if got.InstallPath != pkgRoot {
+		t.Errorf("expected install_path %s, got %s", pkgRoot, got.InstallPath)
+	}
+	if got.ConfigDir != "" {
+		t.Errorf("expected no user-level config dir, got %s", got.ConfigDir)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAICLIDetector_PatchWardenSkipsVersionExecutionWithoutMetadata(t *testing.T) {
+	mock := executor.NewMock()
+	bin := "/usr/local/bin/patchwarden"
+	mock.SetPath("patchwarden", bin)
+	// PatchWarden is an MCP stdio entrypoint, not a conventional --version CLI.
+	// If the detector executes this stub, it would incorrectly report 9.9.9.
+	mock.SetCommand("9.9.9\n", "", 0, bin, "--version")
+
+	det := NewAICLIDetector(mock)
+	results := det.Detect(context.Background())
+
+	for _, result := range results {
+		if result.Name == "patchwarden" {
+			if result.Version != "unknown" {
+				t.Errorf("expected metadata-only version to remain unknown, got %s", result.Version)
+			}
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	t.Fatal("patchwarden not found")
+}
+
+func TestAICLIDetector_FindsPatchWardenWindowsNPMShim(t *testing.T) {
+	mock := executor.NewMock()
+	mock.SetGOOS(model.PlatformWindows)
+	shim := `C:\Users\testuser\AppData\Roaming\npm\patchwarden.cmd`
+	pkgRoot := `C:\Users\testuser\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\patchwarden`
+	mock.SetPath("patchwarden", shim)
+	mock.SetFile(shim, []byte(`"%_prog%" "%dp0%\node_modules\patchwarden\dist\index.js" %*`))
+	mock.SetFile(pkgRoot+`\package.json`, []byte(`{"name":"patchwarden","version":"1.6.2"}`))
+
+	det := NewAICLIDetector(mock)
+	results := det.Detect(context.Background())
+
+	for _, result := range results {
+		if result.Name != "patchwarden" {
+			continue
+		}
+		if result.Version != "1.6.2" {
+			t.Errorf("expected version 1.6.2 from Windows npm metadata, got %s", result.Version)
+		}
+		if result.InstallPath != pkgRoot {
+			t.Errorf("expected install_path %s, got %s", pkgRoot, result.InstallPath)
+		}
+		if result.ConfigDir != "" {
+			t.Errorf("expected no user-level config dir, got %s", result.ConfigDir)
+		}
+		return
+	}
+	t.Fatal("patchwarden not found via Windows npm shim")
+}
+
+func TestAICLIDetector_DoesNotTreatPatchWardenArtifactsAsInstallation(t *testing.T) {
+	mock := executor.NewMock()
+	mock.SetDir("/Users/testuser/.patchwarden")
+
+	det := NewAICLIDetector(mock)
+	results := det.Detect(context.Background())
+
+	for _, result := range results {
+		if result.Name == "patchwarden" {
+			t.Fatalf("stale .patchwarden artifacts must not prove installation: %+v", result)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // TestAICLIDetector_ResolvesNpmInstallPath asserts that when the binary on
 // PATH is a symlink to a node_modules package (the standard layout for
 // claude-code, codex, opencode, etc.), the detector surfaces both the shim