diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index a2c8d8fe29..3934bd29a5 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -193,7 +193,25 @@ exclude = ["tinker-atropos"]
 
 [tool.ruff]
 exclude = ["tinker-atropos"]
-select = [] # disable all lints for now, until we've wrangled typechecks a bit more :3
+preview = true  # required for PLW1514 (unspecified-encoding) — preview rule
+
+[tool.ruff.lint]
+# All other lints are intentionally disabled (see comment history on this
+# file) while we wrangle typechecks — but PLW1514 is too load-bearing to
+# keep off.  Bare open()/read_text()/write_text() in text mode defaults to
+# the system locale encoding on Windows (cp1252 on US-locale installs),
+# which silently corrupts any non-ASCII file content.  We had three
+# separate Windows sandbox regressions in one debug session before
+# adding the explicit encoding.  This rule keeps new code honest.
+select = ["PLW1514"]
+
+[tool.ruff.lint.per-file-ignores]
+# Tests can intentionally exercise locale-encoding edge cases.
+"tests/**" = ["PLW1514"]
+# Skills and plugins are partially user-authored — their own conventions.
+"skills/**" = ["PLW1514"]
+"optional-skills/**" = ["PLW1514"]
+"plugins/**" = ["PLW1514"]
 
 [tool.uv]
 exclude-newer = "7 days"
diff --git a/tests/test_lint_config.py b/tests/test_lint_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..23ca0d6a43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_lint_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+"""Tests for ruff lint config — guards against accidental rule removal.
+
+PLW1514 (unspecified-encoding) was enabled after a debug session on
+Windows turned up three separate UTF-8 regressions in execute_code.
+The rule catches bare ``open()`` / ``read_text()`` / ``write_text()``
+calls that default to locale encoding — cp1252 on Windows — which
+silently corrupts non-ASCII content.
+
+These tests ensure:
+  1. PLW1514 stays in ``[tool.ruff.lint.select]``
+  2. The CI workflow's blocking step still invokes ``ruff check .``
+  3. pyproject.toml has ``preview = true`` (required — PLW1514 is a
+     preview rule in ruff 0.15.x)
+
+If someone removes any of these, CI stops enforcing UTF-8-explicit
+opens and we're back to the original Windows-regression trap.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pathlib
+
+import pytest
+
+try:
+    import tomllib  # Python 3.11+
+except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover — 3.10 and earlier
+    import tomli as tomllib  # type: ignore
+
+REPO_ROOT = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+
+
+def _load_pyproject() -> dict:
+    with open(REPO_ROOT / "pyproject.toml", "rb") as fh:
+        return tomllib.load(fh)
+
+
+class TestRuffConfig:
+    def test_plw1514_is_in_select_list(self):
+        """pyproject.toml must keep PLW1514 in [tool.ruff.lint.select]."""
+        cfg = _load_pyproject()
+        selected = (
+            cfg.get("tool", {})
+            .get("ruff", {})
+            .get("lint", {})
+            .get("select", [])
+        )
+        assert "PLW1514" in selected, (
+            "PLW1514 (unspecified-encoding) was removed from "
+            "[tool.ruff.lint.select].  This rule blocks bare open() calls "
+            "that default to locale encoding on Windows — removing it "
+            "re-opens a class of UTF-8 bugs we already paid to close.  "
+            "If you genuinely want to remove it, delete this test in the "
+            "same commit so the intent is deliberate."
+        )
+
+    def test_preview_mode_enabled(self):
+        """PLW1514 is a preview rule in ruff 0.15.x — preview=true is
+        required for it to actually run."""
+        cfg = _load_pyproject()
+        ruff_cfg = cfg.get("tool", {}).get("ruff", {})
+        assert ruff_cfg.get("preview") is True, (
+            "[tool.ruff] preview=true is required — PLW1514 is a preview "
+            "rule and silently becomes a no-op without it.  If this ever "
+            "becomes a stable rule, you can drop preview=true but must "
+            "verify PLW1514 still fires in a sample test run first."
+        )
+
+
+class TestLintWorkflow:
+    WORKFLOW_PATH = REPO_ROOT / ".github" / "workflows" / "lint.yml"
+
+    def test_workflow_exists(self):
+        assert self.WORKFLOW_PATH.exists(), (
+            f"CI workflow missing: {self.WORKFLOW_PATH}"
+        )
+
+    def test_workflow_has_blocking_ruff_step(self):
+        """The workflow must run a blocking ``ruff check .`` step
+        (one without --exit-zero) so violations fail the job."""
+        content = self.WORKFLOW_PATH.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        # Look for the blocking step's named line + its command.  We want
+        # at least one ``ruff check .`` that does NOT have ``--exit-zero``
+        # nearby.
+        import re
+        # Split into lines and find ruff check invocations
+        lines = content.splitlines()
+        found_blocking = False
+        for i, line in enumerate(lines):
+            stripped = line.strip()
+            if stripped.startswith("ruff check") and "--exit-zero" not in stripped:
+                # Also check it's not piped to `|| true` which would mask
+                # the exit code.
+                window = " ".join(lines[i:i + 3])
+                if "|| true" not in window:
+                    found_blocking = True
+                    break
+        assert found_blocking, (
+            "lint.yml no longer contains a blocking ``ruff check .`` step "
+            "(one without --exit-zero and not masked by || true).  "
+            "Restore it — the PLW1514 rule is only useful if CI actually "
+            "fails on violation."
+        )
+
+    def test_workflow_yaml_is_valid(self):
+        """Workflow file must parse as valid YAML (can't ship a broken
+        CI config to main)."""
+        import yaml
+        content = self.WORKFLOW_PATH.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        try:
+            parsed = yaml.safe_load(content)
+        except yaml.YAMLError as exc:
+            pytest.fail(f"lint.yml is not valid YAML: {exc}")
+        assert isinstance(parsed, dict)
+        assert "jobs" in parsed
diff --git a/website/scripts/extract-skills.py b/website/scripts/extract-skills.py
index 79413aec0f..b106a9527b 100644
--- a/website/scripts/extract-skills.py
+++ b/website/scripts/extract-skills.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def extract_local_skills():
                 continue
 
             skill_path = os.path.join(root, "SKILL.md")
-            with open(skill_path) as f:
+            with open(skill_path, encoding="utf-8") as f:
                 content = f.read()
 
             if not content.startswith("---"):
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ def extract_cached_index_skills():
 
         filepath = os.path.join(INDEX_CACHE_DIR, filename)
         try:
-            with open(filepath) as f:
+            with open(filepath, encoding="utf-8") as f:
                 data = json.load(f)
         except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
             continue
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ def main():
     ))
 
     os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(OUTPUT), exist_ok=True)
-    with open(OUTPUT, "w") as f:
+    with open(OUTPUT, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
         json.dump(all_skills, f, indent=2)
 
     print(f"Extracted {len(all_skills)} skills to {OUTPUT}")