diff --git a/buildifier/factory.bzl b/buildifier/factory.bzl
index d59ed2c..a66d60c 100644
--- a/buildifier/factory.bzl
+++ b/buildifier/factory.bzl
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ def buildifier_attr_factory(*, test_rule):
         ),
         "exclude_patterns": attr.string_list(
             allow_empty = True,
-            doc = "A list of glob patterns passed to the find command. E.g. './vendor/*' to exclude the Go vendor directory. In test rules, this attribute requires the use of the no_sandbox attribute.",
+            doc = "A list of glob patterns matched like the find command's -path option, on all platforms. E.g. './vendor/*' to exclude the Go vendor directory. In test rules, this attribute requires the use of the no_sandbox attribute.",
         ),
         "mode": attr.string(
             default = "fix" if not test_rule else "diff",
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@ def buildifier_impl_factory(ctx, *, test_rule):
         "{EXCLUDE_PATTERNS}": exclude_patterns_str,
         "{FORMAT}": ctx.attr.format,
         "{POWERSHELL_ARGS}": _powershell_array_literal(args),
+        "{POWERSHELL_EXCLUDE_PATTERNS}": _powershell_array_literal(ctx.attr.exclude_patterns),
         "{SCAN_WORKSPACE}": "$true" if scan_workspace else "$false",
         "{SOURCE_FILES}": _powershell_array_literal(source_files),
         "{VERBOSE}": str(ctx.attr.verbose).lower(),
diff --git a/runner.bat.template b/runner.bat.template
index 586de81..5e7d70a 100644
--- a/runner.bat.template
+++ b/runner.bat.template
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ cd /d "%workspace_dir%" || exit /b 1
 
 :workspace_found
 REM Keep discovered paths inside PowerShell so cmd.exe never reparses them.
+REM Walk the workspace without entering excluded directories, matching each
+REM path like find's -path.
 REM Process files in batches to stay below CreateProcess' command-line limit,
 REM merging per-batch diagnostics when JSON output is requested.
 set "BUILDIFIER_EXECUTABLE=%buildifier_path%"
@@ -59,11 +61,25 @@ powershell.exe -NoLogo -NoProfile -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Comma
     "$buildifierArgs = @({POWERSHELL_ARGS});" ^
     "$files = @({SOURCE_FILES});" ^
     "if ({SCAN_WORKSPACE}) {" ^
-        "$workspacePrefix = (Get-Location).Path.TrimEnd([IO.Path]::DirectorySeparatorChar, [IO.Path]::AltDirectorySeparatorChar) + [IO.Path]::DirectorySeparatorChar;" ^
-        "$files = @(Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath . -Recurse -File | Where-Object {" ^
-            "($env:include_reparse_points -or -not ($_.Attributes -band [IO.FileAttributes]::ReparsePoint)) -and" ^
-            "$_.Name -cmatch '^(BUILD|WORKSPACE|WORKSPACE\.bzlmod|WORKSPACE\.oss|BUILD\..*\.oss|WORKSPACE\..*\.oss)$|\.(bzl|sky|star|bazel|BUILD)$'" ^
-        "} | ForEach-Object { $_.FullName.Substring($workspacePrefix.Length) });" ^
+        "$excludePatterns = @({POWERSHELL_EXCLUDE_PATTERNS});" ^
+        "$root = (Get-Location).Path;" ^
+        "$found = New-Object 'System.Collections.Generic.List[string]';" ^
+        "$pending = New-Object 'System.Collections.Generic.Stack[string]';" ^
+        "$pending.Push('');" ^
+        "while ($pending.Count -gt 0) {" ^
+            "$relativeDir = $pending.Pop();" ^
+            "foreach ($entry in [IO.DirectoryInfo]::new([IO.Path]::Combine($root, $relativeDir)).EnumerateFileSystemInfos()) {" ^
+                "if (-not $env:include_reparse_points -and ($entry.Attributes -band [IO.FileAttributes]::ReparsePoint)) { continue };" ^
+                "$relativePath = if ($relativeDir) { $relativeDir + '/' + $entry.Name } else { $entry.Name };" ^
+                "$excluded = $false;" ^
+                "foreach ($pattern in $excludePatterns) { if (('./' + $relativePath) -clike $pattern) { $excluded = $true; break } };" ^
+                "if ($excluded) { continue };" ^
+                "if ($entry.Attributes -band [IO.FileAttributes]::Directory) { $pending.Push($relativePath) }" ^
+                "elseif ($entry.Name -cmatch '^(BUILD|WORKSPACE|WORKSPACE\.bzlmod|WORKSPACE\.oss|BUILD\..*\.oss|WORKSPACE\..*\.oss)$|\.(bzl|sky|star|bazel|BUILD)$') { $found.Add($relativePath.Replace('/', '\')) }" ^
+            "}" ^
+        "};" ^
+        "$found.Sort([StringComparer]::Ordinal);" ^
+        "$files = @($found);" ^
     "};" ^
     "if ($files.Count -eq 0) { Write-Error 'Failed to find files to analyze'; exit 1 };" ^
     "$jsonOutput = '{FORMAT}' -eq 'json';" ^
diff --git a/tests/buildifier/buildifier_test.sh b/tests/buildifier/buildifier_test.sh
index d033f88..bf8302e 100755
--- a/tests/buildifier/buildifier_test.sh
+++ b/tests/buildifier/buildifier_test.sh
@@ -105,6 +105,16 @@ buildifier(
     mode = "fix",
 )
 
+buildifier(
+    name = "buildifier.check.exclude",
+    exclude_patterns = [
+        "./.git/*",
+        "./excluded/*",
+        "./pruned_dir",
+    ],
+    mode = "diff",
+)
+
 buildifier(
     name = "buildifier.json",
     format = "json",
@@ -293,6 +303,18 @@ function assert_metacharacter_fixtures_were_fixed() {
     assert_equals 15 "${fixture_count}"
 }
 
+function create_exclude_fixtures() {
+    local fixture
+    for fixture in excluded/BUILD.bazel pruned_dir/sub/BUILD.bazel; do
+        mkdir -p "$(dirname "${fixture}")"
+        cat >"${fixture}" << EOF
+filegroup(
+    name="excluded_fixture",
+)
+EOF
+    done
+}
+
 function create_json_batch_fixtures() {
     local index
     mkdir -p json_fixtures
@@ -392,6 +414,30 @@ function test_buildifier_fix_handles_metacharacters() {
     assert_metacharacter_fixtures_were_fixed
 }
 
+function test_buildifier_check_respects_exclude_patterns() {
+    local exit_code=0
+
+    create_simple_workspace >"${TEST_log}"
+    bazel run //:buildifier.fix >>"${TEST_log}" 2>&1 || fail "fix exited with non-zero code but should have succeeded"
+    create_exclude_fixtures
+
+    # Without the extra patterns, the fixtures are reported.
+    bazel run //:buildifier.check >unfiltered-output 2>&1 || exit_code=$?
+    cat unfiltered-output >>"${TEST_log}"
+    if [[ ${exit_code} -eq 0 ]]; then
+        fail "check exited successfully despite unformatted fixtures"
+    fi
+    grep -q "excluded" unfiltered-output || fail "fixture in excluded/ was not reported"
+    grep -q "pruned_dir" unfiltered-output || fail "fixture in pruned_dir/ was not reported"
+
+    bazel run //:buildifier.check.exclude >filtered-output 2>&1 ||
+        fail "check with exclude_patterns exited with non-zero code but should have succeeded"
+    cat filtered-output >>"${TEST_log}"
+    if grep -Eq "excluded[/\\]|pruned_dir" filtered-output; then
+        fail "files matching exclude_patterns were checked"
+    fi
+}
+
 function test_buildifier_json_handles_multiple_windows_batches() {
     if ! is_windows; then
         echo "SKIPPED windows JSON batching regression"