diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ef3965a..cf09abd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ FastAPI /search ◀── BGE Reranker ◀── RRF merge ◀──────
 
 ```bash
 cp .env.example .env
+[ "$TEAMHUB_ALLOW_LOCAL" = "1" ] || { echo "Local docker deploy disabled: TeamHUB runs on server 10.37.142.35. Set TEAMHUB_ALLOW_LOCAL=1 for a local bring-up (debug only)." >&2; exit 1; }
 docker compose up -d --build
 docker compose exec api python scripts/init_db.py
 docker compose exec api python scripts/init_opensearch.py