diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index bfb0b5a64..d0d995bfc 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -147,8 +147,6 @@ template-validate: build
 template-validate:
 	./bin/nuclei -ut
 	./bin/nuclei -validate \
-		-et .github/ \
-		-et helpers/payloads/ \
 		-et http/technologies \
 		-t dns \
 		-t ssl \
@@ -157,7 +155,5 @@ template-validate:
 		-ept code
 	./bin/nuclei -validate \
 		-w workflows \
-		-et .github/ \
-		-et helpers/payloads/ \
 		-et http/technologies \
 		-ept code
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pkg/catalog/config/template.go b/pkg/catalog/config/template.go
index 3d7b33de5..2f7999184 100644
--- a/pkg/catalog/config/template.go
+++ b/pkg/catalog/config/template.go
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ import (
 	stringsutil "github.com/projectdiscovery/utils/strings"
 )
 
-var knownConfigFiles = []string{"cves.json", "contributors.json", "TEMPLATES-STATS.json"}
+var (
+	knownConfigFiles     = []string{"cves.json", "contributors.json", "TEMPLATES-STATS.json"}
+	knownMiscDirectories = []string{".git", ".github", "helpers"}
+)
 
 // TemplateFormat
 type TemplateFormat uint8
@@ -23,6 +26,25 @@ const (
 	Unknown
 )
 
+// GetKnownConfigFiles returns known config files.
+func GetKnownConfigFiles() []string {
+	return knownConfigFiles
+}
+
+// GetKnownMiscDirectories returns known misc directories with trailing slashes.
+//
+// The trailing slash ensures that directory matching is explicit and avoids
+// falsely match files with similar names (e.g. "helpers" matching
+// "some-helpers.yaml"), since [IsTemplate] checks against normalized full paths.
+func GetKnownMiscDirectories() []string {
+	trailedSlashDirs := make([]string, 0, len(knownMiscDirectories))
+	for _, dir := range knownMiscDirectories {
+		trailedSlashDirs = append(trailedSlashDirs, dir+string(os.PathSeparator))
+	}
+
+	return trailedSlashDirs
+}
+
 // GetTemplateFormatFromExt returns template format
 func GetTemplateFormatFromExt(filePath string) TemplateFormat {
 	fileExt := strings.ToLower(filepath.Ext(filePath))
@@ -41,13 +63,22 @@ func GetSupportTemplateFileExtensions() []string {
 	return []string{extensions.YAML, extensions.JSON}
 }
 
-// IsTemplate is a callback function used by goflags to decide if given file should be read
-// if it is not a nuclei-template file only then file is read
-func IsTemplate(filename string) bool {
-	if stringsutil.ContainsAny(filename, knownConfigFiles...) {
+// IsTemplate returns true if the file is a template based on its path.
+// It used by goflags and other places to filter out non-template files.
+func IsTemplate(fpath string) bool {
+	fpath = filepath.FromSlash(fpath)
+	fname := filepath.Base(fpath)
+	fext := strings.ToLower(filepath.Ext(fpath))
+
+	if stringsutil.ContainsAny(fname, GetKnownConfigFiles()...) {
 		return false
 	}
-	return stringsutil.EqualFoldAny(filepath.Ext(filename), GetSupportTemplateFileExtensions()...)
+
+	if stringsutil.ContainsAny(fpath, GetKnownMiscDirectories()...) {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	return stringsutil.EqualFoldAny(fext, GetSupportTemplateFileExtensions()...)
 }
 
 type template struct {
diff --git a/pkg/catalog/disk/find.go b/pkg/catalog/disk/find.go
index 7a70c1bc1..0a89ba54c 100644
--- a/pkg/catalog/disk/find.go
+++ b/pkg/catalog/disk/find.go
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ func (c *DiskCatalog) findDirectoryMatches(absPath string, processed map[string]
 				if err != nil {
 					return nil
 				}
-				if !d.IsDir() && config.GetTemplateFormatFromExt(path) != config.Unknown {
+				if !d.IsDir() && config.IsTemplate(path) {
 					if _, ok := processed[path]; !ok {
 						results = append(results, path)
 						processed[path] = struct{}{}
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ func (c *DiskCatalog) findDirectoryMatches(absPath string, processed map[string]
 				if err != nil {
 					return nil
 				}
-				if !d.IsDir() && config.GetTemplateFormatFromExt(path) != config.Unknown {
+				if !d.IsDir() && config.IsTemplate(path) {
 					if _, ok := processed[path]; !ok {
 						results = append(results, path)
 						processed[path] = struct{}{}
diff --git a/pkg/templates/workflows.go b/pkg/templates/workflows.go
index 50029af18..2f1881cbe 100644
--- a/pkg/templates/workflows.go
+++ b/pkg/templates/workflows.go
@@ -94,7 +94,14 @@ func parseWorkflowTemplate(workflow *workflows.WorkflowTemplate, preprocessor Pr
 
 		if len(template.RequestsCode) > 0 {
 			if !options.Options.EnableCodeTemplates {
-				gologger.Warning().Msgf("`-code` flag not found, skipping code template from workflow: %v\n", path)
+				// NOTE(dwisiswant0): It is safe to continue here during
+				// validation mode, because the template has already been parsed
+				// and syntax-validated by templates.Parse() above. It only
+				// prevents adding to workflow's executer list and suppresses
+				// warning messages.
+				if !options.Options.Validate {
+					gologger.Warning().Msgf("`-code` flag not found, skipping code template from workflow: %v\n", path)
+				}
 				continue
 			} else if !template.Verified {
 				// unverfied code templates are not allowed in workflows