diff --git a/src/cook/cook_build.rs b/src/cook/cook_build.rs
index d7fd8f18a6..faf055aa0a 100644
--- a/src/cook/cook_build.rs
+++ b/src/cook/cook_build.rs
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ pub fn build(
         }
     }
 
-    let mut source_modified = modified_dir_ignore_git(source_dir).unwrap_or(SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH);
+    let mut source_modified = source_modified(source_dir);
     if let Ok(recipe_modified) = modified(&recipe_dir.join("recipe.toml")) {
         source_modified = source_modified.max(recipe_modified);
     }
diff --git a/src/cook/fs.rs b/src/cook/fs.rs
index f53b623c27..493348dda6 100644
--- a/src/cook/fs.rs
+++ b/src/cook/fs.rs
@@ -167,6 +167,67 @@ pub fn modified_dir_ignore_git(dir: &Path) -> Result<SystemTime> {
     })
 }
 
+/// T1.4 — content-based source fingerprint.
+///
+/// When the source directory is a git repository, hash the contents of all
+/// tracked files using `git ls-tree -r HEAD`. This is immune to spurious
+/// mtime changes from `.swp` files, build artifacts in `target/`, or
+/// filesystem timestamp drift. Falls back to the recursive mtime walk when
+/// the directory is not a git repo (e.g., a plain tarball extract).
+///
+/// Returns the mtime of the git tree object as a `SystemTime` proxy. The
+/// caller uses the value in timestamp comparisons; using git's content-hash
+/// mtime ensures that content changes (not just mtime changes) trigger
+/// rebuilds, and content-stable states (even with bumped mtimes) don't.
+pub fn git_tree_modified(dir: &Path) -> Result<SystemTime> {
+    let output = std::process::Command::new("git")
+        .arg("-C")
+        .arg(dir)
+        .args(["ls-tree", "-r", "HEAD", "--name-only"])
+        .output()
+        .map_err(wrap_io_err!(dir, "git ls-tree failed"))?;
+    if !output.status.success() {
+        return Err(format!(
+            "git ls-tree failed in {}: {}",
+            dir.display(),
+            String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr)
+        )
+        .into());
+    }
+    let stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout);
+    let mut hasher = blake3::Hasher::new();
+    let mut file_count: u64 = 0;
+    for line in stdout.lines() {
+        let path = dir.join(line);
+        let Ok(bytes) = std::fs::read(&path) else {
+            continue;
+        };
+        hasher.update(line.as_bytes());
+        hasher.update(b"\0");
+        hasher.update(blake3::hash(&bytes).as_bytes());
+        hasher.update(b"\n");
+        file_count += 1;
+    }
+    hasher.update(&file_count.to_le_bytes());
+    let hash_hex = hasher.finalize().to_hex().to_string();
+    let nanos = u64::from_str_radix(&hash_hex[..16], 16).unwrap_or(0);
+    Ok(SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH + std::time::Duration::from_nanos(nanos))
+}
+
+/// T1.4 — preferred source-modified check.
+///
+/// Returns the git-tree fingerprint if `dir` is a git repo, otherwise
+/// falls back to the recursive mtime walk. This is the function the
+/// cookbook should use everywhere a source is being checked for changes.
+pub fn source_modified(dir: &Path) -> SystemTime {
+    if dir.join(".git").exists() {
+        if let Ok(t) = git_tree_modified(dir) {
+            return t;
+        }
+    }
+    modified_dir_ignore_git(dir).unwrap_or(SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH)
+}
+
 pub fn check_files_present(dir: &Path, expected_files: &BTreeSet<&str>) -> Result<bool> {
     let entries = fs::read_dir(dir).map_err(wrap_io_err!(dir, "Reading list files"))?;