diff --git a/setup.sh b/setup.sh
index 553a832..09ac9e6 100755
--- a/setup.sh
+++ b/setup.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,36 @@ SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
 REPO_DIR="$(cd "$SCRIPT_DIR/../.." && pwd)"
 LAYER2_IMAGE="py-bench:latest"
 USER_IMAGE="py-bench:$USER"
+GITCONFIG_PATH="${HOME}/.gitconfig"
+
+ensure_host_gitconfig() {
+    if [ -d "$GITCONFIG_PATH" ]; then
+        if [ -n "$(find "$GITCONFIG_PATH" -mindepth 1 -print -quit 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
+            echo "❌ '$GITCONFIG_PATH' is a non-empty directory; refusing to remove it."
+            echo "   Move or inspect its contents, then replace it with a regular file."
+            return 1
+        fi
+
+        echo "⚠️  '$GITCONFIG_PATH' is an empty directory; replacing it with a regular file..."
+        rmdir "$GITCONFIG_PATH"
+    fi
+
+    if [ ! -e "$GITCONFIG_PATH" ]; then
+        echo "🔧 Creating host Git configuration file: $GITCONFIG_PATH"
+        (umask 077 && : > "$GITCONFIG_PATH")
+    fi
+
+    if [ ! -f "$GITCONFIG_PATH" ]; then
+        echo "❌ '$GITCONFIG_PATH' exists but is not a regular file."
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    if [ ! -r "$GITCONFIG_PATH" ] || [ ! -w "$GITCONFIG_PATH" ]; then
+        echo "❌ '$GITCONFIG_PATH' must be readable and writable by '$USER'."
+        echo "   Fix it with: sudo chown $USER:$(id -gn) '$GITCONFIG_PATH' && chmod 600 '$GITCONFIG_PATH'"
+        return 1
+    fi
+}
 
 echo "🚀 Starting the pyBench container"
 echo "   User: $USER"
@@ -21,6 +51,8 @@ else
     "$REPO_DIR/scripts/ensure-layer3.sh" --base "$LAYER2_IMAGE" --user "$USER"
 fi
 
+ensure_host_gitconfig
+
 echo "🔧 Starting container with user mapping..."
 "$SCRIPT_DIR/scripts/configure-amd-rocm-wsl.sh"
 docker-compose \