diff --git a/gnommo/cli.py b/gnommo/cli.py
index ef0386d..84c18ca 100644
--- a/gnommo/cli.py
+++ b/gnommo/cli.py
@@ -2935,6 +2935,31 @@ def cmd_description(project_path: Path, verbose: bool) -> int:
     return 0
 
 
+# Files and directories excluded from all sync/archive/load operations.
+# Covers intermediate processing artifacts, chunk scratch dirs, venv, and
+# common OS/editor noise.
+_RSYNC_EXCLUDES = [
+    # Intermediate processing files
+    "media/narration/intermediate/",
+    "media/narration/intermediate/**",
+    "media/videos/intermediate/",
+    "media/videos/intermediate/**",
+    "media/videos/processed/",
+    "media/videos/processed/**",
+    # Chunk scratch directories
+    "**/chunks/",
+    "**/chunks/**",
+    # Python
+    "*.py",
+    "__pycache__/",
+    "venv/",
+    # Version control / OS noise
+    ".git/",
+    ".DS_Store",
+    "*.tmp",
+]
+
+
 def cmd_archive(project_path: Path, verbose: bool, dry_run: bool) -> int:
     """Archive project files to external cache storage."""
     from .cache import load_cache_config
@@ -2963,19 +2988,11 @@ def cmd_archive(project_path: Path, verbose: bool, dry_run: bool) -> int:
     if not dry_run:
         dest_path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
-    # Use rsync to sync media files
-    # -a: archive mode (preserves permissions, timestamps, etc.)
-    # -v: verbose
-    # --progress: show progress
-    # --exclude: skip files we don't want to sync
     rsync_cmd = [
         "rsync",
         "-av",
         "--progress",
-        "--exclude=*.py",
-        "--exclude=__pycache__",
-        "--exclude=.git",
-        "--exclude=.DS_Store",
+        *[f"--exclude={p}" for p in _RSYNC_EXCLUDES],
         f"{project_path}/",
         f"{dest_path}/",
     ]
@@ -3052,10 +3069,7 @@ def cmd_load(project_path: Path, verbose: bool, dry_run: bool) -> int:
         "rsync",
         "-av",
         "--progress",
-        "--exclude=*.py",
-        "--exclude=__pycache__",
-        "--exclude=.git",
-        "--exclude=.DS_Store",
+        *[f"--exclude={p}" for p in _RSYNC_EXCLUDES],
         f"{src_path}/",
         f"{project_path}/",
     ]
@@ -3147,10 +3161,7 @@ def cmd_sync(project_path: Path, verbose: bool, dry_run: bool, download: bool) -
         "-av",
         "--progress",
         "-e", f"ssh -p {server['port']}",
-        "--exclude=*.py",
-        "--exclude=__pycache__",
-        "--exclude=.git",
-        "--exclude=.DS_Store",
+        *[f"--exclude={p}" for p in _RSYNC_EXCLUDES],
         src,
         dest,
     ]