diff --git a/buildkite/scripts/merges-cleanly.sh b/buildkite/scripts/merges-cleanly.sh
index 29693d980d4..71f6a566800 100755
--- a/buildkite/scripts/merges-cleanly.sh
+++ b/buildkite/scripts/merges-cleanly.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ if [ $RET -eq 0 ]; then
   echo "No conflicts found against upstream branch ${BRANCH}"
   exit 0
 else
+  # exclude branches for which merging cleanly is not a hard requirement
+  if [ "${CURRENT}" == "o1js-main" ]; then
+    echo "Conflicts were found, but the current branch does not have to merge cleanly. Exiting with code 0."
+    exit 0
+  fi
+
   # Found a conflict
   echo "[ERROR] This pull request conflicts with $BRANCH, please open a new pull request against $BRANCH at this link:"
   echo "https://github.com/MinaProtocol/mina/compare/${BRANCH}...${BUILDKITE_BRANCH}"