diff --git a/packages/repo-metadata-lint/.eslintrc.json b/packages/repo-metadata-lint/.eslintrc.json
index 78215349546..3e8d97ccb39 100644
--- a/packages/repo-metadata-lint/.eslintrc.json
+++ b/packages/repo-metadata-lint/.eslintrc.json
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 {
-  "extends": "./node_modules/gts"
+  "extends": "./node_modules/gts",
+  "root": true
 }
diff --git a/packages/repo-metadata-lint/src/validate.ts b/packages/repo-metadata-lint/src/validate.ts
index 567208afb98..374203db215 100644
--- a/packages/repo-metadata-lint/src/validate.ts
+++ b/packages/repo-metadata-lint/src/validate.ts
@@ -31,6 +31,11 @@ const API_LIBRARY_TYPES = [
   'GAPIC_COMBO',
 ];
 
+// Manually curated list of allowed api_shortname entries
+const EXTRA_ALLOWED_API_SHORTNAMES = [
+  'bigquery', // handwritten client that has no protos
+];
+
 interface ApiIndex {
   apis: {hostName: string}[];
 }
@@ -101,7 +106,7 @@ export class Validate {
   // on googleapis/googleapis:
   async validApiShortNames() {
     const apiIndex = await this.getApiIndex();
-    const apiShortNames = new Set<string>();
+    const apiShortNames = new Set<string>(EXTRA_ALLOWED_API_SHORTNAMES);
     for (const api of apiIndex.apis) {
       const match = api.hostName.match(/(?<service>[^.]+)/);
       if (match && match.groups) {