diff --git a/.flake8 b/.flake8
index beeed9dd40a..618c85d1e4a 100644
--- a/.flake8
+++ b/.flake8
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ exclude=
     # generated files
     demos/speech_recognition_deepspeech_demo/python/ctcdecode-numpy/ctcdecode_numpy/impl.py,
     models/public/mozilla-deepspeech-0.8.2/mds_convert_utils/memmapped_file_system_pb2.py,
+    # 3rd party files
+    cmake/cpplint/cpplint.py
 
 select=
     # flake8-comprehensions issues