diff --git a/scripts/build-backend.js b/scripts/build-backend.js
index 53ec007..678fccb 100755
--- a/scripts/build-backend.js
+++ b/scripts/build-backend.js
@@ -101,7 +101,11 @@ function stripPythonBytecodeArtifacts(dir) {
                 stripPythonBytecodeArtifacts(full);
             }
         } else if (ent.name.endsWith(".pyc") || ent.name.endsWith(".pyo")) {
-            fs.unlinkSync(full);
+            const stem = ent.name.replace(/\.pyc$/i, "").replace(/\.pyo$/i, "");
+            const siblingPy = path.join(dir, `${stem}.py`);
+            if (fs.existsSync(siblingPy)) {
+                fs.unlinkSync(full);
+            }
         }
     }
 }