diff --git a/variants/native/portduino/platformio.ini b/variants/native/portduino/platformio.ini
index 021ca6155c..ae5569afce 100644
--- a/variants/native/portduino/platformio.ini
+++ b/variants/native/portduino/platformio.ini
@@ -1,12 +1,17 @@
 [native_base]
 extends = portduino_base
 build_flags = ${portduino_base.build_flags} -I variants/native/portduino
-  -I /usr/include
   ; Optional desktop-notification support (see ExternalNotificationModule::portduinoNotify).
   ; Emit libnotify's flags *and* HAS_LIBNOTIFY=1 only when the .pc file is actually present,
   ; so a native build on a machine without libnotify-dev still configures and links - it just
   ; compiles the feature out. `|| :` keeps a failed probe from returning a non-zero exit code.
+  ;
+  ; Keep this off the last line. An env extending native_base writes
+  ; `build_flags = ${native_base.build_flags} -Os -lcurl ...`, and the interpolation appends those
+  ; flags to whatever line ends this value. Landing them on a `!` line makes them trailing
+  ; arguments to echo or to `:` instead of compiler flags, and they vanish with no error.
   !pkg-config --exists --silence-errors libnotify && pkg-config --cflags --libs libnotify && echo -D HAS_LIBNOTIFY=1 || :
+  -I /usr/include
 board = cross_platform
 board_level = extra
 lib_deps =