diff --git a/justfile b/justfile
index aaebdd4..f8b6cde 100644
--- a/justfile
+++ b/justfile
@@ -51,15 +51,13 @@ verify-clean-git:
 get-crate-version:
     cat Cargo.toml | rg '^version =' | tr -d "version = " | tr -d '"'
 
-release-prep:
-    just verify-clean-git
-    just pre-release
+release-prep: verify-clean-git pre-release
     VERSION=$(just get-crate-version) \
         && test -z "$(git tag | rg \"v${VERSION}\")" # Error: tag appears to exist already
     just update-readme
 
 # re-generate README.md and commit changes
-update-readme:
+update-readme: verify-clean-git
     just generate-readme
     git add README.md doc/*.txt
     git commit -m 're-generate docs'