diff --git a/justfile b/justfile
index 283458865..6d1518087 100644
--- a/justfile
+++ b/justfile
@@ -1,42 +1,58 @@
 SESSION := "cm12345-1"
-RUNNER := `command -v docker || command -v podman`
+RUNNER := `command -v docker || command -v podman || true`
 
+_check-runner:
+    #!/usr/bin/env bash
+    if [[ "{{ RUNNER }}" == "" ]]; then
+        echo "{{ style('error') }}error{{ NORMAL }}: No container runtime available - either podman or docker is required"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
+[doc('Start the example services via compose and run the blueapi server')]
 default: compose serve
 
+[doc('Clone the example-services submodule if needed but leave it alone otherwise')]
 init-example-services:
     #!/usr/bin/env bash
-    # Clone the example-services submodule if needed but leave it alone otherwise
     if [[ $(git submodule status example-services) =~ ^- ]]; then
         git submodule update --init example-services
     fi
 
-compose +ARGS="up -d --no-recreate": init-example-services
-    {{ RUNNER }} compose -f tests/system_tests/compose.yaml {{ARGS}}
+[doc('Bring up the example services with docker/podman compose')]
+compose +ARGS="up -d --no-recreate": init-example-services _check-runner
+    {{ RUNNER }} compose -f tests/system_tests/compose.yaml {{ ARGS }}
 
+[doc('Run the blueapi server with the system test config')]
 serve *OPTS:
     #!/usr/bin/env bash
-    source tests/system_tests/.env # sets required EPICS environmental variables
-    uv run blueapi -c tests/system_tests/config.yaml {{OPTS}} serve  #start BlueAPI server using config in config.yaml file
+    source tests/system_tests/.env
+    uv run blueapi -c tests/system_tests/config.yaml {{ OPTS }} serve
 
+[doc('Run a plan using the blueapi CLI')]
 run PLAN PARAMS:
     uv run blueapi -c tests/system_tests/config.yaml controller run -i {{ SESSION }} {{ PLAN }} '{{ PARAMS }}'
 
+[doc('Regenerate schemas, run pre-commit checks and type checking')]
 lint:
     uv run blueapi config-schema -u
     uv run blueapi schema -u
     uv run prek run --all-files
     uv run pyright src tests
 
+[doc('Run the unit test suite')]
 unit *OPTS="-n logical":
     uv run pytest tests/unit_tests {{ OPTS }}
 
+[doc('Run the system test suite')]
 system *OPTS:
     uv run pytest tests/system_tests {{ OPTS }}
 
+[doc('Run unit tests with coverage and open the HTML report')]
 coverage:
     uv run pytest tests/unit_tests --cov --cov-report html
     xdg-open htmlcov/index.html
 
+[doc('Start an interactive REPL with an authenticated blueapi client')]
 repl:
     #!/usr/bin/env bash
     uv run --with ptpython ptpython -i <(cat << EOF