diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 470b411..8d7bd22 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,51 +1,51 @@
 PYMODULES := $(shell bin/ls-py-modules)
 DB_MODULES = swh-storage swh-archiver swh-scheduler swh-indexer swh-scheduler/sql/updater
 DOC_MODULE = swh-docs
 
 all:
 
 # TODO this is too close to "docs" below, but is meant to go away anyhow, when
 # the dependency graph stuff will migrate to the swh-docs/ module
 .PHONY: doc
 doc:
 	make -C doc/
 
 check: $(patsubst %,check/%,$(PYMODULES))
 typecheck: $(patsubst %,typecheck/%,$(PYMODULES))
 distclean: $(patsubst %,distclean/%,$(PYMODULES))
 test: $(patsubst %,test/%,$(PYMODULES))
 
 docs: $(patsubst %,docs/%,$(filter-out $(DOC_MODULE),$(PYMODULES)))
 docs-assets: $(patsubst %,docs-assets/%,$(filter-out $(DOC_MODULE),$(PYMODULES)))
 docs-apidoc: $(patsubst %,docs-apidoc/%,$(filter-out $(DOC_MODULE),$(PYMODULES)))
 docs-clean: $(patsubst %,docs-clean/%,$(filter-out $(DOC_MODULE),$(PYMODULES)))
 
 check/%:
 	make -C $* check
 typecheck/%:
 	make -C $* typecheck
 distclean/%:
 	make -C $* distclean
 test/%:
 	make -C $* test
 
 docs/%:
-	make -C $*/docs
+	if test -e $*/docs/Makefile; then make -C $*/docs; fi
 docs-assets/%:
-	make -C $*/docs assets
+	if test -e $*/docs/Makefile; then make -C $*/docs assets; fi
 docs-apidoc/%:
-	make -C $*/docs apidoc
+	if test -e $*/docs/Makefile; then make -C $*/docs apidoc; fi
 docs-clean/%:
-	make -C $*/docs clean
+	if test -e $*/docs/Makefile; then make -C $*/docs clean; fi
 
 .PHONY: update clean
 update:
 	git pull
 	mr up
 
 clean:
 	make -C doc/ clean
 
 .PHONY: check-staged
 check-staged:
 	make -C docker/ check-staged