diff --git a/Justfile b/Justfile
index 114b8cc5..183f50a0 100644
--- a/Justfile
+++ b/Justfile
@@ -18,3 +18,7 @@ integration_tests:
 # Create a news entry
 create-news-entry:
   modules/misc/news/create-news-entry.sh
+
+# format codebase with treefmt
+format:
+  treefmt
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7ab1bb77..ac19dd6d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -17,4 +17,5 @@ test-install:
 	HOME=$(shell mktemp -d) NIX_PATH=${NIX_PATH} nix-shell . -A install
 
 format:
-	nix-shell -A dev --run treefmt
+	# added 2026-03-01
+	@echo "run \"nix-shell -A dev --run 'just format'\" instead"