diff --git a/engage.toml b/engage.toml
index 3e5d4417..94c2bd5e 100644
--- a/engage.toml
+++ b/engage.toml
@@ -48,7 +48,11 @@ script = "lychee --offline ."
 [[task]]
 name = "markdownlint"
 group = "lints"
-script = "markdownlint ."
+# don't just use 'markdownlint .' because it will lint files that are ignored by
+# git
+script = """
+git ls-files --cached --others --exclude-standard '*.md' | xargs markdownlint
+"""
 
 [[task]]
 name = "cargo-fmt"
diff --git a/nix/shell.nix b/nix/shell.nix
index 5e642001..34e9d5c2 100644
--- a/nix/shell.nix
+++ b/nix/shell.nix
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 { cargo-insta
 , default
 , engage
+, findutils
 , inputs
 , jq
 , lychee
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ mkShell {
     # Keep sorted
     cargo-insta
     engage
+    findutils
     jq
     lychee
     markdownlint-cli