diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 31cb7a6a9ab..a9067af70df 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -23,7 +23,10 @@ misspell-correction:	$(MISSPELL)
 
 .PHONY: markdown-link-check
 markdown-link-check:
-	@for f in $(ALL_DOCS); do npx markdown-link-check --quiet --config .markdown_link_check_config.json $$f; done
+	@for f in $(ALL_DOCS); do \
+		npx --no -- markdown-link-check --quiet --config .markdown_link_check_config.json $$f \
+			|| exit 1; \
+	done
 
 # This target runs markdown-toc on all files that contain
 # a comment <!-- tocstop -->.
@@ -38,7 +41,7 @@ markdown-toc:
 	@for f in $(ALL_DOCS); do \
 		if grep -q '<!-- tocstop -->' $$f; then \
 			echo markdown-toc: processing $$f; \
-			npx markdown-toc --no-first-h1 -i $$f; \
+			npx --no -- markdown-toc --no-first-h1 -i $$f || exit 1; \
 		else \
 			echo markdown-toc: no TOC markers, skipping $$f; \
 		fi; \
@@ -46,8 +49,11 @@ markdown-toc:
 
 .PHONY: markdownlint
 markdownlint:
-	@if ! npm ls markdownlint; then npm install; fi
-	@for f in $(ALL_DOCS); do echo $$f; npx markdownlint -c .markdownlint.yaml $$f || exit 1;	done
+	@for f in $(ALL_DOCS); do \
+		echo $$f; \
+		npx --no -p markdownlint-cli markdownlint -c .markdownlint.yaml $$f \
+			|| exit 1; \
+	done
 
 .PHONY: install-yamllint
 install-yamllint:
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 94e1ead289a..3de99a6a9fd 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -2,6 +2,6 @@
   "devDependencies": {
     "markdown-link-check": "^3.9.3",
     "markdown-toc": "^1.2.0",
-    "markdownlint-cli": "0.31.0"
+    "markdownlint-cli": "^0.31.0"
   }
 }