diff --git a/copy.mk b/copy.mk
index 4ffff3d..8dddc70 100644
--- a/copy.mk
+++ b/copy.mk
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+MANDATORY-copy = DEPLOY_TYPE DEPLOY_HOSTS SSH_USER DEPLOY_PATH DEPLOY_NAME
 # copy
 #
 # this just rsyncs the stuff to the remote server(s) and runs
diff --git a/cron.mk b/cron.mk
index 60b4d58..bb1d600 100644
--- a/cron.mk
+++ b/cron.mk
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+MANDATORY-cron = 
 pre-deploy-cron:
 
 post-deploy-cron:
diff --git a/helm.mk b/helm.mk
index 994385b..ef74dc2 100644
--- a/helm.mk
+++ b/helm.mk
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+MANDATORY-helm = K8S_CONTEXT
 # helm
 #
 # deploys helm charts on k8s via helmfile