diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 7dd34c9..c077873 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -8,3 +8,8 @@ pre-commit install
 ```
 
 in the root of the repository.
+
+Now every time you commit your changes, pre-commit will run a formatting check and create any notebooks whose source files have changed. 
+If it made any changes, you'll have to manually stage them and commit again.
+
+If for some reason you want to skip pre-commit checks, you can use the `--no-verify` flag when committing (perhaps to correct formatting in a separate commit for clarity).