diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index 03be2ea41..61bef45df 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ const LibtoolStep = @import("src/build/LibtoolStep.zig");
 const LipoStep = @import("src/build/LipoStep.zig");
 const XCFrameworkStep = @import("src/build/XCFrameworkStep.zig");
 const Version = @import("src/build/Version.zig");
+const Command = @import("src/Command.zig");
 
 // Do a comptime Zig version requirement. The required Zig version is
 // somewhat arbitrary: it is meant to be a version that we feel works well,
@@ -105,8 +106,14 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) !void {
     const emit_docs = b.option(
         bool,
         "emit-docs",
-        "Build and install auto-generated documentation",
-    ) orelse true;
+        "Build and install auto-generated documentation (requires pandoc)",
+    ) orelse emit_docs: {
+        // We only default to true if we can find pandoc.
+        const path = Command.expandPath(b.allocator, "pandoc") catch
+            break :emit_docs false;
+        defer if (path) |p| b.allocator.free(p);
+        break :emit_docs path != null;
+    };
 
     const emit_test_exe = b.option(
         bool,
@@ -1178,16 +1185,14 @@ fn buildDocumentation(
             },
             .target = b.host,
         });
-
-        const generate_markdown_step = b.addRunArtifact(generate_markdown);
-
-        const markdown_output = generate_markdown_step.captureStdOut();
+        addHelp(b, generate_markdown);
 
         const generate_markdown_options = b.addOptions();
         generate_markdown_options.addOption(std.SemanticVersion, "version", version);
         generate_markdown.root_module.addOptions("build_options", generate_markdown_options);
 
-        addHelp(b, generate_markdown);
+        const generate_markdown_step = b.addRunArtifact(generate_markdown);
+        const markdown_output = generate_markdown_step.captureStdOut();
 
         b.getInstallStep().dependOn(&b.addInstallFile(
             markdown_output,
@@ -1195,42 +1200,32 @@ fn buildDocumentation(
         ).step);
 
         const generate_html = b.addSystemCommand(&.{"pandoc"});
-        generate_html.step.dependOn(&generate_markdown_step.step);
-        generate_html.addArgs(
-            &.{
-                "--standalone",
-                "--from",
-                "markdown",
-                "--to",
-                "html",
-            },
-        );
+        generate_html.addArgs(&.{
+            "--standalone",
+            "--from",
+            "markdown",
+            "--to",
+            "html",
+        });
         generate_html.addFileArg(markdown_output);
 
-        const html_output = generate_html.captureStdOut();
-
         b.getInstallStep().dependOn(&b.addInstallFile(
-            html_output,
+            generate_html.captureStdOut(),
             "share/ghostty/doc/" ++ manpage.name ++ "." ++ manpage.section ++ ".html",
         ).step);
 
         const generate_manpage = b.addSystemCommand(&.{"pandoc"});
-        generate_manpage.step.dependOn(&generate_markdown_step.step);
-        generate_manpage.addArgs(
-            &.{
-                "--standalone",
-                "--from",
-                "markdown",
-                "--to",
-                "man",
-            },
-        );
+        generate_manpage.addArgs(&.{
+            "--standalone",
+            "--from",
+            "markdown",
+            "--to",
+            "man",
+        });
         generate_manpage.addFileArg(markdown_output);
 
-        const manpage_output = generate_manpage.captureStdOut();
-
         b.getInstallStep().dependOn(&b.addInstallFile(
-            manpage_output,
+            generate_manpage.captureStdOut(),
             "share/man/man" ++ manpage.section ++ "/" ++ manpage.name ++ "." ++ manpage.section,
         ).step);
     }