diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4023fa952d..91df6465ac 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ gcs-publish-ci: gcs-upload
 	gsutil -h "Cache-Control:private, max-age=0, no-transform" cp .build/upload/${LATEST_FILE} ${GCS_LOCATION}
 
 gen-cli-docs: kops
-	@kops genhelpdocs --out docs/cli
+	KOPS_STATE_STORE= kops genhelpdocs --out docs/cli
 
 # Will always push a linux-based build up to the server
 push: crossbuild-nodeup
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ verify-packages:
 
 .PHONY: verify-gendocs
 verify-gendocs: kops
-	hack/verify-gendocs.sh
+	KOPS_STATE_STORE= hack/verify-gendocs.sh
 
 # verify-gendocs will call kops target
 # verify-package has to be after verify-gendoc, because with .gitignore for federation bindata