diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index bd4291bbe..ae0c143dc 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
-default: 
+help:
 	@echo "Call a specific subcommand:"
 	@echo
-	@$(MAKE) -pRrq -f $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST)) : 2>/dev/null\
-        | awk -v RS= -F: '/^# File/,/^# Finished Make data base/ {if ($$1 !~ "^[#.]") {print $$1}}'\
-        | sort\
-        | grep -E -v -e '^[^[:alnum:]]' -e '^$@$$'
+	@grep -E '^[a-zA-Z_-]+:.*?## .*$$' $(MAKEFILE_LIST) \
+		| awk 'BEGIN {FS = ":.*?## "}; {printf "\033[36m%-30s\033[0m %s\n", $$1, $$2}'
 	@echo
-	@exit 1
+
+default: help
 
 .state/docker-build-web: Dockerfile dev-requirements.txt base-requirements.txt
 	# Build web container for this project
@@ -29,30 +28,29 @@ default:
 	# Mark the state so we don't rebuild this needlessly.
 	mkdir -p .state && touch .state/db-initialized
 
-serve: .state/db-initialized
+serve: .state/db-initialized ## Start the application
 	docker compose up --remove-orphans
 
-migrations: .state/db-initialized 
-	# Run Django makemigrations
+migrations: .state/db-initialized ## Generate migrations from models
 	docker compose run --rm web ./manage.py makemigrations  
 	
-migrate: .state/docker-build-web
-	# Run Django migrate
+migrate: .state/docker-build-web ## Run Django migrate
 	docker compose run --rm web ./manage.py migrate 
 
-manage: .state/db-initialized
-	# Run Django manage to accept arbitrary arguments
+manage: .state/db-initialized ## Run Django manage to accept arbitrary arguments
 	docker compose run --rm web ./manage.py $(filter-out $@,$(MAKECMDGOALS))
 
-shell: .state/db-initialized 
+shell: .state/db-initialized ## Open Django interactive shell
 	docker compose run --rm web ./manage.py shell
 
-clean:
+clean: ## Clean up the environment
 	docker compose down -v
 	rm -f .state/docker-build-web .state/db-initialized .state/db-migrated 
 
-test: .state/db-initialized
+test: .state/db-initialized ## Run tests
 	docker compose run --rm web ./manage.py test
 
-docker_shell: .state/db-initialized
+docker_shell: .state/db-initialized ## Open a bash shell in the web container
 	docker compose run --rm web /bin/bash
+
+.PHONY: help serve migrations migrate manage shell clean test docker_shell