1 files changed, 16 insertions, 6 deletions
diff --git a/tasks/spellcheck.rb b/tasks/spellcheck.rb
index 076173fa1d..a5c775eb83 100644
--- a/tasks/spellcheck.rb
+++ b/tasks/spellcheck.rb
@@ -16,19 +16,21 @@
 #
 
 namespace :spellcheck do
-  task :fetch_common do
-    sh "wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chef/chef_dictionary/master/chef.txt -O chef_dictionary.txt"
-  end
-
-  task run: %i{config_check fetch_common} do
+  task run: :prereqs do
     sh 'cspell "**/*"'
   end
 
   desc "List the unique unrecognized words in the project."
-  task unknown_words: %i{config_check fetch_common} do
+  task unknown_words: :prereqs do
     sh 'cspell "**/*" --wordsOnly --no-summary | sort | uniq'
   end
 
+  task prereqs: %i{cspell_check config_check fetch_common}
+
+  task :fetch_common do
+    sh "wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chef/chef_dictionary/master/chef.txt -O chef_dictionary.txt"
+  end
+
   task :config_check do
     require "json"
 
@@ -42,6 +44,14 @@ namespace :spellcheck do
       abort "Failed to parse config file '#{config_file}', skipping spellcheck"
     end
   end
+
+  task :cspell_check do
+    require 'chef-utils'
+    ChefUtils.which('cspell') || abort(<<~INSTALL_CSPELL)
+          cspell is needed to run the spellcheck tasks. Run `npm install -g cspell` to install.
+          For more information: https://www.npmjs.com/package/cspell
+    INSTALL_CSPELL
+  end
 end
 
 desc "Run spellcheck on the project."