diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8762574dac52d..6fb39c704ff1d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -30,7 +30,12 @@ all: docs
 
 docs: mandocs htmldocs
 
+# don't regenerate the snapshot if we're generating
+# snapshots, since presumably we just did that.
 mandocs: dev-deps $(mandocs)
+	@ ! [ $${npm_lifecycle_event} = "snap" ] && \
+	  ! [ $${npm_lifecycle_event} = "postsnap" ] && \
+	  TAP_SNAPSHOT=1 node test/lib/utils/config/definitions.js || true
 
 $(version_mandocs): package.json
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 9cbe9377b76bd..52a6fc9574f66 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@
     "test": "tap",
     "check-coverage": "tap",
     "snap": "tap",
-    "postsnap": "make -s docs/content/*/*.md",
+    "postsnap": "make -s mandocs",
     "test:nocleanup": "NO_TEST_CLEANUP=1 npm run test --",
     "sudotest": "sudo npm run test --",
     "sudotest:nocleanup": "sudo NO_TEST_CLEANUP=1 npm run test --",