diff --git a/docs/developer/release/README-release-process.html b/docs/developer/release/README-release-process.html
index 93d4fc98292..820d8af7c37 100644
--- a/docs/developer/release/README-release-process.html
+++ b/docs/developer/release/README-release-process.html
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ <h2 id="step_by_step">Step by Step</h2>
       <strong>In a user-specific temporary directory, clone/update the Checker Framework repository (it contains the release scripts).</strong><br/>
       <code>mkdir -p /scratch/$USER/jsr308-release<br/></code>
       <code>cd /scratch/$USER/jsr308-release<br/></code>
-      <code>(cd checker-framework && git pull --quiet) || git clone --quiet https://github.com/typetools/checker-framework.git<br/></code>
+      <code>test -d checker-framework && (cd checker-framework && git pull --quiet) || git clone --quiet https://github.com/typetools/checker-framework.git<br/></code>
       <code>cd checker-framework/docs/developer/release<br/></code>
     (The release scripts will checkout and build all dependencies.)
   </li>