diff --git a/justfile b/justfile
index 305d4b760..6fe50562e 100644
--- a/justfile
+++ b/justfile
@@ -102,19 +102,30 @@ debug config_py *ARGS:
 # initialize a containerized development environment
 init:
     #!/usr/bin/env sh
-    # while setting the denv_workspace is helpful for other
-    # commands that can assume the denv is already initialized,
-    # we need to unset this environment variable to make sure
-    # the test is done appropriately.
-    # just makes sure this recipe runs from the directory of
-    # the justfile so we know we are in the correct location.
-    unset denv_workspace
-    if denv check --workspace --quiet; then
-      echo "\033[32mWorkspace already initialized.\033[0m"
-      denv config print
+    set -eu
+    denv_major=$(denv version | sed 's/denv v//' | cut -f 1 -d.)
+    denv_minor=$(denv version | sed 's/denv v//' | cut -f 2 -d.)
+    if [ "${denv_major}" -lt "1" ] || [ "${denv_minor}" -lt "1" ]; then
+      # denv v1.0.X or earlier, manually check for workspace
+      # which may print a confusing error from denv when no workspace is found
+      unset denv_workspace
+      # while setting the denv_workspace is helpful for other
+      # commands that can assume the denv is already initialized,
+      # we need to unset this environment variable to make sure
+      # the test is done appropriately.
+      # just makes sure this recipe runs from the directory of
+      # the justfile so we know we are in the correct location.
+      if denv check --workspace --quiet; then
+        echo "\033[32mWorkspace already initialized.\033[0m"
+      else
+        denv init --clean-env --name ldmx ldmx/dev:latest "${LDMX_BASE}"
+      fi
     else
-      denv init --clean-env --name ldmx ldmx/dev:latest ${LDMX_BASE}
+      # denv v1.1.0 and later has updated denv init to allow us
+      # to avoid overwriting quietly
+      denv init --clean-env --no-over --no-mkdir --name ldmx ldmx/dev:latest "${LDMX_BASE}"
     fi
+    denv config print
 
 # check that the necessary programs for running ldmx-sw are present
 check:
@@ -161,10 +172,21 @@ format-just:
 # check the scripts for common errors and bugs
 shellcheck:
     #!/usr/bin/env sh
-    set -exu
+    set -x
     format_list=$(mktemp)
-    git ls-tree -r HEAD | awk '{ if ($1 == 100755 || $4 ~ /\.sh/) print $4 }' > ${format_list}
-    shellcheck --severity style --shell sh $(cat ${format_list})
+    git ls-tree -r HEAD | awk '{ if ($1 == 100755 || $4 ~ /\.sh/) print $4 }' \
+      > "${format_list}"
+    xargs --arg-file="${format_list}" \
+      shellcheck --severity style --shell sh
+    rm "${format_list}"
+
+# check a script recipe also using shellcheck
+shellcheck-recipe RECIPE:
+    #!/usr/bin/env sh
+    source=$(mktemp)
+    just -n {{ RECIPE }} 2> "${source}"
+    shellcheck --severity style --shell sh "${source}"
+    rm "${source}"
 
 # below are the mimics of ldmx <cmd>
 # we could think about removing them if folks are happy with committing to the