diff --git a/rig/ctrl/selftest.sh b/rig/ctrl/selftest.sh
index f954d32..c4954e0 100755
--- a/rig/ctrl/selftest.sh
+++ b/rig/ctrl/selftest.sh
@@ -168,6 +168,26 @@ check "guards on the variable"  "1" "$(grep -c 'allow_k8s_contexts(CTX)' Tiltfil
 check "asks ports.sh for facts" "1" "$(grep -c "local('bash ports.sh active'" Tiltfile)"
 
 
+note "the standalone Makefile only calls real verbs"
+# That file exists so nothing wrapping these scripts has to GUESS how to call
+# them. A generated Makefile once did guess: `rigmini.sh on`, which is not a
+# verb, and a bare `rigdeps.sh` for "check and report", which installs. So each
+# target's default verb must be one the script's own dispatch accepts — read
+# from the script's `case`, not from a list here that could drift from it.
+verbs_of() {
+    sed -n '/^case "\$cmd" in/,/^esac/p' "$1" | grep -oE '^    [a-z]+\)' | tr -d ' )'
+}
+for pair in deps:rigdeps.sh mem:rigmini.sh; do
+    target=${pair%%:*}; script=${pair##*:}
+    verb="$(make --no-print-directory -s -n -f ../standalone/Makefile "$target" 2>/dev/null \
+            | awk -v s="$script" 'index($0, s) { print $NF; exit }')"
+    check "make $target -> $script ${verb:-?}, a verb it accepts" "yes" \
+        "$(verbs_of "../standalone/$script" | grep -qx "$verb" && echo yes || echo "no: '$verb'")"
+done
+check "no \`mini\` target, which already means minimal footprint" "0" \
+    "$(grep -cE '^mini:' ../standalone/Makefile)"
+
+
 note "optional — needs tilt and this rig's cluster"
 # Parsing the Tiltfile for real is the only way to know it still evaluates, but
 # Tilt snapshots a kubectl context before parsing, so it cannot run without a
diff --git a/rig/standalone/Makefile b/rig/standalone/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15e7fc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rig/standalone/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Optional shorthand for the two standalone scripts. They run without it:
+# `bash rigdeps.sh detect` and `bash rigmini.sh status` are the whole interface,
+# and this file only spells those out so nobody has to guess them.
+#
+# Guessing is what went wrong before. A Makefile generated around these scripts
+# invented `make mini` -> `rigmini.sh on`, a verb that does not exist, and a bare
+# `rigdeps.sh` for "check and report", which actually installs. So every target
+# here calls only a verb the script accepts, and ctrl/selftest.sh checks that.
+#
+# Works wherever the three files sit together — the scripts are found beside
+# this Makefile, not in the current directory, so `make -f path/Makefile` works.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   make deps                 report the host and toolchain; changes nothing
+#   make deps install [dev]   download, verify and install into ~/.local/bin
+#   make mem                  advertised memory and what caps it; safe
+#   make mem push             allocates until it stops — not on a box you need
+
+HERE := $(dir $(abspath $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))
+
+# Words after the target become the script's verb and arguments.
+ARGS := $(wordlist 2,$(words $(MAKECMDGOALS)),$(MAKECMDGOALS))
+ifneq ($(ARGS),)
+$(eval $(ARGS):;@:)
+.PHONY: $(ARGS)
+endif
+
+.DEFAULT_GOAL := help
+.PHONY: help deps mem
+
+help:                          ## list targets
+	@grep -hE '^[a-z][a-z-]*:.*?##' $(MAKEFILE_LIST) | sed 's/:.*##/\t/' | expand -t16
+
+# Defaults to `detect`, not `install`: on a machine you are still evaluating,
+# the bare command should report. Installing is a word you type.
+deps:                          ## toolchain  [detect|list|verify|install|fetch]  (default detect)
+	bash $(HERE)rigdeps.sh $(or $(ARGS),detect)
+
+# `mem`, matching the full rig's `make mem`, and deliberately NOT `mini`: that
+# word already means "minimal footprint" in the projects that use this, and one
+# name pointing at two jobs is how the invented target happened.
+mem:                           ## memory and its caps  [status|push|all]  (default status)
+	bash $(HERE)rigmini.sh $(or $(ARGS),status)
diff --git a/rig/standalone/README.md b/rig/standalone/README.md
index d24abe5..a5aa7a5 100644
--- a/rig/standalone/README.md
+++ b/rig/standalone/README.md
@@ -39,6 +39,20 @@ bash rigmini.sh status          # advertised memory and caps; safe
 bash rigmini.sh push            # allocates until it stops — not on a machine you need
 ```
 
+The `Makefile` beside them is **optional shorthand** for exactly those calls —
+copy it along or don't; the scripts do not need it:
+
+```bash
+make deps                       # = rigdeps.sh detect   (reports; installing is `make deps install`)
+make mem                        # = rigmini.sh status
+```
+
+If you wrap these scripts in a Makefile of your own, copy the calls from that
+file rather than guessing them. `rigmini.sh` measures memory; it has no `on` or
+`off`, and toggling a heavy service off for a smaller footprint is a job for the
+project's own manifests, not for this script. `make selftest` in the full rig
+fails if this Makefile ever calls a verb its script does not accept.
+
 If an earlier setup already put these tools in some other directory on PATH,
 remove that directory and the line that added it — do not rely on `install` to
 notice. It only reports shadowing once `~/.local/bin` is itself on PATH, which on