diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 802f28933..638511eae 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -19,13 +19,13 @@ update-submodules: ## grab the current documentation from each connected repo
 build: ## build docs into the local 'site' folder
 	@$(MAKE) graphvizfigures
 	@$(MAKE) install-requirements
-	mike deploy $(DSP) latest --update-aliases
-	mike set-default latest
+	.venv/bin/mike deploy $(DSP) latest --update-aliases
+	.venv/bin/mike set-default latest
 
 .PHONY: serve
 serve: ## serve docs for local viewing
 	@$(MAKE) build
-	mike serve
+	.venv/bin/mike serve
 
 .PHONY: deploy
 deploy: ## build and publish docs to Github Pages with versioning from the release.mk file
@@ -34,12 +34,12 @@ deploy: ## build and publish docs to Github Pages with versioning from the relea
 
 .PHONY: install-requirements
 install-requirements: ## install requirements
-	pip3 install -r requirements.txt > /dev/null
+	.venv/bin/pip3 install -r requirements.txt > /dev/null
 
 .PHONY: clean
 clean: ## cleans the project directory
 	@rm -rf site/
-	mike delete --all
+	.venv/bin/mike delete --all
 
 .PHONY: graphvizfigures
 graphvizfigures: $(PNG_FIGURES) ## to generate images from dot files
diff --git a/update-and-deploy.sh b/update-and-deploy.sh
index 78f337953..5505ea6c5 100755
--- a/update-and-deploy.sh
+++ b/update-and-deploy.sh
@@ -61,10 +61,10 @@ else
     make graphvizfigures
 
     echo "Deploy version ${v} to github pages now"
-    mike deploy --push --branch gh-pages --update-aliases ${v} ${alias}
+    .venv/bin/mike deploy --push --branch gh-pages --update-aliases ${v} ${alias}
 
     # keep the latest stable version as default
-    mike set-default --push --branch gh-pages latest
+    .venv/bin/mike set-default --push --branch gh-pages latest
     echo $sep
 fi