diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 36dcf8b..363350b 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,29 +1,30 @@
 ---
-# This file is a template, and might need editing before it works on your project.
-# see https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/ci/yaml/README.html for all available options
-
-# you can delete this line if you're not using Docker
+# install moreutils to enable ifne (if not empty)
+# will only run the respective analyzers when files to test
+# are acutally found
 image: fnichol/check-shell:latest
 
 analyze:
   stage: test
   before_script:
+    - apk add moreutils
     - shellcheck --version
   script:
     - echo "--------- CHECKING POSIX SHELLSCRIPTS -------------"
-    - find . -type f -name '*.sh' | xargs shellcheck -Calways
+    - find . -type f -name '*.sh' | ifne xargs shellcheck -Calways
     - echo "--------- CHECKING ZSH SHELLSCRIPTS -------------"
-    - find . -type f -name '*.zsh' | xargs shellcheck -Calways -s bash -e SC2034
+    - find . -type f -name '*.zsh' | ifne xargs shellcheck -Calways -s bash -e SC2034
 
 lint:
   stage: test
   before_script:
+    - apk add moreutils
     - shfmt -version
   script:
     - echo "--------- CHECKING POSIX SHELLSCRIPTS -------------"
-    - find . -type f -name '*.sh' | xargs shfmt -d -i 2
+    - find . -type f -name '*.sh' | ifne xargs shfmt -d -i 2
     - echo "--------- CHECKING ZSH SHELLSCRIPTS -------------"
-    - find . -type f -name '*.zsh' | xargs shfmt -d -i 2
+    - find . -type f -name '*.zsh' | ifne xargs shfmt -d -i 2
 
 test:
   stage: test