diff --git a/justfile b/justfile
index 42f062c1..a969d71d 100644
--- a/justfile
+++ b/justfile
@@ -22,8 +22,15 @@ clean:
     rm -rf .venv
 
 
+_env:
+    #!/usr/bin/env bash
+    set -euo pipefail
+
+    test -f .env || cp dotenv-sample .env
+
+
 # ensure valid virtualenv
-virtualenv:
+virtualenv: _env
     #!/usr/bin/env bash
     set -euo pipefail
 
@@ -134,15 +141,12 @@ metrics *args: devenv
     $BIN/python -m metrics {{ args }}
 
 
-docker-build env="dev":
+docker-build env="dev": _env
     #!/usr/bin/env bash
     set -euo pipefail
 
     test -z "${SKIP_BUILD:-}" || { echo "SKIP_BUILD set"; exit 0; }
 
-    # ensure env file exists
-    test -f .env || cp dotenv-sample .env
-
     # set build args for prod builds
     export BUILD_DATE=$(date -u +'%y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')
     export GITREF=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
@@ -152,6 +156,6 @@ docker-build env="dev":
 
 
 # run command in dev|prod container
-docker-run env="dev" *args="bash":
+docker-run env="dev" *args="bash": _env
     {{ just_executable() }} docker-build {{ env }}
     docker compose run --rm metrics-{{ env }} {{ args }}
diff --git a/metrics/github/api.py b/metrics/github/api.py
index eceebeb6..df1e6440 100644
--- a/metrics/github/api.py
+++ b/metrics/github/api.py
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ def _iter_pull_requests(org, date_range):
     # we can't seem to interpolate graphql variables into a string, so doing it
     # here
     search_query = f"is:pr draft:false org:{org} {date_range}"
+    log.debug(f"GitHub search query: {search_query}")
 
     query = """
     query getPRs($cursor: String, $searchQuery: String!){