diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 9408d80b4e8b72d019c5f3a7c8f9ab6d8d0ba689..e294c620b0fdcf663ef75e06f9512728279d14ce 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 stages:
   - prepare
-  - black
+  - format
   - test
   - build
   - release
@@ -48,14 +48,14 @@ push_to_github:
       - setup.py
       - tests/**/*.py
 
-black:
+format:
   <<: *pyenv
   <<: *changes
-  stage: black
+  stage: format
   script:
     - pyenv shell 3.6.4  # black install and run needs python 3.6.x minimum
     - pip install -r requirements_dev.txt
-    - make black
+    - make check-format
 
 test:
   <<: *pyenv
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d83c7c953fd3d86074bd80490403120239f05e2e..c494add83e0fe90790820f6ffe0e1844c39e1203 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.PHONY: docs tests check mypy pylint black
+.PHONY: docs tests check check-format mypy pylint format
 
 # generate documentation
 docs:
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ tests:
 	python3 -m unittest ${TESTS_FILTER}
 
 # check
-check: mypy pylint black
+check: mypy pylint check-format
 
 # check static typing
 mypy:
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ mypy:
 pylint:
 	pylint --disable=C,R0913,R0903,R0902,R0914,R0912,R0915,W0613 --enable=C0121,C0202,C0321 --jobs=0 duniterpy/
 
+# check format
+check-format:
+	black --check duniterpy
+
 # format code
-black:
+format:
 	black duniterpy