diff --git a/.github/workflows/CompatHelper.yml b/.github/workflows/CompatHelper.yml
index f67b3fee..d0e6e666 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/CompatHelper.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/CompatHelper.yml
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: "Run CompatHelper"
         run: |
           import CompatHelper
-          CompatHelper.main()
+          CompatHelper.main(; subdirs=[""])  # replace with subdirs=["", "test", "docs"] for a typical package
         shell: julia --color=yes {0}
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d5fedd8b..a9fe37fe 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 Create a file at `.github/workflows/CompatHelper.yml` with the contents of the [CompatHelper.yml](.github/workflows/CompatHelper.yml) that is included in this repository.
 
 If you need to use any special arguments for the `main` function, you can modify this file to add them.
+In particular, don't forget to add subfolders like `"test"` or `"docs"` to the `subdirs` keyword argument if you are developing a full-fledged Julia package.
 
 ### GitLab
 
diff --git a/docs/src/index.md b/docs/src/index.md
index 0e4d6617..63ca23fc 100644
--- a/docs/src/index.md
+++ b/docs/src/index.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ If you would like to help with adding Julia support to Dependabot, join us in th
 Create a file at `.github/workflows/CompatHelper.yml` with the contents of the [CompatHelper.yml](https://github.com/JuliaRegistries/CompatHelper.jl/blob/master/.github/workflows/CompatHelper.yml) that is included in this repository.
 
 If you need to use any special arguments for the `main` function, you can modify this file to add them.
+In particular, don't forget to add subfolders like `"test"` or `"docs"` to the `subdirs` keyword argument if you are developing a full-fledged Julia package.
 
 ### GitLab
 For GitLab you will want to add CompatHelper as a job in your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file such as: