diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7a1325f53..0206f7ffd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ Spiner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Spiner). For full documentation, see
 
 `Spiner` is self-contained. Simply clone it as
 ```bash
-git clone git@gitlab.lanl.gov:jonahm/spiner.git
+git clone --recursive git@gitlab.lanl.gov:jonahm/spiner.git
 ```
 To build and run unit tests,
 ```bash
diff --git a/doc/sphinx/src/building.rst b/doc/sphinx/src/building.rst
index 90945d34e..9b7875f0b 100644
--- a/doc/sphinx/src/building.rst
+++ b/doc/sphinx/src/building.rst
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Building and Installation
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
-  git clone git@github.com:lanl/spiner.git
+  git clone --recursive git@github.com:lanl/spiner.git
 
 
 Building from source