diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 371646074c..96e02e33f9 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
     "@changesets/cli": "^2.11.0",
     "@spotify/eslint-config-oss": "^1.0.1",
     "@spotify/prettier-config": "^8.0.0",
+    "command-exists": "^1.2.9",
     "concurrently": "^5.2.0",
     "fs-extra": "^9.0.0",
     "husky": "^4.2.3",
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@
       "prettier --write"
     ],
     "*.md": [
-      "vale"
+      "node ./scripts/check-docs-quality"
     ]
   },
   "jest": {
diff --git a/scripts/check-docs-quality.js b/scripts/check-docs-quality.js
index 61968a2ac0..4f5f689105 100755
--- a/scripts/check-docs-quality.js
+++ b/scripts/check-docs-quality.js
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
  */
 const { execSync, spawnSync } = require('child_process');
 const path = require('path');
+// eslint-disable-next-line import/no-extraneous-dependencies
+const commandExists = require('command-exists');
 
 const listFilesTrackedByGit = 'git ls-files';
 
@@ -23,46 +25,58 @@ const inheritStdIo = {
   stdio: 'inherit',
 };
 
+const LINT_SKIPPED_MESSAGE =
+  'Skipping documentation quality check (vale not found). Install vale linter (https://docs.errata.ai/vale/install) to enable.\n';
 const ERROR_MESSAGE =
-  'Please install vale linter(https://docs.errata.ai/vale/install). Ignore this message if already installed.\n';
+  'Language linter (vale) generated errors. Please check the errors and review any markdown files that you changed.\n';
 
-// xargs is not supported by shx.
-if (process.platform === 'win32') {
-  const validMDFilesCommand = `${listFilesTrackedByGit} | .\\node_modules\\.bin\\shx grep ".md"`;
-  try {
-    // get list of all md files except in directories of gitignore.
-    let filesToLint = execSync(validMDFilesCommand, {
-      stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'inherit'],
-    });
+// Proceed with the script only if Vale linter is installed. Limit the friction and surprises caused by the script.
+commandExists('vale')
+  .catch(() => {
+    console.log(LINT_SKIPPED_MESSAGE);
+    process.exit(0);
+  })
+  .then(() => {
+    // xargs is not supported by shx.
+    if (process.platform === 'win32') {
+      const validMDFilesCommand = `${listFilesTrackedByGit} | .\\node_modules\\.bin\\shx grep ".md"`;
+      try {
+        // get list of all md files except in directories of gitignore.
+        let filesToLint = execSync(validMDFilesCommand, {
+          stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'inherit'],
+        });
 
-    // set all file(s) path as absolute path
-    filesToLint = filesToLint
-      .toString()
-      .split('\n')
-      .map(filepath => (filepath ? path.join(process.cwd(), filepath) : null))
-      .filter(Boolean);
+        // set all file(s) path as absolute path
+        filesToLint = filesToLint
+          .toString()
+          .split('\n')
+          .map(filepath =>
+            filepath ? path.join(process.cwd(), filepath) : null,
+          )
+          .filter(Boolean);
 
-    const output = spawnSync('vale', filesToLint, inheritStdIo);
+        const output = spawnSync('vale', filesToLint, inheritStdIo);
 
-    // if the command does not succeed
-    if (output.status !== 0) {
-      // if it contains system level error. [in this case vale does not exist]
-      if (output.error) {
-        console.error(ERROR_MESSAGE);
+        // if the command does not succeed
+        if (output.status !== 0) {
+          // if it contains system level error. [in this case vale does not exist]
+          if (output.error) {
+            console.error(ERROR_MESSAGE);
+          }
+          process.exit(1);
+        }
+      } catch (e) {
+        console.error(e.message);
+        process.exit(1);
+      }
+    } else {
+      const validMDFilesCommand = `${listFilesTrackedByGit} | ./node_modules/.bin/shx grep ".md"`;
+      // use xargs
+      try {
+        execSync(`${validMDFilesCommand} | xargs vale`, inheritStdIo);
+      } catch (e) {
+        console.error(ERROR_MESSAGE);
+        process.exit(1);
       }
-      process.exit(1);
     }
-  } catch (e) {
-    console.error(e.message);
-    process.exit(1);
-  }
-} else {
-  const validMDFilesCommand = `${listFilesTrackedByGit} | ./node_modules/.bin/shx grep ".md"`;
-  // use xargs
-  try {
-    execSync(`${validMDFilesCommand} | xargs vale`, inheritStdIo);
-  } catch (e) {
-    console.error(ERROR_MESSAGE);
-    process.exit(1);
-  }
-}
+  });
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 7dbc7f964a..859c26c6c4 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -8537,6 +8537,11 @@ command-exists-promise@^2.0.2:
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/command-exists-promise/-/command-exists-promise-2.0.2.tgz#7beecc4b218299f3c61fa69a4047aa0b36a64a99"
   integrity sha512-T6PB6vdFrwnHXg/I0kivM3DqaCGZLjjYSOe0a5WgFKcz1sOnmOeIjnhQPXVXX3QjVbLyTJ85lJkX6lUpukTzaA==
 
+command-exists@^1.2.9:
+  version "1.2.9"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/command-exists/-/command-exists-1.2.9.tgz#c50725af3808c8ab0260fd60b01fbfa25b954f69"
+  integrity sha512-LTQ/SGc+s0Xc0Fu5WaKnR0YiygZkm9eKFvyS+fRsU7/ZWFF8ykFM6Pc9aCVf1+xasOOZpO3BAVgVrKvsqKHV7w==
+
 commander@^2.11.0, commander@^2.19.0, commander@^2.20.0, commander@^2.20.3, commander@~2.20.3:
   version "2.20.3"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/commander/-/commander-2.20.3.tgz#fd485e84c03eb4881c20722ba48035e8531aeb33"