diff --git a/dev/diff/cli.js b/dev/diff/cli.js
index 2170b77b720..85ec7c63aac 100644
--- a/dev/diff/cli.js
+++ b/dev/diff/cli.js
@@ -700,10 +700,6 @@ async function main () {
             task: async (subctx, subtask) => {
               await executeCommand(subtask, containers.appSource, ['bash', '-c', 'chmod +x ./dev/diff/prepare.sh'])
               await executeCommand(subtask, containers.appSource, ['bash', './dev/diff/prepare.sh'])
-              subtask.title = `Preparing source Datatracker instance - Running checks...`
-              await executeCommand(subtask, containers.appSource, ['bash', '-c', './ietf/manage.py check'])
-              subtask.title = `Preparing source Datatracker instance - Applying migrations...`
-              await executeCommand(subtask, containers.appSource, ['bash', '-c', './ietf/manage.py migrate'])
               subtask.title = `Source Datatracker instance is now ready.`
             }
           },
@@ -712,10 +708,6 @@ async function main () {
             task: async (subctx, subtask) => {
               await executeCommand(subtask, containers.appTarget, ['bash', '-c', 'chmod +x ./dev/diff/prepare.sh'])
               await executeCommand(subtask, containers.appTarget, ['bash', './dev/diff/prepare.sh'])
-              subtask.title = `Run target Datatracker instance - Running checks...`
-              await executeCommand(subtask, containers.appTarget, ['bash', '-c', './ietf/manage.py check'])
-              subtask.title = `Run target Datatracker instance - Applying migrations...`
-              await executeCommand(subtask, containers.appTarget, ['bash', '-c', './ietf/manage.py migrate'])
               subtask.title = `Run target Datatracker instance - Starting server...`
               executeCommand(subtask, containers.appTarget, ['bash', '-c', './ietf/manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000 --settings=settings_local'])
               subtask.title = `Run target Datatracker instance - Waiting for server to accept connections...`
diff --git a/dev/diff/prepare.sh b/dev/diff/prepare.sh
index 1549155caa7..c18684fc793 100644
--- a/dev/diff/prepare.sh
+++ b/dev/diff/prepare.sh
@@ -12,3 +12,5 @@ yarn legacy:build
 echo "Creating data directories..."
 chmod +x ./docker/scripts/app-create-dirs.sh
 ./docker/scripts/app-create-dirs.sh
+./ietf/manage.py check
+./ietf/manage.py migrate