diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 46da2900c120164d06127d5f93b4b99b57ef20c0..5dd75b7eeea69f2c02b8318ad395ad0f9866238c 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ image: rocker/verse
 compile:
   stage: build
   before_script:
-    - Rscript preload-packages.R
+    - Rscript preload-packages.R   # optional, but saves time
   script:
     - Rscript -e "library(knitr);knit('report_en.Rnw');"
     - Rscript -e "library(tinytex);pdflatex('report_en.tex');"
diff --git a/preload-packages.R b/preload-packages.R
index a7dc35cc3d409ff721bc6d9affce021271c2a54a..5f4f9055411f5c84dac724324b3737b4b954e3a2 100644
--- a/preload-packages.R
+++ b/preload-packages.R
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# Preloading the LaTeX packages is optional (tinytex would install them
+# on-the-fly when calling `pdflatex()`), but is a time-saver for GitLab CI
 latex_packages = c(
     'babel-english',
     'babel-german',