diff --git a/pkg/commands/deploy_actions.go b/pkg/commands/deploy_actions.go
index 680e794e..b22dea90 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/deploy_actions.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/deploy_actions.go
@@ -235,12 +235,6 @@ func DeployL1ContractsAction(cCtx *cli.Context) error {
 	logger := common.LoggerFromContext(cCtx)
 	caser := cases.Title(language.English)
 
-	// Check if docker is running, else try to start it
-	err := common.EnsureDockerIsRunning(cCtx)
-	if err != nil {
-		return cli.Exit(err.Error(), 1)
-	}
-
 	// Start timing execution runtime
 	startTime := time.Now()
 
@@ -261,6 +255,7 @@ func DeployL1ContractsAction(cCtx *cli.Context) error {
 	contextName := cCtx.String("context")
 
 	// Check for context
+	var err error
 	var yamlPath string
 	var rootNode, contextNode *yaml.Node
 	if contextName == "" {
diff --git a/pkg/commands/devnet_actions.go b/pkg/commands/devnet_actions.go
index 7164cda4..9c8acb17 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/devnet_actions.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/devnet_actions.go
@@ -330,6 +330,13 @@ func StartDevnetAction(cCtx *cli.Context) error {
 
 	// Deploy the contracts after starting devnet unless skipped
 	if !skipDeployContracts {
+		// Check if docker is running, else try to start it
+		err := common.EnsureDockerIsRunning(cCtx)
+		if err != nil {
+			return cli.Exit(err.Error(), 1)
+		}
+
+		// Call deploy L1 action within devnet context
 		if err := DeployL1ContractsAction(cCtx); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("deploy-contracts failed - please restart devnet and try again: %w", err)
 		}