diff --git a/.mdlrc b/.mdlrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b7183a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.mdlrc
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# skip MD013/line-length
+# skip MD033/no-inline-html
+rules "~MD013", "~MD033"
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index cc97dfd..9ebec22 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -41,9 +41,8 @@ repos:
   #       exclude: .*
   #       files: ansible/
   - repo: https://github.com/markdownlint/markdownlint
+    # requires `ruby` 2.7.7 or higher and the 'mdl' gem
+    # uses .mdlrc for configuration
     rev: v0.12.0
     hooks:
       - id: markdownlint
-        args:
-          - -r "~MD013"   # ignore line-length rule
-          - -r "~MD033"   # ignore no-inline-html rule