diff --git a/docs/docs/20-usage/20-workflow-syntax.md b/docs/docs/20-usage/20-workflow-syntax.md
index 4e7759209..8effc3973 100644
--- a/docs/docs/20-usage/20-workflow-syntax.md
+++ b/docs/docs/20-usage/20-workflow-syntax.md
@@ -50,7 +50,8 @@ git commit -m "updated README [CI SKIP]"
## Steps
-Every step of your workflow executes commands inside a specified container. The defined commands are executed serially.
+Every step of your workflow executes commands inside a specified container.
+The defined steps are executed in sequence by default, if they should run in parallel you can use [`depends_on`](./20-workflow-syntax.md#depends_on).
The associated commit is checked out with git to a workspace which is mounted to every step of the workflow as the working directory.
```diff
@@ -484,6 +485,19 @@ Normally steps of a workflow are executed serially in the order in which they ar
- go test
```
+:::note
+You can define a step to start immediately without dependencies by adding an empty `depends_on: []`. By setting `depends_on` on a single step all other steps will be immediately executed as well if no further dependencies are specified.
+
+```yaml
+steps:
+ - name: check code format
+ image: mstruebing/editorconfig-checker
+ depends_on: [] # enable parallel steps
+ ...
+```
+
+:::
+
### `volumes`
Woodpecker gives the ability to define Docker volumes in the YAML. You can use this parameter to mount files or folders on the host machine into your containers.
diff --git a/docs/versioned_docs/version-2.4/20-usage/20-workflow-syntax.md b/docs/versioned_docs/version-2.4/20-usage/20-workflow-syntax.md
index b9aad7826..59ae06444 100644
--- a/docs/versioned_docs/version-2.4/20-usage/20-workflow-syntax.md
+++ b/docs/versioned_docs/version-2.4/20-usage/20-workflow-syntax.md
@@ -50,7 +50,8 @@ git commit -m "updated README [CI SKIP]"
## Steps
-Every step of your workflow executes commands inside a specified container. The defined commands are executed serially.
+Every step of your workflow executes commands inside a specified container.
+The defined steps are executed in sequence by default, if they should run in parallel you can use [`depends_on`](./20-workflow-syntax.md#depends_on).
The associated commit is checked out with git to a workspace which is mounted to every step of the workflow as the working directory.
```diff
@@ -478,6 +479,19 @@ Normally steps of a workflow are executed serially in the order in which they ar
- go test
```
+:::note
+You can define a step to start immediately without dependencies by adding an empty `depends_on: []`. By setting `depends_on` on a single step all other steps will be immediately executed as well if no further dependencies are specified.
+
+```yaml
+steps:
+ - name: check code format
+ image: mstruebing/editorconfig-checker
+ depends_on: [] # enable parallel steps
+ ...
+```
+
+:::
+
### `volumes`
Woodpecker gives the ability to define Docker volumes in the YAML. You can use this parameter to mount files or folders on the host machine into your containers.