diff --git a/acmc/phen.py b/acmc/phen.py
index 39568d559f1e62ad904255c5958a8a8250c6bfbe..86131c282a72b4bf5cc8ea2fb0f723ba2cebac9e 100644
--- a/acmc/phen.py
+++ b/acmc/phen.py
@@ -170,6 +170,15 @@ def create_empty_git_dir(path):
 
 
 def check_delete_dir(path, msg):
+    """Checks on the command line if a user wants to delete a directory 
+
+    Args:
+        path (Path): path of the directory to be deleted
+        msg (str): message to be displayed to the user
+
+    Returns:
+        Boolean: True if deleted
+    """
     deleted = False
 
     user_input = input(f"{msg}").strip().lower()
@@ -183,6 +192,19 @@ def check_delete_dir(path, msg):
 
 
 def fork(phen_dir, upstream_url, upstream_version, new_origin_url=None):
+    """Forks an upstream phenotype in a remote repo at a specific version to a local director, and optionally sets to a new remote origin"
+
+    Args:
+        phen_dir (str): local directory path where the upstream repo is to be cloned
+        upstream_url (str): url to the upstream repo
+        upstream_version (str): version in the upstream repo to clone
+        new_origin_url (str, optional): url of the remote repo to set as the new origin. Defaults to None.
+
+    Raises:
+        ValueError: if the specified version is not in the upstream repo
+        ValueError: if the upstream repo is not a valid phenotype repo
+        ValueError: if there's any other problems with Git
+    """
     logger.info(
         f"Forking upstream repo {upstream_url} {upstream_version} into directory: {phen_dir}"
     )