diff --git a/HACKING.md b/HACKING.md
index 70c235b815..3dcba19ad2 100644
--- a/HACKING.md
+++ b/HACKING.md
@@ -80,3 +80,19 @@ yarn lint
 # or if you want linting plus automatic fixing
 yarn lint-fix
 ```
+
+## Ports
+
+In the `scripts/` folder, a bunch of blockchains and other backend systems are
+started for testing purposes. Some ports need to be changed from the default in
+order to avoid conflicts. Here is an overview of the ports used:
+
+| Port  | Application           | Usage                                                                                 |
+| ----- | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| 1317  | wasmd LCD API         | @cosmjs/launchpad and @cosmjs/cosmwasm tests                                          |
+| 1318  | simapp API            | Manual Stargate debugging                                                             |
+| 4444  | sockertserver         | @cosmjs/sockets tests                                                                 |
+| 4445  | sockertserver slow    | @cosmjs/sockets tests                                                                 |
+| 11133 | Tendermint 0.33 RPC   | @cosmjs/tendermint-rpc tests                                                          |
+| 11134 | Tendermint 0.34 RPC   | @cosmjs/tendermint-rpc tests ([soon™](https://github.com/CosmWasm/cosmjs/issues/344)) |
+| 26657 | simapp Tendermint RPC | Stargate client tests                                                                 |
diff --git a/scripts/simapp/start.sh b/scripts/simapp/start.sh
index 9270cd6f2e..6358ed3e2c 100755
--- a/scripts/simapp/start.sh
+++ b/scripts/simapp/start.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 set -o errexit -o nounset -o pipefail
 command -v shellcheck > /dev/null && shellcheck "$0"
 
+# Please keep this in sync with the Ports overview in HACKING.md
 TENDERMINT_PORT_GUEST="26657"
 TENDERMINT_PORT_HOST="26657"
 API_PORT_GUEST="1317"
diff --git a/scripts/socketserver/start.sh b/scripts/socketserver/start.sh
index 3b8a64120f..b13e3fdfe5 100755
--- a/scripts/socketserver/start.sh
+++ b/scripts/socketserver/start.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@
 set -o errexit -o nounset -o pipefail
 command -v shellcheck > /dev/null && shellcheck "$0"
 
+# Please keep this in sync with the Ports overview in HACKING.md
+DEFAULT_PORT_GUEST="4000"
+DEFAULT_PORT_HOST="4444"
+SLOW_PORT_GUEST="4000"
+SLOW_PORT_HOST="4445"
+
 SCRIPT_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
 
 SOCKETSERVER_DIR=$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/socketserver.XXXXXXXXX")
@@ -11,22 +17,22 @@ echo "SOCKETSERVER_DIR = $SOCKETSERVER_DIR"
 NAME_DEFAULT="socketserver-default"
 NAME_SLOW="socketserver-slow"
 
-LOGFILE_DEFAULT="${SOCKETSERVER_DIR}/socketserver_4444.log"
-LOGFILE_SLOW="${SOCKETSERVER_DIR}/socketserver_4445.log"
+LOGFILE_DEFAULT="${SOCKETSERVER_DIR}/socketserver_$DEFAULT_PORT_HOST.log"
+LOGFILE_SLOW="${SOCKETSERVER_DIR}/socketserver_$SLOW_PORT_HOST.log"
 
 docker build -t "socketserver:local" "$SCRIPT_DIR"
 
 docker run --rm \
   --user="$UID" \
   --name "$NAME_DEFAULT" \
-  -p "4444:4000" \
+  -p "$DEFAULT_PORT_HOST:$DEFAULT_PORT_GUEST" \
   socketserver:local \
   --delay 0 \
   > "$LOGFILE_DEFAULT" &
 docker run --rm \
   --user="$UID" \
   --name "$NAME_SLOW" \
-  -p "4445:4000" \
+  -p "$SLOW_PORT_HOST:$SLOW_PORT_GUEST" \
   socketserver:local \
   --delay 5 \
   > "$LOGFILE_SLOW" &
diff --git a/scripts/wasmd/start.sh b/scripts/wasmd/start.sh
index 0d5403211d..320cc3f8e9 100755
--- a/scripts/wasmd/start.sh
+++ b/scripts/wasmd/start.sh
@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@
 set -o errexit -o nounset -o pipefail
 command -v shellcheck > /dev/null && shellcheck "$0"
 
+# Please keep this in sync with the Ports overview in HACKING.md
+# Tendermint port (26657) and p2p port (26656) are not exposed since we don't need them for testing
 LCD_API_PORT_GUEST="1317"
 LCD_API_PORT_HOST="1317"
-# Tendermint port (26657) and p2p port (26656) are not exposed since we don't need them for testing
 
 SCRIPT_DIR="$(realpath "$(dirname "$0")")"
 # shellcheck source=./env