diff --git a/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml b/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml
index d37724d75da..5fc3802f1b0 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml
@@ -540,6 +540,9 @@ EDXAPP_EXTRA_REQUIREMENTS: []
 # Example:
 # EDXAPP_PRIVATE_REQUIREMENTS:
 #   - name: git+https://git.myproject.org/MyProject#egg=MyProject
+# Note: This list contains edx.org specific dependencies, even though this is
+#  a public repo. The plan is to phase this out along with the rest of this
+#  repo as part of the DEPR https://github.com/openedx/public-engineering/issues/51.
 EDXAPP_PRIVATE_REQUIREMENTS:
     # For Harvard courses:
     - name: xblock-problem-builder==5.1.3