diff --git a/packages/ipfs/src/cli/index.js b/packages/ipfs/src/cli/index.js
index 708eda1d0f..cc5421515e 100644
--- a/packages/ipfs/src/cli/index.js
+++ b/packages/ipfs/src/cli/index.js
@@ -18,6 +18,13 @@ module.exports = (command, ctxMiddleware) => {
         .fail((msg, err, yargs) => {
           // Handle yargs errors
           if (msg) {
+            // if the error was caused by an unknown command, the use of `.parse(command)`
+            // below causes printing help to fail: https://github.com/yargs/yargs/issues/1419#issuecomment-527234789
+            // so pass the unadulterated parser in as `yargs` in order to print help successfully
+            if (msg.includes('Unknown argument')) {
+              yargs = parser
+            }
+
             return reject(errCode(new Error(msg), 'ERR_YARGS', { yargs }))
           }
 
diff --git a/packages/ipfs/test/cli/daemon.js b/packages/ipfs/test/cli/daemon.js
index fb6720f748..6ff510b179 100644
--- a/packages/ipfs/test/cli/daemon.js
+++ b/packages/ipfs/test/cli/daemon.js
@@ -256,4 +256,13 @@ describe('daemon', () => {
       }
     })
   })
+
+  it('should print help when command is unknown', async function () {
+    this.timeout(100 * 1000)
+
+    const err = await ipfs.fail('derp')
+
+    expect(err.stderr).to.include('Commands:')
+    expect(err.stderr).to.include('Unknown argument: derp')
+  })
 })