diff --git a/bin/moshcode.mjs b/bin/moshcode.mjs
index 2d8f8f7..e1732c4 100755
--- a/bin/moshcode.mjs
+++ b/bin/moshcode.mjs
@@ -496,7 +496,7 @@ async function main() {
   }
 
   help();
-  if (cmd && cmd !== "help") process.exit(1);
+  if (cmd && !["help", "--help", "-h"].includes(cmd)) process.exit(1);
 }
 
 main();
diff --git a/src/cli-schema.mjs b/src/cli-schema.mjs
index 9e4d74c..1d4ae9b 100644
--- a/src/cli-schema.mjs
+++ b/src/cli-schema.mjs
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ export const CORE_CLI_COMMANDS = [
   { name: "completion", description: "print a shell completion script" },
   { name: "run", description: "run a moshscript" },
   { name: "help", description: "show command help" },
+  { name: "--help", description: "show command help" },
+  { name: "-h", description: "show command help" },
   { name: "version", description: "show the installed version" },
   { name: "--version", description: "show the installed version" },
   { name: "-v", description: "show the installed version" },
diff --git a/test/cli.test.mjs b/test/cli.test.mjs
index e1a051b..9905830 100644
--- a/test/cli.test.mjs
+++ b/test/cli.test.mjs
@@ -22,6 +22,17 @@ test("moshcode --version prints the package version", () => {
   assert.equal(result.stderr, "");
 });
 
+for (const command of ["help", "--help", "-h"]) {
+  test(`moshcode ${command} prints help successfully`, () => {
+    const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, [BIN, command], {
+      encoding: "utf8",
+    });
+    assert.equal(result.status, 0);
+    assert.match(result.stdout, /^moshcode .*\n\nusage:/);
+    assert.equal(result.stderr, "");
+  });
+}
+
 for (const command of ["engines", "tools"]) {
   test(`moshcode ${command} --json prints machine-readable install status`, () => {
     const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, [BIN, command, "--json"], {
diff --git a/test/completion.test.mjs b/test/completion.test.mjs
index c8c499a..0c9f4af 100644
--- a/test/completion.test.mjs
+++ b/test/completion.test.mjs
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ test("completion model derives engines, aliases, and tools from their registries
     assert.ok(top.has(name));
     assert.ok(install.has(name));
   }
+  for (const name of ["help", "--help", "-h"]) {
+    assert.ok(top.has(name));
+  }
 
   const upgrade = new Set(names(model.upgrade));
   for (const { name } of UPGRADE_TARGETS) assert.ok(upgrade.has(name));