diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
index c7a0ed4..2e5f17e 100644
--- a/src/cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ function booleanFlag(flags: Flags, key: string, usage: string): boolean {
 export async function handleCliCommand(argv: string[]): Promise<void> {
   const rawCommand = argv[0];
 
-  if (!rawCommand || rawCommand === '--help') {
+  if (!rawCommand || rawCommand === '--help' || rawCommand === 'help') {
     printUsage();
     return;
   }
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index e7c829e..3e7a989 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ const CLI_SUBCOMMANDS = [
   'refs',
   'cycles',
   'init',
-  'map'
+  'map',
+  'help'
 ];
 
 // Check if this module is the entry point.
@@ -108,6 +109,10 @@ const isDirectCliSubcommand =
 
 // Resolve optional bootstrap root with validation handled later in main().
 function resolveRootPath(): string | undefined {
+  if (isDirectRun && directSubcommand === 'help') {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
   const envPath = process.env.CODEBASE_ROOT;
 
   // Walk argv starting at position 2, skip known flags and their values.
diff --git a/tests/cli-entrypoint-runtime.test.ts b/tests/cli-entrypoint-runtime.test.ts
index 7bdb291..1bef25a 100644
--- a/tests/cli-entrypoint-runtime.test.ts
+++ b/tests/cli-entrypoint-runtime.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
-import { resolve } from 'node:path';
+import { mkdir, mkdtemp, readdir, rm } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join, resolve } from 'node:path';
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 
 const root = resolve(import.meta.dirname, '..');
@@ -54,4 +56,47 @@ describe('CLI entrypoint runtime', () => {
     expect(parsed.rootPath).toBe(root);
     expect(parsed.hint).toContain('refresh_index');
   }, 120_000);
+
+  it('prints usage for help from a project containing a directory named help', async () => {
+    const projectRoot = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'cbc-cli-help-'));
+    const helpDirectory = join(projectRoot, 'help');
+
+    const env = { ...process.env };
+    delete env.CODEBASE_ROOT;
+
+    try {
+      await mkdir(helpDirectory);
+
+      const result = spawnSync(
+        process.execPath,
+        ['--import', import.meta.resolve('tsx'), entrypoint, 'help'],
+        {
+          cwd: projectRoot,
+          env,
+          encoding: 'utf8',
+          timeout: 10_000
+        }
+      );
+
+      expect({
+        errorCode: result.error?.code,
+        exitCode: result.status,
+        helpText: result.stdout.includes('codebase-context <command> [options]'),
+        commandsSection: result.stdout.includes('Commands:'),
+        stderr: result.stderr,
+        projectEntries: await readdir(projectRoot),
+        helpEntries: await readdir(helpDirectory)
+      }).toEqual({
+        errorCode: undefined,
+        exitCode: 0,
+        helpText: true,
+        commandsSection: true,
+        stderr: '',
+        projectEntries: ['help'],
+        helpEntries: []
+      });
+    } finally {
+      await rm(projectRoot, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  }, 70_000);
 });