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Register the `help` command

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Metadata

Project
craft-cli
Number
#200
Type
issue
State
open
Author
mr-cal
Labels
—
Created
Updated
Closed
—

Current evaluation

Feature request to register 'help' as a first-class command in craft-cli so 'craft help help' works instead of erroring with 'command help not found'. No labels, no comments, no activity since creation ~2.8 years ago; still unimplemented in current code.

Suggested action: needs triage

Reason: The issue has no labels, no comments, and no maintainer response in ~2.8 years, showing no sign of triage. The underlying problem is still present in the current code: dispatcher.py handles 'help' as an implicit command in pre_parse_args() and _get_requested_help() looks up self.commands[cmdname], which fails for 'help' itself since it is never registered. The fix is straightforward (register a HelpCommand or special-case 'help' in _get_requested_help), but no maintainer has acknowledged or prioritized it.

Impact: 25 Quick Win: 17.5 Staleness: 75 Complexity: 30 Confidence: 70 Support Request: 10

Issue body

### What needs to get done Register help as a command so it can provide help text for itself. ### Why it needs to get done Consider the following user experience. Rockcraft suggests using the `help` command: ``` > rockcraft help Usage: rockcraft [help] <command> ... For more information about a command, run 'rockcraft help <command>'. ``` However, `help` does not have any help itself: ``` > rockcraft help help Usage: rockcraft [options] command [args]... Try 'rockcraft -h' for help. Error: command 'help' not found to provide help for ``` Snapcraft is an interesting example because it has a help command registered in snapcraft_legacy. Source: [LP#2043012](https://bugs.launchpad.net/snapcraft/+bug/2043012) from @brlin-tw

Evaluation history

Date Model Scores Action Summary
qwen/qwen3.8-27b
Impact: 25
Quick Win: 17.5
Staleness: 75
Complexity: 30
Confidence: 70
Support Request: 10
needs triage Feature request to register 'help' as a first-class command in craft-cli so 'craft help help' works instead of erroring with 'command help not found'. No labels, no comments, no activity since creation ~2.8 years ago; still unimplemented in current code.
qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 20
Confidence: 85
Support Request: 10
needs triage Feature request to register the `help` command for self-documentation. Issue is 986 days old, no maintainer response, no labels, and lacks active discussion or triage.
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 10
Confidence: 70
Support Request: 5
needs triage Missing help command registration causes rockcraft help help to fail. Open for 2.5 years with no maintainer response or labels.
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Staleness: 90
Complexity: 10
Confidence: 85
Support Request: 0
needs triage Register the help command in Rockcraft to enable self-documentation. Currently, help help fails. Open, unassigned, and inactive for over two years. Needs triage and assignment.

Update history

No update history recorded yet.

Related issues

Issue Project State Summary Similarity
#319 Support `--help` flag for craftctl craft-parts open Feature request to add a --help flag to craftctl that prints supported commands (default, set, get). No maintainer response or labels; only a Jira sync bot comment. Code still lacks the flag, but docs (PR #1091) now document the commands.
72%