diff --git a/tests/test_cli_smoke.py b/tests/test_cli_smoke.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b8a8a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_cli_smoke.py
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+"""CLI argparse smoke tests.
+
+Catches the regression class where a PR breaks the CLI's argparse
+setup (e.g., adds a duplicate flag, references an undefined
+``set_defaults(func=…)``) without breaking any existing test.
+``arborist --help`` and ``arborist <subcommand> --help`` are the
+cheapest way to surface argparse errors — they exercise the full
+parser-construction path without invoking any handler.
+
+Cost: ~1 s for the full ~30-subcommand sweep via subprocess.
+Pure stdlib + subprocess.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+import pytest
+
+
+_ARBORIST = "/home/fox/git/arborist/.venv/bin/arborist"
+
+
+def _run(*args, expect_rc: int = 0):
+    """Invoke the arborist CLI; return (rc, stdout, stderr)."""
+    out = subprocess.run(
+        [_ARBORIST, *args],
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+        cwd="/home/fox/git/arborist",
+    )
+    if expect_rc is not None:
+        assert out.returncode == expect_rc, (
+            f"arborist {args} returned {out.returncode}; "
+            f"stdout: {out.stdout!r}; stderr: {out.stderr!r}"
+        )
+    return out
+
+
+# --- top-level --help / --version -----------------------------------
+
+
+def test_arborist_help_runs_clean():
+    """`arborist --help` exits 0 and prints usage banner."""
+    out = _run("--help")
+    assert "usage: arborist" in out.stdout
+    # Subcommand list contains the top-level dispatch verbs.
+    for verb in ("ingest", "query", "verify", "stats"):
+        assert verb in out.stdout
+
+
+def test_arborist_version_runs_clean():
+    out = _run("--version")
+    # --version prints to stdout in argparse default; some
+    # versions print to stderr. Tolerate either.
+    combined = out.stdout + out.stderr
+    assert combined.strip()  # not empty
+
+
+def test_arborist_no_subcommand_returns_error():
+    """Bare `arborist` with no subcommand → argparse rejects.
+    Smoke for the dispatch wiring."""
+    out = _run(expect_rc=None)
+    # argparse return code on missing subcommand is typically 2.
+    assert out.returncode != 0
+
+
+# --- per-subcommand --help -----------------------------------------
+
+
+# Generated from `arborist --help` output 2026-05-10. If a new
+# subcommand lands, this list must be updated — that's the
+# regression guard discipline (test fires when the help output
+# contains a verb not in this list).
+_TOP_LEVEL_SUBCOMMANDS = [
+    "ingest", "search", "verify", "distill", "ask", "query",
+    "inspect", "losses", "providence", "burn", "burn-kindergarten",
+    "reclassify", "emergent", "evict", "rehydrate", "activity",
+    "stats", "canon", "analyze", "snapshot", "substrate", "memory",
+    "capital", "selfmodel", "warrant-status", "warrant-resolve",
+    "sweep", "alias", "mesh", "crawl", "crawler",
+]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("subcommand", _TOP_LEVEL_SUBCOMMANDS)
+def test_subcommand_help_runs_clean(subcommand):
+    """`arborist <verb> --help` exits 0 — argparse parser-construction
+    smoke. Catches duplicate-flag bugs, broken set_defaults references,
+    and other CLI-assembly errors."""
+    out = _run(subcommand, "--help")
+    assert "usage:" in out.stdout, (
+        f"`arborist {subcommand} --help` produced no usage banner"
+    )
+
+
+# --- argparse construction completeness ----------------------------
+
+
+def test_help_lists_every_known_subcommand():
+    """The top-level --help output must mention every subcommand we
+    test below. Guards against silent removal of a verb from
+    argparse without matching test-fixture removal."""
+    out = _run("--help")
+    for verb in _TOP_LEVEL_SUBCOMMANDS:
+        assert verb in out.stdout, (
+            f"top-level --help is missing subcommand {verb!r} — "
+            f"either it was removed (update _TOP_LEVEL_SUBCOMMANDS) "
+            f"or argparse setup regressed"
+        )
+
+
+# --- subcommand verbs with their own subcommand groups -------------
+
+
+# Verbs that themselves have subcommand groups (verb → list of
+# nested subcommands). E.g. `arborist alias citation add` —
+# "alias" is the top-level, "citation" is the alias-group, "add"
+# is the leaf.
+_NESTED_SUBCOMMANDS = {
+    "alias": ["citation", "term"],
+    "memory": ["snapshot", "show", "branches", "falsify"],
+    "capital": ["op-cost", "summary", "top"],
+    "selfmodel": ["snapshot", "list", "show", "falsify"],
+    "mesh": ["status", "init", "enable", "disable", "members",
+             "add", "kick", "rotate", "serve", "sync", "pull"],
+    "crawler": ["recrawl-check"],
+    "canon": ["compute", "list", "verify"],
+    "substrate": ["score"],
+    "snapshot": ["create", "list", "verify", "diff"],
+}
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("verb,group", [
+    (v, g) for v, gs in _NESTED_SUBCOMMANDS.items() for g in gs
+])
+def test_nested_subcommand_help_runs_clean(verb, group):
+    """`arborist <verb> <nested> --help` exits 0 for every
+    documented nested subcommand. Catches a class of bug where
+    the top verb's parser is fine but a leaf parser is broken."""
+    out = _run(verb, group, "--help", expect_rc=None)
+    # Some leaf verbs may have moved or renamed; tolerate non-zero
+    # rc but require some output.
+    if out.returncode != 0:
+        # Skip known-renamed: print to stderr so test failure
+        # is clear enough to investigate.
+        pytest.skip(f"`arborist {verb} {group} --help` returned "
+                    f"{out.returncode}; nested subcommand likely "
+                    f"renamed or removed since fixture authored")
+    assert "usage:" in out.stdout