diff --git a/src/cortex-cli/src/cli/styles.rs b/src/cortex-cli/src/cli/styles.rs
index 4032f94e7..3bd8044a9 100644
--- a/src/cortex-cli/src/cli/styles.rs
+++ b/src/cortex-cli/src/cli/styles.rs
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ pub const AFTER_HELP: &str = color_print::cstr!(
     <green,bold>cortex resume --last</>           Continue most recent session
 
 <cyan,bold>🌍 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES</>
-    <yellow>CORTEX_HOME</>          Override config directory (default: ~/.config/cortex)
+    <yellow>CORTEX_HOME</>          Override Cortex home directory (default: ~/.cortex)
     <yellow>CORTEX_API_KEY</>       API key (alternative to --with-api-key)
     <yellow>CORTEX_MODEL</>         Default model (alternative to --model)
     <yellow>CORTEX_LOG_LEVEL</>     Log verbosity (error, warn, info, debug, trace)
@@ -43,9 +43,9 @@ pub const AFTER_HELP: &str = color_print::cstr!(
     <yellow>VISUAL</>/<yellow>EDITOR</>        Editor for /edit command
 
 <cyan,bold>📁 PATHS</>
-    <dim>Config</>      ~/.config/cortex/config.toml
-    <dim>Sessions</>    ~/.local/share/cortex/sessions/
-    <dim>Logs</>        ~/.cache/cortex/logs/
+    <dim>Config</>      ~/.cortex/config.toml
+    <dim>Sessions</>    ~/.cortex/sessions/
+    <dim>Logs</>        ~/.cortex/logs/
     <dim>Agents</>      ~/.cortex/agents/ (personal), .cortex/agents/ (project)
 
 <cyan,bold>🔗 LEARN MORE</>
diff --git a/src/cortex-cli/tests/help_paths.rs b/src/cortex-cli/tests/help_paths.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..37a7f5a8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cortex-cli/tests/help_paths.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+use std::process::Command;
+
+#[test]
+fn root_help_documents_canonical_cortex_home_paths() {
+    let output = Command::new(env!("CARGO_BIN_EXE_Cortex"))
+        .arg("--help")
+        .env("NO_COLOR", "1")
+        .output()
+        .expect("failed to run Cortex --help");
+
+    assert!(
+        output.status.success(),
+        "Cortex --help failed: stdout=\n{}\nstderr=\n{}",
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout),
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr)
+    );
+
+    let stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout);
+
+    assert!(
+        stdout.contains("default: ~/.cortex"),
+        "CORTEX_HOME help should document the canonical ~/.cortex default:\n{stdout}"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        stdout.contains("~/.cortex/config.toml"),
+        "Config path should use canonical Cortex home:\n{stdout}"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        stdout.contains("~/.cortex/sessions/"),
+        "Sessions path should use canonical Cortex home:\n{stdout}"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        stdout.contains("~/.cortex/logs/"),
+        "Logs path should use canonical Cortex home:\n{stdout}"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        !stdout.contains("~/.config/cortex"),
+        "Help should not advertise lowercase XDG config paths:\n{stdout}"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        !stdout.contains("~/.local/share/cortex"),
+        "Help should not advertise lowercase XDG data paths:\n{stdout}"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        !stdout.contains("~/.cache/cortex"),
+        "Help should not advertise lowercase XDG cache paths:\n{stdout}"
+    );
+}