diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
index 41a8294f0..b459cde3d 100755
--- a/src/cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ for (const op of operations) {
 }
 
 // CLI-only commands that bypass the operation layer
-const CLI_ONLY = new Set(['init', 'upgrade', 'post-upgrade', 'check-update', 'integrations', 'publish', 'check-backlinks', 'lint', 'report', 'import', 'export', 'files', 'embed', 'serve', 'call', 'config', 'doctor', 'migrate', 'eval', 'sync', 'extract', 'features', 'autopilot', 'graph-query', 'jobs', 'agent', 'apply-migrations', 'skillpack-check', 'skillpack', 'resolvers', 'integrity', 'repair-jsonb', 'orphans', 'sources', 'mounts', 'dream', 'check-resolvable', 'routing-eval', 'skillify', 'smoke-test', 'providers', 'storage', 'repos', 'code-def', 'code-refs', 'reindex-code', 'reindex-frontmatter', 'code-callers', 'code-callees', 'frontmatter', 'auth', 'friction', 'claw-test', 'book-mirror', 'takes', 'think', 'salience', 'anomalies', 'transcripts', 'models', 'remote', 'recall', 'forget', 'edges-backfill', 'cache', 'ze-switch', 'founder']);
+const CLI_ONLY = new Set(['init', 'upgrade', 'post-upgrade', 'check-update', 'integrations', 'publish', 'check-backlinks', 'lint', 'report', 'import', 'export', 'files', 'embed', 'serve', 'call', 'config', 'doctor', 'migrate', 'eval', 'sync', 'extract', 'features', 'autopilot', 'graph-query', 'jobs', 'agent', 'apply-migrations', 'skillpack-check', 'skillpack', 'resolvers', 'integrity', 'repair-jsonb', 'orphans', 'sources', 'mounts', 'dream', 'check-resolvable', 'routing-eval', 'skillify', 'smoke-test', 'providers', 'storage', 'repos', 'code-def', 'code-refs', 'reindex-code', 'reindex-frontmatter', 'code-callers', 'code-callees', 'frontmatter', 'auth', 'friction', 'claw-test', 'book-mirror', 'takes', 'think', 'search', 'salience', 'anomalies', 'transcripts', 'models', 'remote', 'recall', 'forget', 'edges-backfill', 'cache', 'ze-switch', 'founder', 'calibration']);
 // CLI-only commands whose handlers print their own --help text. These are
 // excluded from the generic short-circuit so detailed per-command and
 // per-subcommand usage stays reachable.
@@ -76,6 +76,11 @@ async function main() {
 
   // Per-command --help
   if (hasHelpFlag(subArgs)) {
+    if (command === 'search' && isSearchCliOnlySubcommand(subArgs)) {
+      const { SEARCH_USAGE } = await import('./commands/search.ts');
+      console.log(SEARCH_USAGE);
+      return;
+    }
     const op = cliOps.get(command);
     if (op) {
       printOpHelp(op);
@@ -87,8 +92,11 @@ async function main() {
     }
   }
 
-  // CLI-only commands
-  if (CLI_ONLY.has(command)) {
+  // CLI-only commands. `search` is special: it is both a shared keyword-search
+  // operation (`gbrain search <query>`) and a CLI-only dashboard namespace
+  // (`gbrain search modes|stats|tune`). Route only the dashboard subcommands
+  // here so ordinary keyword search keeps using the operation layer.
+  if (CLI_ONLY.has(command) && (command !== 'search' || isSearchCliOnlySubcommand(subArgs))) {
     await handleCliOnly(command, subArgs);
     return;
   }
@@ -196,6 +204,10 @@ function printCliOnlyHelp(command: string) {
   console.log(`gbrain ${command} - run gbrain --help for the full command list.`);
 }
 
+function isSearchCliOnlySubcommand(args: string[]): boolean {
+  return args[0] === 'modes' || args[0] === 'stats' || args[0] === 'tune';
+}
+
 /**
  * v0.31.1 (Issue #734, CDX-1): route a shared op through the remote MCP
  * server instead of running it locally. Called from main() when
diff --git a/src/commands/search.ts b/src/commands/search.ts
index 6957f08cc..236571f7a 100644
--- a/src/commands/search.ts
+++ b/src/commands/search.ts
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ function buildRevertCommand(r: TuneRecommendation): string {
   return r.apply_command;
 }
 
-const USAGE = `Usage: gbrain search <modes|stats|tune> [flags]
+export const SEARCH_USAGE = `Usage: gbrain search <modes|stats|tune> [flags]
 
 Subcommands:
   modes [--json]              Show active mode, bundles, and per-knob source.
@@ -430,8 +430,8 @@ export async function runSearch(engine: BrainEngine, args: string[]): Promise<vo
   const sub = args[0];
   const rest = args.slice(1);
 
-  if (!sub || sub === '--help' || sub === '-h') {
-    console.log(USAGE);
+  if (!sub || sub === '--help' || sub === '-h' || rest.includes('--help') || rest.includes('-h')) {
+    console.log(SEARCH_USAGE);
     return;
   }
 
@@ -447,7 +447,7 @@ export async function runSearch(engine: BrainEngine, args: string[]): Promise<vo
       return;
     default:
       console.error(`Unknown subcommand: ${sub}`);
-      console.error(USAGE);
+      console.error(SEARCH_USAGE);
       process.exit(1);
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/cli.test.ts b/test/cli.test.ts
index e85da900b..5b34db266 100644
--- a/test/cli.test.ts
+++ b/test/cli.test.ts
@@ -34,6 +34,14 @@ describe('CLI structure', () => {
     expect(cliSource).toContain("'export'");
     expect(cliSource).toContain("'embed'");
     expect(cliSource).toContain("'files'");
+    expect(cliSource).toContain("'calibration'");
+  });
+
+  test('search dashboard subcommands are routed without shadowing keyword search', () => {
+    expect(cliSource).toContain("'search'");
+    expect(cliSource).toContain("function isSearchCliOnlySubcommand");
+    expect(cliSource).toContain("args[0] === 'modes' || args[0] === 'stats' || args[0] === 'tune'");
+    expect(cliSource).toContain("command !== 'search' || isSearchCliOnlySubcommand(subArgs)");
   });
 
   test('has formatResult function for CLI output', () => {
@@ -185,6 +193,70 @@ describe('CLI dispatch integration', () => {
     }
   });
 
+  test('calibration --help is routed as CLI-only without requiring a brain', async () => {
+    const home = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'gbrain-cli-help-'));
+    try {
+      const proc = Bun.spawn(['bun', 'run', 'src/cli.ts', 'calibration', '--help'], {
+        cwd: repoRoot,
+        stdout: 'pipe',
+        stderr: 'pipe',
+        env: isolatedEnv(home),
+      });
+      const stdout = await new Response(proc.stdout).text();
+      const stderr = await new Response(proc.stderr).text();
+      const exitCode = await proc.exited;
+      expect(stdout).toContain('Usage: gbrain calibration');
+      expect(stderr).not.toContain('Unknown command: calibration');
+      expect(stderr).not.toContain('No brain configured');
+      expect(exitCode).toBe(0);
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(home, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  test('search dashboard help does not fall through to keyword-search op help', async () => {
+    const home = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'gbrain-cli-help-'));
+    try {
+      const proc = Bun.spawn(['bun', 'run', 'src/cli.ts', 'search', 'modes', '--help'], {
+        cwd: repoRoot,
+        stdout: 'pipe',
+        stderr: 'pipe',
+        env: isolatedEnv(home),
+      });
+      const stdout = await new Response(proc.stdout).text();
+      const stderr = await new Response(proc.stderr).text();
+      const exitCode = await proc.exited;
+      expect(stdout).toContain('Usage: gbrain search <modes|stats|tune> [flags]');
+      expect(stdout).toContain('gbrain search modes --reset');
+      expect(stdout).not.toContain('Usage: gbrain search <query>');
+      expect(stderr).not.toContain('No brain configured');
+      expect(exitCode).toBe(0);
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(home, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  test('search query help still routes to the shared keyword-search operation', async () => {
+    const home = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'gbrain-cli-help-'));
+    try {
+      const proc = Bun.spawn(['bun', 'run', 'src/cli.ts', 'search', 'needle', '--help'], {
+        cwd: repoRoot,
+        stdout: 'pipe',
+        stderr: 'pipe',
+        env: isolatedEnv(home),
+      });
+      const stdout = await new Response(proc.stdout).text();
+      const stderr = await new Response(proc.stderr).text();
+      const exitCode = await proc.exited;
+      expect(stdout).toContain('Usage: gbrain search <query>');
+      expect(stdout).not.toContain('Usage: gbrain search <modes|stats|tune> [flags]');
+      expect(stderr).not.toContain('No brain configured');
+      expect(exitCode).toBe(0);
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(home, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
   test('--help prints global help', async () => {
     const proc = Bun.spawn(['bun', 'run', 'src/cli.ts', '--help'], {
       cwd: repoRoot,