diff --git a/Tools/TranscriptedCLI/Sources/TranscriptedCLI/ContextStore.swift b/Tools/TranscriptedCLI/Sources/TranscriptedCLI/ContextStore.swift
index ed260d5e..27d0dfa4 100644
--- a/Tools/TranscriptedCLI/Sources/TranscriptedCLI/ContextStore.swift
+++ b/Tools/TranscriptedCLI/Sources/TranscriptedCLI/ContextStore.swift
@@ -202,8 +202,11 @@ struct CLIContextDirectories {
               let data = try? Data(contentsOf: manifestURL),
               let manifest = try? JSONDecoder().decode(CLIAppDirectoryManifest.self, from: data),
               manifest.version >= 1,
+              let captureLibrary = validatedConfiguredDirectory(manifest.captureLibraryDirectory, homeDirectory: home),
               let meetings = validatedConfiguredDirectory(manifest.meetingsDirectory, homeDirectory: home),
-              let dictations = validatedConfiguredDirectory(manifest.dictationsDirectory, homeDirectory: home) else {
+              let dictations = validatedConfiguredDirectory(manifest.dictationsDirectory, homeDirectory: home),
+              isManifestDirectory(meetings, named: "meetings", under: captureLibrary),
+              isManifestDirectory(dictations, named: "dictations", under: captureLibrary) else {
             return nil
         }
 
@@ -256,6 +259,19 @@ struct CLIContextDirectories {
 
         return configuredURL
     }
+
+    private static func isManifestDirectory(_ directory: URL, named name: String, under captureLibrary: URL) -> Bool {
+        let expected = captureLibrary
+            .appendingPathComponent(name, isDirectory: true)
+            .standardizedFileURL
+            .resolvingSymlinksInPath()
+            .standardizedFileURL
+        let actual = directory
+            .standardizedFileURL
+            .resolvingSymlinksInPath()
+            .standardizedFileURL
+        return actual.path == expected.path
+    }
 }
 
 struct CLIContextPathOptions: ParsableArguments {
diff --git a/Tools/TranscriptedCLI/Tests/TranscriptedCLITests/ContextDirectoriesTests.swift b/Tools/TranscriptedCLI/Tests/TranscriptedCLITests/ContextDirectoriesTests.swift
index abbf2767..279a5e53 100644
--- a/Tools/TranscriptedCLI/Tests/TranscriptedCLITests/ContextDirectoriesTests.swift
+++ b/Tools/TranscriptedCLI/Tests/TranscriptedCLITests/ContextDirectoriesTests.swift
@@ -232,6 +232,49 @@ final class ContextDirectoriesTests: XCTestCase {
         ])
     }
 
+    func testResolveIgnoresManifestWhenDirectoriesDoNotMatchCaptureLibrary() throws {
+        let tempHome = makeTempDir()
+        defer { removeTempDir(tempHome) }
+
+        let transcriptedRoot = tempHome
+            .appendingPathComponent("Library", isDirectory: true)
+            .appendingPathComponent("Application Support", isDirectory: true)
+            .appendingPathComponent("Transcripted", isDirectory: true)
+        let manifestRoot = tempHome.appendingPathComponent("manifest-captures", isDirectory: true)
+        let unrelatedMeetings = tempHome.appendingPathComponent("unrelated-meetings", isDirectory: true)
+        let unrelatedDictations = tempHome.appendingPathComponent("unrelated-dictations", isDirectory: true)
+        let defaultCaptures = transcriptedRoot.appendingPathComponent("captures", isDirectory: true)
+        let defaultMeetings = defaultCaptures.appendingPathComponent("meetings", isDirectory: true)
+        let defaultDictations = defaultCaptures.appendingPathComponent("dictations", isDirectory: true)
+        try FileManager.default.createDirectory(at: transcriptedRoot, withIntermediateDirectories: true)
+
+        let manifestURL = transcriptedRoot.appendingPathComponent("mcp-directories.json", isDirectory: false)
+        try """
+        {
+          "version": 1,
+          "captureLibraryDirectory": "\(manifestRoot.path)",
+          "meetingsDirectory": "\(unrelatedMeetings.path)",
+          "dictationsDirectory": "\(unrelatedDictations.path)"
+        }
+        """.write(to: manifestURL, atomically: true, encoding: .utf8)
+
+        let directories = CLIContextDirectories.resolve(
+            dataDir: nil,
+            meetingsDir: nil,
+            dictationsDir: nil,
+            environment: [:],
+            fileManager: .default,
+            homeDirectory: tempHome
+        )
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(directories.meetingDirs.map(\.standardizedFileURL.path), [
+            defaultMeetings.standardizedFileURL.path,
+        ])
+        XCTAssertEqual(directories.dictationDirs.map(\.standardizedFileURL.path), [
+            defaultDictations.standardizedFileURL.path,
+        ])
+    }
+
     func testResolveUsesAppCaptureLibraryPreferenceWhenManifestIsMissing() throws {
         let tempHome = makeTempDir()
         defer { removeTempDir(tempHome) }
diff --git a/Tools/TranscriptedMCP/CLAUDE.md b/Tools/TranscriptedMCP/CLAUDE.md
index c42792c3..a37fd62d 100644
--- a/Tools/TranscriptedMCP/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/Tools/TranscriptedMCP/CLAUDE.md
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ This lets the server answer both meeting-specific queries (`who_is`, `read_meeti
 cd Tools/TranscriptedMCP
 swift build -c release
 swift test
+./.build/release/transcripted-mcp --help
 ./.build/release/transcripted-mcp --self-test
 ```
 
diff --git a/Tools/TranscriptedMCP/Sources/TranscriptedMCP/Main.swift b/Tools/TranscriptedMCP/Sources/TranscriptedMCP/Main.swift
index f77ee832..864fcd57 100644
--- a/Tools/TranscriptedMCP/Sources/TranscriptedMCP/Main.swift
+++ b/Tools/TranscriptedMCP/Sources/TranscriptedMCP/Main.swift
@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@ import MCP
 @main
 struct TranscriptedMCP {
     static func main() async throws {
+        if CommandLine.arguments.contains("--help") || CommandLine.arguments.contains("-h") {
+            print(Self.helpText)
+            return
+        }
+
         if CommandLine.arguments.contains("--version") {
             print("transcripted-mcp 1.0.0")
             return
@@ -69,6 +74,23 @@ struct TranscriptedMCP {
         log("MCP server stopped")
     }
 
+    private static let helpText = """
+    OVERVIEW: Read-only MCP server for Transcripted meetings and dictations.
+
+    USAGE: transcripted-mcp [--self-test] [--version] [--help]
+
+    OPTIONS:
+      --self-test   Verify directory resolution and SQLite indexing, then exit.
+      --version     Show the version.
+      -h, --help    Show help information.
+
+    ENVIRONMENT:
+      TRANSCRIPTED_DATA_DIR         Shared root with meetings/ and dictations/.
+      TRANSCRIPTED_MEETINGS_DIR     Meeting directory override.
+      TRANSCRIPTED_DICTATIONS_DIR   Dictation directory override.
+      TRANSCRIPTED_INDEX_DIR        SQLite index directory override.
+    """
+
     private static func runSelfTest() throws {
         let directories = TranscriptedDataDirectories.resolve()