diff --git a/cmd/cue/cmd/help.go b/cmd/cue/cmd/help.go
index 7156724347f..bf77410d19d 100644
--- a/cmd/cue/cmd/help.go
+++ b/cmd/cue/cmd/help.go
@@ -58,10 +58,12 @@ func newHelpCmd(c *Command) *cobra.Command {
 				//	["cmd", "mycmd"]
 				//	["cmd", "mycmd", "./mypkg"]
 				//
-				// We want to skip the first two arguments in pkgArgs.
-				pkgArgs := args[1:]
-				if len(pkgArgs) > 0 {
-					pkgArgs = pkgArgs[1:]
+				// In the third case, we want to load ["./mypkg"]
+				// and we want to look up the help for ["cmd", "mycmd"].
+				var pkgArgs []string
+				if len(args) > 2 {
+					pkgArgs = args[2:]
+					args = args[:2]
 				}
 
 				tools, err := buildTools(c, pkgArgs)
diff --git a/cmd/cue/cmd/testdata/script/help_cmd.txtar b/cmd/cue/cmd/testdata/script/help_cmd.txtar
index 4a4e96ead39..df43f549a48 100644
--- a/cmd/cue/cmd/testdata/script/help_cmd.txtar
+++ b/cmd/cue/cmd/testdata/script/help_cmd.txtar
@@ -8,6 +8,14 @@ cmp stdout cue-help-cmd.stdout
 exec cue help cmd hello
 cmp stdout cue-help-cmd-hello.stdout
 
+exec cue help cmd hello .
+cmp stdout cue-help-cmd-hello.stdout
+
+mkdir subdir
+cp task_tool.cue subdir
+exec cue help cmd hello ./subdir
+cmp stdout cue-help-cmd-hello.stdout
+
 ! exec cue help cmd missing
 stderr -count=1 'Unknown cmd command: missing'
 stderr -count=1 '^Available Commands:$'