diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 425bded7..c25ed996 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -377,12 +377,18 @@ func installUnknownSubcommandGuard(cmd *cobra.Command) {
 // they have moved to the typed surface.
 func unknownSubcommandRunE(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	if len(args) == 0 {
-		// A bare group (e.g. `sheets`) legitimately prints help. But an unknown
-		// flag placed before any subcommand (`sheets --badflag`) is whitelisted
-		// away by installUnknownSubcommandGuard, which also leaves args empty —
-		// without this check it would silently fall through to help + exit 0.
-		// Recover the swallowed flag tokens and fail structured so agents (and
-		// the flagDidYouMean contract) still see a real error.
+		// A truly bare group (e.g. `sheets`) legitimately prints help. But any
+		// flag token with no subcommand is a user error: a pure group consumes
+		// no flags of its own, so the flag must belong to a (missing) subcommand.
+		// installUnknownSubcommandGuard whitelists those flags and leaves args
+		// empty, so without this they would silently fall through to help +
+		// exit 0 — letting an agent mistake a malformed call (`im --format json`,
+		// `sheets --badflag`) for success. Recover the swallowed tokens from the
+		// raw invocation and fail structured instead.
+		flags := flagTokensInArgs(rawInvocationArgs)
+		if len(flags) == 0 {
+			return cmd.Help()
+		}
 		if unknown := unknownFlagTokens(cmd, rawInvocationArgs); len(unknown) > 0 {
 			return &output.ExitError{
 				Code: output.ExitValidation,
@@ -407,7 +413,22 @@ func unknownSubcommandRunE(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 				},
 			}
 		}
-		return cmd.Help()
+		// Every flag is valid for some subcommand, but no subcommand was given
+		// (e.g. `im --format json`). Distinct from unknown_flag: the flags are
+		// real, the subcommand is what's missing.
+		return &output.ExitError{
+			Code: output.ExitValidation,
+			Detail: &output.ErrDetail{
+				Type:    "missing_subcommand",
+				Message: fmt.Sprintf("missing subcommand for %q; flag %s belongs to a subcommand, not the group", cmd.CommandPath(), strings.Join(flags, ", ")),
+				Hint:    fmt.Sprintf("run `%s --help` to list subcommands and their flags", cmd.CommandPath()),
+				Detail: map[string]any{
+					"command_path": cmd.CommandPath(),
+					"flags":        flags,
+					"suggestions":  []string{},
+				},
+			},
+		}
 	}
 	unknown := args[0]
 	available, deprecated := availableSubcommandNames(cmd)
@@ -444,13 +465,14 @@ func unknownSubcommandRunE(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	}
 }
 
-// unknownFlagTokens returns the -/-- tokens in rawArgs that cmd does not define.
-// installUnknownSubcommandGuard whitelists unknown flags on pure groups so a
-// mistyped subcommand still reaches the suggestion path; the side effect is that
-// a lone unknown flag (no subcommand) is swallowed, leaving the group to fall
-// through to help. This recovers those tokens so the caller can fail structured.
-func unknownFlagTokens(cmd *cobra.Command, rawArgs []string) []string {
-	var unknown []string
+// flagTokensInArgs returns the flag-like tokens (-x, --foo, --foo=bar) in
+// rawArgs, stopping at the "--" positional terminator. Whether a flag is
+// defined is not considered (see unknownFlagTokens for that). A pure group
+// with any flag token but no subcommand is a user error — a pure group
+// consumes no flags of its own, so the flag must belong to a subcommand — so
+// the caller fails structured instead of falling through to help.
+func flagTokensInArgs(rawArgs []string) []string {
+	var toks []string
 	for _, a := range rawArgs {
 		if a == "--" {
 			break // everything after -- is positional
@@ -458,6 +480,20 @@ func unknownFlagTokens(cmd *cobra.Command, rawArgs []string) []string {
 		if len(a) < 2 || a[0] != '-' {
 			continue
 		}
+		toks = append(toks, a)
+	}
+	return toks
+}
+
+// unknownFlagTokens returns the flag tokens in rawArgs that cmd does not define
+// (on itself, inherited, or any direct subcommand). installUnknownSubcommandGuard
+// whitelists unknown flags on pure groups so a mistyped subcommand still reaches
+// the suggestion path; the side effect is that flags before a subcommand are
+// swallowed. This recovers the genuinely-unknown ones so the caller can name
+// them in a "did you mean" envelope.
+func unknownFlagTokens(cmd *cobra.Command, rawArgs []string) []string {
+	var unknown []string
+	for _, a := range flagTokensInArgs(rawArgs) {
 		name := strings.SplitN(strings.TrimLeft(a, "-"), "=", 2)[0]
 		if name != "" && !flagDefinedInTree(cmd, name) {
 			unknown = append(unknown, a)
@@ -566,6 +602,11 @@ func flagDidYouMean(c *cobra.Command, ferr error) error {
 // error text ("unknown flag: --query" → "query"). Returns ok=false for anything
 // else (missing argument, invalid value, unknown shorthand) so the caller keeps
 // those structured but generic — hallucinated flags are essentially always long.
+//
+// CONTRACT: this matches cobra's English wording "unknown flag: --" (go.mod
+// pins github.com/spf13/cobra). If cobra rewords this or gains i18n the match
+// silently fails and unknown flags degrade to a generic flag_error — re-verify
+// this prefix when bumping cobra.
 func unknownFlagName(err error) (string, bool) {
 	const p = "unknown flag: --"
 	msg := err.Error()
diff --git a/cmd/unknown_subcommand_test.go b/cmd/unknown_subcommand_test.go
index e765341e..7153b647 100644
--- a/cmd/unknown_subcommand_test.go
+++ b/cmd/unknown_subcommand_test.go
@@ -152,6 +152,48 @@ func TestUnknownSubcommandRunE_FlagBeforeSubcommandIsStructured(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestUnknownSubcommandRunE_ValidFlagWithoutSubcommandIsStructured(t *testing.T) {
+	_, drive, _ := newGroupTree()
+	// --query is defined on the +search subcommand, so it is a *valid* flag that
+	// was placed before the (omitted) subcommand. Unlike an unknown flag, this
+	// must still fail structured (missing_subcommand) rather than fall through to
+	// help + exit 0 — `drive --query x` is a malformed call, not a help request.
+	for _, c := range drive.Commands() {
+		if c.Name() == "+search" {
+			c.Flags().String("query", "", "")
+		}
+	}
+	installUnknownSubcommandGuard(drive.Root())
+
+	rawInvocationArgs = []string{"drive", "--query", "x"}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { rawInvocationArgs = nil })
+
+	err := drive.RunE(drive, nil)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected a structured missing_subcommand error, got nil (help fallthrough)")
+	}
+	var exitErr *output.ExitError
+	if !errors.As(err, &exitErr) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected *output.ExitError, got %T", err)
+	}
+	if exitErr.Code != output.ExitValidation {
+		t.Errorf("exit code = %d, want %d", exitErr.Code, output.ExitValidation)
+	}
+	if exitErr.Detail == nil || exitErr.Detail.Type != "missing_subcommand" {
+		t.Fatalf("detail.Type = %v, want missing_subcommand", exitErr.Detail)
+	}
+	detail, ok := exitErr.Detail.Detail.(map[string]any)
+	if !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("detail is not a map: %#v", exitErr.Detail.Detail)
+	}
+	if flags, _ := detail["flags"].([]string); len(flags) != 1 || flags[0] != "--query" {
+		t.Errorf("detail.flags = %v, want [--query]", detail["flags"])
+	}
+	if detail["command_path"] != "lark-cli drive" {
+		t.Errorf("detail.command_path = %v, want lark-cli drive", detail["command_path"])
+	}
+}
+
 func TestUnknownSubcommandRunE_NoArgsShowsHelp(t *testing.T) {
 	_, drive, _ := newGroupTree()
 	installUnknownSubcommandGuard(drive.Root())
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 1ee4b73c..8c76bd7d 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/sergi/go-diff v1.4.0
 	github.com/skip2/go-qrcode v0.0.0-20200617195104-da1b6568686e
 	github.com/smartystreets/goconvey v1.8.1
-	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.10.2
+	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.10.2 // flag-error-text contract: see cmd/root.go unknownFlagName
 	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.9
 	github.com/stretchr/testify v1.11.1
 	github.com/tidwall/gjson v1.18.0
diff --git a/shortcuts/common/runner.go b/shortcuts/common/runner.go
index 2906830e..aa507f48 100644
--- a/shortcuts/common/runner.go
+++ b/shortcuts/common/runner.go
@@ -1117,8 +1117,15 @@ func registerShortcutFlagsWithContext(ctx context.Context, cmd *cobra.Command, f
 		cmd.Flags().Bool("yes", false, "confirm high-risk operation")
 	}
 	if s.PrintFlagSchema != nil {
-		cmd.Flags().Bool("print-schema", false, "print JSON Schema for a composite flag instead of executing")
-		cmd.Flags().String("flag-name", "", "flag whose schema to print (omit to list introspectable flags); used with --print-schema")
+		// Guard against a shortcut that already declares these reserved
+		// introspection flags: pflag panics on a duplicate registration.
+		// Mirrors the Lookup guard on --format above.
+		if cmd.Flags().Lookup("print-schema") == nil {
+			cmd.Flags().Bool("print-schema", false, "print JSON Schema for a composite flag instead of executing")
+		}
+		if cmd.Flags().Lookup("flag-name") == nil {
+			cmd.Flags().String("flag-name", "", "flag whose schema to print (omit to list introspectable flags); used with --print-schema")
+		}
 	}
 	cmd.Flags().StringP("jq", "q", "", "jq expression to filter JSON output")
 	cmdutil.AddShortcutIdentityFlag(ctx, cmd, f, s.AuthTypes)
diff --git a/shortcuts/common/runner_flag_completion_test.go b/shortcuts/common/runner_flag_completion_test.go
index 3c96dbd1..b984397d 100644
--- a/shortcuts/common/runner_flag_completion_test.go
+++ b/shortcuts/common/runner_flag_completion_test.go
@@ -96,3 +96,43 @@ func TestShortcutMount_FlagCompletionsDisabled(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("did not expect completion func for --format when disabled")
 	}
 }
+
+// TestShortcutMount_ReservedIntrospectionFlagCollision verifies the reserved
+// --print-schema / --flag-name flags are registered defensively: a shortcut
+// that already declares same-named flags must not trigger pflag's duplicate-
+// registration panic (the Lookup guard in registerShortcutFlagsWithContext).
+func TestShortcutMount_ReservedIntrospectionFlagCollision(t *testing.T) {
+	f, _, _, _ := cmdutil.TestFactory(t, nil)
+	parent := &cobra.Command{Use: "root"}
+	shortcut := Shortcut{
+		Service:     "docs",
+		Command:     "+introspect",
+		Description: "x",
+		// The shortcut's own flags collide with the names the runner auto-
+		// injects when PrintFlagSchema is set. Without the guard, pflag panics.
+		Flags: []Flag{
+			{Name: "print-schema", Desc: "user-defined collision"},
+			{Name: "flag-name", Desc: "user-defined collision"},
+		},
+		PrintFlagSchema: func(string) ([]byte, error) { return nil, nil },
+		Execute:         func(context.Context, *RuntimeContext) error { return nil },
+	}
+
+	defer func() {
+		if r := recover(); r != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Mount panicked on a reserved-flag name collision (Lookup guard missing?): %v", r)
+		}
+	}()
+	shortcut.Mount(parent, f)
+
+	cmd, _, err := parent.Find([]string{"+introspect"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Find() error = %v", err)
+	}
+	if cmd.Flags().Lookup("print-schema") == nil {
+		t.Error("print-schema flag should still exist after the guarded registration")
+	}
+	if cmd.Flags().Lookup("flag-name") == nil {
+		t.Error("flag-name flag should still exist after the guarded registration")
+	}
+}