diff --git a/bin/nyc.js b/bin/nyc.js
index cd225844d..7c188e40a 100755
--- a/bin/nyc.js
+++ b/bin/nyc.js
@@ -85,5 +85,6 @@ if ([
   })
 } else {
   // I don't have a clue what you're doing.
+  process.exitCode = 1
   yargs.showHelp()
 }
diff --git a/test/nyc-integration.js b/test/nyc-integration.js
index 91bd358ca..f7be9564a 100644
--- a/test/nyc-integration.js
+++ b/test/nyc-integration.js
@@ -1079,6 +1079,40 @@ describe('the nyc cli', function () {
     })
   })
 
+  it('help shows to stderr when main command doesn\'t know what to do', done => {
+    const msgs = {}
+    let waitingFor = 2
+    const doSpawn = (args, type, expectCode) => {
+      const proc = spawn(process.execPath, args, {
+        cwd: fixturesCLI,
+        env
+      })
+      msgs[type] = {
+        out: '',
+        err: ''
+      }
+      proc.stdout.on('data', chunk => {
+        msgs[type].out += chunk
+      })
+      proc.stderr.on('data', chunk => {
+        msgs[type].err += chunk
+      })
+      proc.on('close', code => {
+        code.should.equal(expectCode)
+        waitingFor--
+        if (waitingFor === 0) {
+          msgs.help.out.should.equal(msgs.unknown.err)
+          msgs.help.err.should.equal('')
+          msgs.unknown.out.should.equal('')
+          done()
+        }
+      })
+    }
+
+    doSpawn([bin, '--help'], 'help', 0)
+    doSpawn([bin], 'unknown', 1)
+  })
+
   describe('args', function () {
     it('does not interpret args intended for instrumented bin', function (done) {
       var args = [bin, '--silent', process.execPath, 'args.js', '--help', '--version']