diff --git a/docs/setup.md b/docs/setup.md
index cbf9825..6093c31 100644
--- a/docs/setup.md
+++ b/docs/setup.md
@@ -280,6 +280,18 @@ scripts/systemd/manage-uce-service.sh restart
 scripts/systemd/manage-uce-service.sh logs 200
 ```
 
+The server binary accepts only these process modes:
+
+```bash
+bin/uce_fastcgi.linux.bin             # start the server
+bin/uce_fastcgi.linux.bin --precompile
+bin/uce_fastcgi.linux.bin --help
+```
+
+Help and invalid arguments exit before configuration is loaded or any listener
+is opened. Invalid or extra arguments return status 2. This ordering prevents a
+diagnostic invocation from replacing or removing a configured Unix socket.
+
 Managed restart builds and precompiles the complete candidate ABI generation
 before it switches the service. Precompile uses two low-priority processes by
 default; set `PRECOMPILE_JOBS` in `/etc/uce/settings.cfg` to tune the bounded
diff --git a/scripts/run_cli_tests.sh b/scripts/run_cli_tests.sh
index b47902a..a0fc53a 100755
--- a/scripts/run_cli_tests.sh
+++ b/scripts/run_cli_tests.sh
@@ -87,5 +87,6 @@ if [[ "$action" == "run" ]]; then
 	timeout --signal=TERM --kill-after=5s 120s scripts/test_wasm_metadata_buffer.sh
 	timeout --signal=TERM --kill-after=5s 150s scripts/test_wasm_metadata_deadline.sh
 	scripts/test_wasm_source_locations.sh
+	scripts/test_server_arguments.sh
 	scripts/test_socket_activation.sh
 fi
diff --git a/scripts/test_server_arguments.sh b/scripts/test_server_arguments.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c3b5214
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/test_server_arguments.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+cd "$(dirname "$0")/.."
+
+binary="$PWD/bin/uce_fastcgi.linux.bin"
+root=$(mktemp -d /tmp/uce-server-arguments.XXXXXX)
+listener_pid=""
+cleanup() {
+	[[ -n "$listener_pid" ]] && kill "$listener_pid" 2>/dev/null || true
+	rm -rf "$root"
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT
+
+cfg="$root/settings.cfg"
+socket_path="$root/sentinel.sock"
+cp /etc/uce/settings.cfg "$cfg"
+sed -E -i \
+	-e "s|^[[:space:]]*FCGI_SOCKET_PATH[[:space:]]*=.*|FCGI_SOCKET_PATH=|" \
+	-e "s|^[[:space:]]*FCGI_PORT[[:space:]]*=.*|FCGI_PORT=|" \
+	-e "s|^[[:space:]]*CLI_SOCKET_PATH[[:space:]]*=.*|CLI_SOCKET_PATH=$socket_path|" \
+	-e "s|^[[:space:]]*HTTP_PORT[[:space:]]*=.*|HTTP_PORT=|" \
+	-e "s|^[[:space:]]*PROACTIVE_COMPILE_ENABLED[[:space:]]*=.*|PROACTIVE_COMPILE_ENABLED=false|" \
+	-e "s|^[[:space:]]*WORKER_COUNT[[:space:]]*=.*|WORKER_COUNT=1|" \
+	-e "s|^[[:space:]]*BIN_DIRECTORY[[:space:]]*=.*|BIN_DIRECTORY=$root/bin|" \
+	-e "s|^[[:space:]]*TMP_UPLOAD_PATH[[:space:]]*=.*|TMP_UPLOAD_PATH=$root/upload|" \
+	-e "s|^[[:space:]]*SESSION_PATH[[:space:]]*=.*|SESSION_PATH=$root/session|" \
+	"$cfg"
+
+python3 -c 'import socket,sys,time; s=socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX); s.bind(sys.argv[1]); s.listen(); time.sleep(30)' "$socket_path" &
+listener_pid=$!
+for _ in $(seq 1 50); do
+	[[ -S "$socket_path" ]] && break
+	sleep 0.02
+done
+[[ -S "$socket_path" ]]
+socket_inode=$(stat -c %i "$socket_path")
+
+invoke() {
+	local output="$1"
+	shift
+	timeout --signal=TERM --kill-after=1s 2s unshare --mount --fork \
+		bash -c 'mount --bind "$1" /etc/uce/settings.cfg; exec "$2" "${@:3}"' \
+		_ "$cfg" "$binary" "$@" >"$output.stdout" 2>"$output.stderr"
+}
+
+for option in --help -h; do
+	invoke "$root/help" "$option"
+	grep -q '^Usage: uce_fastcgi' "$root/help.stdout"
+	grep -q -- '--precompile' "$root/help.stdout"
+	[[ ! -s "$root/help.stderr" ]]
+done
+
+for arguments in '--unknown' '--precompile extra' '--help extra'; do
+	read -r -a argv <<<"$arguments"
+	set +e
+	invoke "$root/invalid" "${argv[@]}"
+	rc=$?
+	set -e
+	[[ $rc -eq 2 ]]
+	grep -q '^invalid arguments$' "$root/invalid.stderr"
+	grep -q '^Usage: uce_fastcgi' "$root/invalid.stderr"
+	[[ ! -s "$root/invalid.stdout" ]]
+done
+
+[[ -S "$socket_path" ]]
+[[ "$(stat -c %i "$socket_path")" == "$socket_inode" ]]
+kill -0 "$listener_pid"
+
+echo 'server argument handling passed: help and invalid arguments exited before listener setup'
diff --git a/src/linux_fastcgi.cpp b/src/linux_fastcgi.cpp
index 6f50ccd..65f6837 100644
--- a/src/linux_fastcgi.cpp
+++ b/src/linux_fastcgi.cpp
@@ -1866,17 +1866,39 @@ int precompile_unit_generation()
 	return(total.failed == 0 && !candidate_rejected ? 0 : 1);
 }
 
+void print_fastcgi_usage(FILE* stream)
+{
+	fprintf(stream,
+		"Usage: uce_fastcgi [--precompile]\n"
+		"       uce_fastcgi --help\n\n"
+		"Without options, start the FastCGI server.\n"
+		"  --precompile  Compile the current source generation without starting listeners.\n"
+		"  -h, --help    Show this help and exit.\n");
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char** argv)
 {
 	// systemd connects stdout to a pipe, which otherwise block-buffers child
 	// diagnostics and assigns stale failures a misleading later journal time.
 	setvbuf(stdout, 0, _IOLBF, 0);
 	setvbuf(stderr, 0, _IONBF, 0);
+	if(argc == 2 && (String(argv[1]) == "--help" || String(argv[1]) == "-h"))
+	{
+		print_fastcgi_usage(stdout);
+		return(0);
+	}
+	bool precompile = argc == 2 && String(argv[1]) == "--precompile";
+	if(argc != 1 && !precompile)
+	{
+		fprintf(stderr, "invalid arguments\n");
+		print_fastcgi_usage(stderr);
+		return(2);
+	}
 	// Warm up libgcc's backtrace state so the first in-handler backtrace()
 	// after a fault does not allocate.
 	backtrace(request_fault_frames, 4);
 	process_start_directory();
-	if(argc == 2 && String(argv[1]) == "--precompile")
+	if(precompile)
 		return(precompile_unit_generation());
 
 	init_base_process();