@@ -70,5 +70,12 @@ form.
 - `--verbose` / `-v` shows full tracebacks instead of a one-line message, and
   adds the env-file line to the source report described under
   [Where settings come from](configuration.md#where-settings-come-from).
+- `--version` / `-V` prints one line with the osw version, the location of
+  the osw package and the Python version, then exits, needing no instance or
+  credentials.
+
+`--help` / `-h` works on `osw` itself and after any subcommand or group, e.g.
+`osw entity --help` or `osw entity get -h`, and prints that command's own
+help.
 
 Failures exit non-zero with a short message on stderr and no traceback.
@@ -19,6 +19,13 @@ instance for its whole lifetime; there is no tool to switch at runtime.
 `.env` file that entry names. Without it the server refuses to start rather than
 register tools that would all fail.
 
+`osw-mcp` also answers two flags from a shell, for checking an install rather
+than for an MCP client to pass: `-h` / `--help` prints usage and exits, and
+`-V` / `--version` prints one line with the osw version, the location of the
+osw package and the Python version, then exits. Neither one starts the server
+or needs an instance or credentials. Any other argument, including a
+shortened form of these two flags, is rejected with a usage error.
+
 ## Quick install
 
 For Claude Code, one command registers the server. Replace the domain and the
 
@@ -31,11 +31,23 @@
 from osw.service.params import json_value
 from osw.service.registry import Operation, bind, iter_operations
 from osw.service.streams import force_utf8
+from osw.service.version import version_line
 from osw.wtsite import SLOTS
 
 from .render import render
 
-app = typer.Typer(no_args_is_help=True, add_completion=False)
+# help_option_names adds -h as an alias for --help. A child context created
+# for a subcommand or a subgroup inherits it from its parent context when the
+# child sets none of its own (click.Context.__init__), so this one setting
+# covers the whole command tree, not just the root. --help comes first: click
+# builds its "Try '... --help' for help." hint from help_option_names[0], and
+# every existing usage error already names --help, so putting -h first would
+# have changed all of them.
+app = typer.Typer(
+    no_args_is_help=True,
+    add_completion=False,
+    context_settings={"help_option_names": ["--help", "-h"]},
+)
 
 
 def _force_utf8_output() -> None:
@@ -53,14 +65,43 @@ def _force_utf8_output() -> None:
     stays exposed is the name the user typed, echoed back in a usage error --
     an unknown command name or an unknown root option name. A name typed
     after the command is fine, because click resolves the command, runs this
-    callback, and only then parses the command's own arguments.
+    callback, and only then parses the command's own arguments. --version /
+    -V also prints before this callback runs (its own callback is eager, like
+    --help), but it names no wiki content either, and forces UTF-8 on stdout
+    itself (see ``_version_callback``) rather than relying on this function.
     """
     force_utf8(sys.stdout, sys.stderr)
 
 
+def _version_callback(value: bool) -> None:
+    """Eager callback for --version / -V: print the line and exit.
+
+    click processes an eager option's callback before a command's own
+    callback body runs, so this needs no configuration, no credential file
+    and no network -- the same reason ``--help`` works with none of those.
+    It also runs before ``_force_utf8_output``, so it forces stdout to UTF-8
+    itself: the line names the package's install directory, which a redirected
+    stdout on Windows would otherwise encode with the locale encoding, raising
+    ``UnicodeEncodeError`` on a path outside it. ``osw-mcp -V`` does the same
+    (``osw.mcp.server.main``).
+    """
+    if value:
+        force_utf8(sys.stdout)
+        typer.echo(version_line("osw"))
+        raise typer.Exit()
+
+
 @app.callback()
 def _callback(
     ctx: typer.Context,
+    version: bool = typer.Option(
+        False,
+        "--version",
+        "-V",
+        help="Show the version and exit.",
+        is_eager=True,
+        callback=_version_callback,
+    ),
     instance: Optional[str] = typer.Option(
         None,
         "--instance",
@@ -113,6 +154,8 @@ def _callback(
     "--read-only": "--read-only",
     "--verbose": "--verbose",
     "-v": "-v",
+    "--version": "--version",
+    "-V": "-V",
 }
 
 
 
@@ -7,11 +7,12 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import argparse
 import atexit
 import inspect
 import io
 import sys
-from typing import Any, Optional, TextIO
+from typing import Any, Optional, Sequence, TextIO
 
 from mcp.server import MCPServer
 from mcp.types import ToolAnnotations
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@
 from osw.service.context import Context, Policy
 from osw.service.registry import Operation, bind, iter_operations
 from osw.service.streams import force_utf8
+from osw.service.version import version_line
 
 INSTRUCTIONS = """\
 This server is pinned to exactly one OpenSemanticLab (OSL) instance for its
@@ -114,9 +116,11 @@ def _build_server(report: Optional[TextIO] = None) -> tuple[MCPServer, Context]:
     discarded.
     """
     # Set before any shared-code logging runs, so every "[xxx] ..." message
-    # and wiki edit comment from shared code names this adapter. Also set as
-    # the first statement of main(), since main() prints on a start failure
-    # and this function is also callable on its own, e.g. from tests.
+    # and wiki edit comment from shared code names this adapter. main() sets
+    # it again before calling this function -- not as its first statement:
+    # force_utf8, argument parsing and the --version branch run before it
+    # there -- since main() prints on a start failure and this function is
+    # also callable on its own, e.g. from tests.
     config.set_log_prefix("osw-mcp")
     # Before get_settings(), so a misconfiguration that makes loading raise
     # still reports which files were read. Into `report` rather than stderr:
@@ -155,20 +159,74 @@ def create_server() -> MCPServer:
     return mcp
 
 
-def main() -> None:
-    """Console-script entry point: build the server and serve over stdio."""
-    # Before any write below. An MCP client starts this server with stderr on
-    # a pipe, so Python encodes it with the locale encoding, cp1252 on a
-    # German Windows system. The report holds the credential file path and the
-    # env file path, so a directory named "Muller" with an umlaut is enough to
-    # reach the client's log mangled. Reconfiguring in place also covers osw's
-    # own log handler, which holds this same stream object.
+# Wrapped by hand, below 80 columns, with the URL on a line of its own.
+# argparse's default formatter re-wraps a description with textwrap
+# (break_on_hyphens=True), so at some terminal widths a line ends with
+# ".../osw-" and the next starts with "python/blob/...", splitting the URL.
+# RawDescriptionHelpFormatter (below) prints this text verbatim instead.
+_DESCRIPTION = (
+    "Runs an MCP server for one OpenSemanticLab instance over stdio. An MCP\n"
+    "client starts it, not a person from a shell. Configuration comes from\n"
+    "environment variables, a .env file, or a credential file; see\n"
+    "https://github.com/OpenSemanticLab/osw-python/blob/main/docs/tools/mcp.md."
+)
+
+
+def _build_parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
+    """Build the argument parser for the ``osw-mcp`` console script.
+
+    Parsing happens before :func:`_build_server`, so ``-h``, ``-V`` and an
+    unrecognized argument never need credentials.
+    """
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        prog="osw-mcp",
+        description=_DESCRIPTION,
+        formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter,
+        # argparse accepts an unambiguous abbreviation by default (e.g.
+        # "--vers"); osw's own CLI (click) does not, so this is turned off to
+        # match: an argument that is not exactly one of the two below is
+        # rejected.
+        allow_abbrev=False,
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "-V",
+        "--version",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="show the version and exit",
+    )
+    return parser
+
+
+def main(argv: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None) -> None:
+    """Console-script entry point: build the server and serve over stdio.
+
+    ``argv`` follows ``sys.argv[1:]``'s convention: ``None`` (the default)
+    reads the real command line, and a caller that wants to pass its own,
+    such as a test or ``python -m osw.mcp``, gives an explicit list instead.
+    """
+    # Before any write below, including the usage error argparse prints for
+    # an unrecognized argument, which echoes it back. An MCP client starts
+    # this server with stderr on a pipe, so Python encodes it with the locale
+    # encoding, cp1252 on a German Windows system. The report holds the
+    # credential file path and the env file path, so a directory named
+    # "Muller" with an umlaut is enough to reach the client's log mangled.
+    # Reconfiguring in place also covers osw's own log handler, which holds
+    # this same stream object.
     #
     # stdout is deliberately left alone. The SDK's stdio_server re-wraps the
     # binary buffer as UTF-8 itself, and claims file descriptor 1 while doing
     # it, so the JSON-RPC channel does not depend on this and changing it here
     # would only add a way to interfere.
     force_utf8(sys.stderr)
+    args = _build_parser().parse_args(argv)
+
+    if args.version:
+        # No server runs on this path, so the reason above for leaving
+        # stdout alone does not apply.
+        force_utf8(sys.stdout)
+        print(version_line("osw-mcp"))
+        return
+
     # See _build_server for why this is set here too.
     config.set_log_prefix("osw-mcp")
     report = io.StringIO()
 
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+"""Version banner shared by the osw CLI and the osw-mcp server.
+
+Neither adapter may import the other (see :mod:`osw.service.streams`), so the
+one line both ``--version`` options print lives here instead of in either of
+them. See :func:`version_line`.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+import platform
+
+import osw
+
+
+def version_line(prog: str) -> str:
+    """The one-line version banner ``prog`` prints for --version / -V.
+
+    ``prog`` names the console script asking (``"osw"`` or ``"osw-mcp"``), so
+    the same installed package reports under whichever command the caller
+    actually ran. The remaining fields are the installed osw version, the
+    directory the osw package was loaded from, and the running Python
+    version, in that order.
+    """
+    location = os.path.dirname(osw.__file__)
+    return (
+        f"{prog} {osw.__version__} from {location} (Python {platform.python_version()})"
+    )