diff --git a/docs/cli-audit.md b/docs/cli-audit.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b20ecc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/cli-audit.md
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# CLI audit and backend parity
+
+## Summary
+
+- Audited every command token registered by `runCli` in `src/cli/index.ts`, including the implicit bare invocation that defaults to `help`.
+- Found no dead, broken, removed-code, or non-functional commands.
+- HTTP/API backend parity is not applicable because this CLI has no remote HTTP client backend. All config-aware commands load a local config path and call in-process modules.
+- Added a regression test that pins the parser-derived command inventory and exercises all three help invocations.
+
+## API backend scope
+
+The repository ships an HTTP gateway server, but it does not ship a second HTTP/API backend for CLI operations:
+
+- `GatewayConfig` defines runtime, server, inbound auth, storage, policy, providers, models, routes, and budgets. It has no remote gateway API URL or remote CLI credential.
+- `GatewayAuthConfig.apiKeyEnv` configures inbound authentication for the server; it is not a CLI HTTP-client credential.
+- The CLI imports config, routing, budget, smoke, and server functions directly. Its config-aware handlers read `--config` from the local filesystem and invoke those modules in-process.
+- Outbound HTTP calls in `src/providers` target configured model providers for inference and smoke checks. They are not an alternate backend for CLI state operations.
+- `runtime.mode: "production-cloud"` hardens a deployed server. `storage.cloud` selects an in-process SQLite or PostgreSQL usage-ledger adapter. Neither is a cloud-router/stage-A/HTTP CLI path.
+- `tests/no-cloud-boundary.test.ts` enforces removal of the retired shared cloud runtime from dependencies, tracked source, and built output.
+
+Therefore the amended task's local-versus-API parity work is **N/A**. Implementing a new remote CLI protocol would invent an architecture that this repository intentionally does not expose.
+
+## Command inventory
+
+The inventory comes from the default in `parseArgs` and every `parsed.command === ...` branch in `src/cli/index.ts`, not from README documentation. Option variants such as `smoke --all` remain part of their registered command row.
+
+| command | works locally? | works against the API backend (or N/A)? | dead? | changed in this PR? |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| `gateway` | Yes; defaults to help | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway help` | Yes | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway --help` | Yes | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway --version` | Yes | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway budget-add` | Yes; reads, validates, and updates the selected local config | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway budget-list` | Yes; loads and lists normalized config budgets | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway budget-remaining` | Yes; reads configured JSONL and/or direct SQLite/PostgreSQL ledger storage | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway budget-reset` | Yes; validates and updates the selected local config | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway route` | Yes; performs an in-process dry-run route decision | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway routes` | Yes; lists in-process normalized route configuration | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway uninstall` | Yes; removes the selected local config and configured JSONL ledger with safeguards | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway remove` | Yes; guarded `uninstall` alias requiring `--all --yes` | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway validate` | Yes; validates the selected local config | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway smoke` | Yes; performs provider traffic when credentials exist and reports skip/failure semantics otherwise; `--all` is implemented | N/A | No | No |
+| `gateway serve` | Yes; starts the configured HTTP gateway server | N/A | No | No |
+
+## Changes
+
+- No production command implementation changed because the audit found no dead command and no applicable API backend.
+- `tests/cli-help.test.ts` now fails if parser registration drifts from the audited command inventory and verifies the bare, `help`, and `--help` forms.
+
+## Verification
+
+- `git diff --check`
+- Parser inventory extraction independently verified all 14 explicit command tokens; the table additionally includes the parser's implicit bare invocation.
+- Run `bun run check` in a Bun-enabled environment for typecheck, build, and the complete test suite.
diff --git a/tests/cli-help.test.ts b/tests/cli-help.test.ts
index 0f531f6..d861162 100644
--- a/tests/cli-help.test.ts
+++ b/tests/cli-help.test.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
 import { gatewayVersion } from "../src/version";
 
@@ -15,12 +16,38 @@ function text(bytes: Uint8Array): string {
 }
 
 describe("gateway CLI help", () => {
+  test("keeps the registered command inventory explicit", () => {
+    const source = readFileSync(new URL("../src/cli/index.ts", import.meta.url), "utf8");
+    const registered = [...source.matchAll(/parsed\.command === "([^"]+)"/g)]
+      .map((match) => match[1])
+      .filter((command): command is string => Boolean(command));
+
+    expect([...new Set(registered)].sort()).toEqual([
+      "--help",
+      "--version",
+      "budget-add",
+      "budget-list",
+      "budget-remaining",
+      "budget-reset",
+      "help",
+      "remove",
+      "route",
+      "routes",
+      "serve",
+      "smoke",
+      "uninstall",
+      "validate",
+    ]);
+  });
+
   test("supports standard top-level help and version flags", () => {
-    const help = runGateway(["--help"]);
-    expect(help.exitCode).toBe(0);
-    expect(text(help.stdout)).toContain("gateway budget-add");
-    expect(text(help.stdout)).toContain("--max-input-tokens");
-    expect(text(help.stderr)).toBe("");
+    for (const args of [[], ["help"], ["--help"]]) {
+      const help = runGateway(args);
+      expect(help.exitCode).toBe(0);
+      expect(text(help.stdout)).toContain("gateway budget-add");
+      expect(text(help.stdout)).toContain("--max-input-tokens");
+      expect(text(help.stderr)).toBe("");
+    }
 
     const version = runGateway(["--version"]);
     expect(version.exitCode).toBe(0);