diff --git a/setup b/setup
index 275236cd3..3dddb1f81 100755
--- a/setup
+++ b/setup
@@ -3,6 +3,40 @@
 set -e
 umask 077  # Restrict new files to owner-only (0o600 files, 0o700 dirs)
 
+usage() {
+  cat <<'EOF'
+gstack setup — install gstack skills + build browse binary
+
+Usage: ./setup [options]
+
+Options:
+  --host <name>     Install for a specific host (claude, codex, kiro, factory,
+                    opencode, openclaw, hermes, gbrain, auto). Default: claude.
+  --prefix          Install skills with the gstack- prefix (e.g. /gstack-review).
+  --no-prefix       Install skills with short names (e.g. /review). Default.
+  --team            Switch to team mode (per-repo gstack with auto-update).
+  --no-team         Force solo install even if a team-mode repo is detected.
+  -q, --quiet       Suppress progress output.
+  -h, --help        Show this help and exit.
+
+Examples:
+  ./setup                          # solo install for Claude Code
+  ./setup --host codex             # install for OpenAI Codex CLI
+  ./setup --team                   # team mode for a shared repo
+  ./setup --no-prefix              # use short slash-command names
+
+Docs: https://github.com/garrytan/gstack
+EOF
+}
+
+# Short-circuit on -h/--help before any environment checks so users can
+# discover flags even without bun installed.
+for _arg in "$@"; do
+  case "$_arg" in
+    -h|--help) usage; exit 0 ;;
+  esac
+done
+
 if ! command -v bun >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   echo "Error: bun is required but not installed." >&2
   echo "Install with checksum verification:" >&2
diff --git a/test/setup-help.test.ts b/test/setup-help.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f1cbcc6e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/setup-help.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+import { describe, test, expect } from 'bun:test';
+import { spawnSync } from 'child_process';
+import * as path from 'path';
+import * as fs from 'fs';
+
+const ROOT = path.resolve(import.meta.dir, '..');
+const SETUP_SCRIPT = path.join(ROOT, 'setup');
+
+describe('setup: --help flag (#1133)', () => {
+  test('setup script defines a usage() function', () => {
+    const content = fs.readFileSync(SETUP_SCRIPT, 'utf-8');
+    expect(content).toMatch(/^usage\(\)\s*\{/m);
+  });
+
+  test('setup script short-circuits on -h/--help before env checks', () => {
+    const content = fs.readFileSync(SETUP_SCRIPT, 'utf-8');
+    const helpIdx = content.search(/-h\|--help\)\s*usage;\s*exit 0/);
+    const bunCheckIdx = content.indexOf('command -v bun');
+    expect(helpIdx).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    expect(bunCheckIdx).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    // --help must be handled before the bun availability check so the flag
+    // works on machines that haven't installed bun yet.
+    expect(helpIdx).toBeLessThan(bunCheckIdx);
+  });
+
+  test('usage text documents every supported flag', () => {
+    const content = fs.readFileSync(SETUP_SCRIPT, 'utf-8');
+    const usageMatch = content.match(/usage\(\)\s*\{[\s\S]*?\n\}/);
+    expect(usageMatch).toBeTruthy();
+    const usage = usageMatch![0];
+    for (const flag of [
+      '--host',
+      '--prefix',
+      '--no-prefix',
+      '--team',
+      '--no-team',
+      '--quiet',
+      '--help',
+    ]) {
+      expect(usage).toContain(flag);
+    }
+  });
+
+  test('./setup --help exits 0, prints usage, and does not run installer', () => {
+    const res = spawnSync('bash', [SETUP_SCRIPT, '--help'], {
+      encoding: 'utf-8',
+      timeout: 5000,
+    });
+    expect(res.status).toBe(0);
+    expect(res.stdout).toContain('Usage:');
+    expect(res.stdout).toContain('gstack setup');
+    // Hard guarantee it short-circuited — none of the install-side output appears.
+    expect(res.stdout).not.toMatch(/Installing|bun install|Building|gen:skill-docs/);
+  });
+
+  test('./setup -h is equivalent to ./setup --help', () => {
+    const res = spawnSync('bash', [SETUP_SCRIPT, '-h'], {
+      encoding: 'utf-8',
+      timeout: 5000,
+    });
+    expect(res.status).toBe(0);
+    expect(res.stdout).toContain('Usage:');
+  });
+});