diff --git a/package/ego-browser/src/help-runtime.test.mjs b/package/ego-browser/src/help-runtime.test.mjs
index 2716900d..f4e42939 100644
--- a/package/ego-browser/src/help-runtime.test.mjs
+++ b/package/ego-browser/src/help-runtime.test.mjs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { dirname, join } from "node:path";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 
-import { help, formatHelp } from "../dist/src/help-runtime.js";
+import { help, formatHelp, __setDocsForTests } from "../dist/src/help-runtime.js";
 
 // Regression test for GitHub issue #84: the runtime used to build its docs map
 // by reading its own source, which produced an empty map whenever the SDK was
@@ -42,6 +42,41 @@ test("formatHelp renders the signature for an embedded doc", () => {
   assert.ok(text.includes("click("), `expected signature in:\n${text}`);
 });
 
+test("help(name) falls back to the live function when embedded docs miss it", () => {
+  const live = async (selector, key = "Enter") => ({ selector, key });
+  const doc = help({ live }, "live");
+  assert.equal(typeof doc, "object");
+  assert.equal(doc.name, "live");
+  assert.ok(doc.signature.includes("live("));
+  assert.ok(doc.async);
+  assert.notEqual(doc, "Unknown helper: live");
+});
+
+test("help() lists live helpers when the embedded catalog is empty", () => {
+  __setDocsForTests("[]");
+  try {
+    const list = help({ click: () => {}, waitFor: async () => {} });
+    assert.ok(Array.isArray(list));
+    assert.equal(list.length, 2);
+    assert.ok(list.some((d) => d.name === "click"));
+    assert.ok(list.some((d) => d.name === "waitFor"));
+  } finally {
+    __setDocsForTests(null);
+  }
+});
+
+test("help(name) still reports unknown when the helper is not live", () => {
+  __setDocsForTests("[]");
+  try {
+    assert.equal(
+      help({}, "definitelyNotAHelper"),
+      "Unknown helper: definitelyNotAHelper",
+    );
+  } finally {
+    __setDocsForTests(null);
+  }
+});
+
 test("help works when the shipped bundle runs as an eval module", () => {
   // The app executes the SDK from an in-memory string, so its import.meta.url
   // ("file:///...[eval1]") is not a readable file — the exact condition that
diff --git a/package/ego-browser/src/help-runtime.ts b/package/ego-browser/src/help-runtime.ts
index 769bf208..bb92ce77 100644
--- a/package/ego-browser/src/help-runtime.ts
+++ b/package/ego-browser/src/help-runtime.ts
@@ -33,25 +33,17 @@ export function help(
 ): HelperDoc | HelperDoc[] | string {
   const docs = getDocsMap();
   if (names.length === 0) {
-    const all = [...docs.values()].filter((d) => d.name in helpers);
-    return all;
+    const fromDocs = [...docs.values()].filter((d) => d.name in helpers);
+    if (fromDocs.length > 0) return fromDocs;
+    return listFallbackDocs(helpers);
   }
   if (names.length === 1) {
-    const doc = docs.get(names[0]);
-    if (!doc) return `Unknown helper: ${names[0]}`;
+    const name = names[0];
+    const doc = docs.get(name) || fallbackDoc(name, helpers[name]);
+    if (!doc) return `Unknown helper: ${name}`;
     return doc;
   }
-  return names.map(
-    (n) =>
-      docs.get(n) || {
-        name: n,
-        signature: n,
-        description: null,
-        params: [],
-        returns: null,
-        async: false,
-      },
-  );
+  return names.map((n) => docs.get(n) || fallbackDoc(n, helpers[n]) || emptyDoc(n));
 }
 
 export function formatHelp(doc: HelperDoc): string {
@@ -95,3 +87,68 @@ function parseEmbeddedDocs(raw: string): HelperDoc[] {
     return [];
   }
 }
+
+function listFallbackDocs(helpers: Record<string, unknown>): HelperDoc[] {
+  return Object.keys(helpers)
+    .filter((name) => name !== "help" && typeof helpers[name] === "function")
+    .sort()
+    .map((name) => fallbackDoc(name, helpers[name]))
+    .filter((doc): doc is HelperDoc => Boolean(doc));
+}
+
+function fallbackDoc(name: string, value: unknown): HelperDoc | null {
+  if (typeof value !== "function") return null;
+  const src = Function.prototype.toString.call(value);
+  const isAsync = /^\s*async\b/.test(src);
+  const paramMatch =
+    src.match(/^(?:async\s+)?(?:function[\s\w$]*)?\s*\(([^)]*)\)/) ||
+    src.match(/^(?:async\s*)?\(([^)]*)\)\s*=>/);
+  const rawParams = paramMatch?.[1]?.trim() ?? "";
+  const paramNames = rawParams
+    ? rawParams
+        .split(",")
+        .map((part) => part.trim())
+        .filter(Boolean)
+    : [];
+  const params: ParamInfo[] = paramNames.map((part) => ({
+    name: part.replace(/^\.\.\./, "").replace(/\s*=[\s\S]*$/, "") || part,
+    type: null,
+    description: null,
+    optional: part.includes("=") || part.startsWith("..."),
+    rest: part.startsWith("..."),
+    default: null,
+  }));
+  const paramSig = paramNames.join(", ");
+  const returns = isAsync ? "Promise<...>" : null;
+  return {
+    name,
+    signature: `${name}(${paramSig})${returns ? ` → ${returns}` : ""}`,
+    description:
+      "Available helper. Embedded help docs were empty, so this signature was recovered from the live function.",
+    params,
+    returns,
+    async: isAsync,
+  };
+}
+
+function emptyDoc(name: string): HelperDoc {
+  return {
+    name,
+    signature: name,
+    description: null,
+    params: [],
+    returns: null,
+    async: false,
+  };
+}
+
+export function __setDocsForTests(raw: string | null): void {
+  if (raw === null) {
+    cache = null;
+    return;
+  }
+  cache = new Map();
+  for (const doc of parseEmbeddedDocs(raw)) {
+    cache.set(doc.name, doc);
+  }
+}