diff --git a/DevProxy/Commands/DevProxyCommand.cs b/DevProxy/Commands/DevProxyCommand.cs
index 1740df9f1..3832bba5f 100644
--- a/DevProxy/Commands/DevProxyCommand.cs
+++ b/DevProxy/Commands/DevProxyCommand.cs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 using DevProxy.Abstractions.Proxy;
 using DevProxy.Abstractions.Utils;
 using System.CommandLine;
+using System.CommandLine.Help;
 using System.CommandLine.Parsing;
 using System.Globalization;
 
@@ -217,7 +218,17 @@ public async Task<int> InvokeAsync(string[] args, WebApplication app)
         var parseResult = IsStdioCommand
             ? StdioCommand.ParseStdioArgs(this, args)
             : Parse(args);
-        return await parseResult.InvokeAsync(app.Lifetime.ApplicationStopping);
+        var exitCode = await parseResult.InvokeAsync(app.Lifetime.ApplicationStopping);
+
+        // Return exit code 2 for input validation and parse errors to distinguish
+        // them from runtime errors (exit code 1), following conventions from
+        // curl, git, and others
+        if (exitCode != 0 && parseResult.Errors.Count > 0)
+        {
+            return 2;
+        }
+
+        return exitCode;
     }
 
     private async Task<int> InvokeAsync(ParseResult parseResult, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
@@ -521,6 +532,12 @@ private void ConfigureCommand()
         commands.AddRange(_plugins.SelectMany(p => p.GetCommands()));
         this.AddCommands(commands.OrderByName());
 
+        var helpOption = Options.OfType<HelpOption>().FirstOrDefault();
+        if (helpOption?.Action is HelpAction helpAction)
+        {
+            helpOption.Action = new ExitCodeHelpAction(helpAction);
+        }
+
         SetAction(InvokeAsync);
     }
 
diff --git a/DevProxy/Commands/ExitCodeHelpAction.cs b/DevProxy/Commands/ExitCodeHelpAction.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fae60abae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/DevProxy/Commands/ExitCodeHelpAction.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using System.CommandLine;
+using System.CommandLine.Help;
+using System.CommandLine.Invocation;
+
+namespace DevProxy.Commands;
+
+sealed class ExitCodeHelpAction : SynchronousCommandLineAction
+{
+    private readonly HelpAction _originalAction;
+
+    public ExitCodeHelpAction(HelpAction originalAction)
+    {
+        _originalAction = originalAction;
+        Terminating = true;
+    }
+
+    public override int Invoke(ParseResult parseResult)
+    {
+        var result = _originalAction.Invoke(parseResult);
+
+        var output = parseResult.Configuration.Output;
+        output.WriteLine();
+        output.WriteLine("Exit codes:");
+        output.WriteLine("  0  Success");
+        output.WriteLine("  1  Runtime error");
+        output.WriteLine("  2  Invalid input or usage");
+
+        return result;
+    }
+}