diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index a3c8acd..7c47ed2 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -77,8 +77,18 @@ endfunction(cellar_library)
 cellar_library(bottles)
 cellar_library(launch)
 
-add_executable(cellar ${src}/cellar.cpp ${src}/commands.cpp ${src}/fs.cpp
-        ${src}/version.cpp ${src}/output.cpp ${src}/help/help.cpp)
+file(GLOB coresources RELATIVE "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}"
+        "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.cpp")
+file(GLOB corecoggedsources RELATIVE "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}"
+        "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.cpp.cog")
+foreach(corecog ${corecoggedsources})
+        string(REGEX REPLACE ".cog\$" "" this "${corecog}")
+        set(coresources ${coresources} ${this})
+endforeach(corecog)
+
+get_sources("src/help/*.cpp" helpsources)
+
+add_executable(cellar ${coresources} ${helpsources})
 target_link_libraries(cellar ${cellar_LIBRARIES} ${Boost_LIBRARIES})
 add_dependencies(cellar cog) # effectively redundant but a couple of the bin's
                              # files are cogged, so this is mostly for people
diff --git a/include/help.hpp b/include/help.hpp
index 7ba6a3e..0bfbab8 100644
--- a/include/help.hpp
+++ b/include/help.hpp
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ using namespace std;
 namespace cellar {
     namespace help {
         extern void set_description(string,string);
+        extern string get_description(string);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/help/descriptions.cpp b/src/help/descriptions.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd2bf60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/help/descriptions.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#include <map>
+#include <string>
+
+#include "help.hpp"
+
+map<string,string> description_map;
+
+void cellar::help::set_description(string command, string description) {
+    if (description.empty()) {
+        if (description_map.find(command) == description_map.end()) { // not found
+            return; // no description no cry
+        } else {
+            description_map.erase(command);
+        }
+    } else { // setting description
+        description_map[command] = description;
+    }
+}
+
+string cellar::help::get_description(string command) {
+    if (description_map.find(command) == description_map.end()) { // not found
+        return "";
+    } else {
+        return description_map.at(command);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/help/help.cpp b/src/help/help.cpp
index 6a2d1c1..b21a26e 100644
--- a/src/help/help.cpp
+++ b/src/help/help.cpp
@@ -1,28 +1,32 @@
+#include <iostream>
+#include <sstream>
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 
 #include "cellar.hpp"
 #include "internal/core.hpp"
-#include "help.cpp"
+#include "help.hpp"
+#include "output.hpp"
 
 using namespace std;
+using namespace cellar;
 
 void cellar::commands::help_command(int argc, vector<string> argv) {
     vector<string> commands = list_commands();
     cellar::print_header();
 
-    cout << "You have these commands:\n" << endl;
+    cout << endl; // TODO: cellar::output function for code clarity
 
-    int num_columns = 4;
-    int cur_column = 1;
+    output::statement("You have these commands:");
+    stringstream sstr;
     for (string command : commands) {
-        cout << "\t" << command;
-        if (cur_column == num_columns) {
-            cout << endl;
-            cur_column = 1;
-        } else {
-            cur_column++;
+        sstr << "\t" << command;
+        
+        string desc = help::get_description(command);
+        if (!desc.empty()) {
+            sstr << " - " << desc;
         }
+        output::statement(sstr.str());
+        sstr.str("");
     }
-    cout << endl;
 }