diff --git a/src/modeldock/cli/commands/install_category.py b/src/modeldock/cli/commands/install_category.py
index 5b6bf18..fa045a5 100644
--- a/src/modeldock/cli/commands/install_category.py
+++ b/src/modeldock/cli/commands/install_category.py
@@ -6,10 +6,15 @@
 
 from modeldock.cli.console import print_error
 from modeldock.cli.factory import manager_for
+from modeldock.domain.model import Category
+
+_CATEGORY_HELP: str = "Category name. Available: " + "; ".join(
+    f"{item.value} ({item.description})" for item in Category
+)
 
 
 def install_category_cmd(
-    category: str = typer.Argument(..., help="Category name (e.g. coding)"),
+    category: str = typer.Argument(..., help=_CATEGORY_HELP),
     backend: str = typer.Option(None, "--backend", help="Runtime backend"),
     debug: bool = typer.Option(False, "--debug", help="Show traceback"),
 ) -> None:
diff --git a/src/modeldock/domain/model.py b/src/modeldock/domain/model.py
index cec63b5..c526c27 100644
--- a/src/modeldock/domain/model.py
+++ b/src/modeldock/domain/model.py
@@ -38,12 +38,25 @@ def from_value(cls, value: str) -> Capability:
 class Category(str, Enum):
     """High-level model categories used for discovery and bulk install."""
 
-    CHAT = "chat"
-    CODING = "coding"
-    EMBEDDING = "embedding"
-    VISION = "vision"
-    REASONING = "reasoning"
-    INSTRUCT = "instruct"
+    _description: str
+
+    def __new__(cls, value: str, description: str) -> Category:
+        obj = str.__new__(cls, value)
+        obj._value_ = value
+        obj._description = description
+        return obj
+
+    CHAT = ("chat", "General-purpose conversational models")
+    CODING = ("coding", "Models optimized for code generation and completion")
+    EMBEDDING = ("embedding", "Models that convert text into vector representations")
+    VISION = ("vision", "Models that understand images and text")
+    REASONING = ("reasoning", "Models optimized for multi-step reasoning")
+    INSTRUCT = ("instruct", "Models tuned to follow instructions")
+
+    @property
+    def description(self) -> str:
+        """Return a human-readable description for CLI help and documentation."""
+        return self._description
 
     @classmethod
     def from_value(cls, value: str) -> Category:
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_cli_wiring.py b/tests/unit/test_cli_wiring.py
index 18d14e5..b577a75 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_cli_wiring.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_cli_wiring.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import re
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Optional
 
@@ -12,7 +13,7 @@
 import modeldock.cli.factory as factory
 from modeldock.cli.app import app
 from modeldock.common.errors import ConfigError
-from modeldock.domain.model import ModelRef, RuntimeBackend
+from modeldock.domain.model import Category, ModelRef, RuntimeBackend
 
 runner = CliRunner()
 
@@ -85,6 +86,17 @@ def test_unknown_backend_exits_nonzero(recording_manager: type[_RecordingManager
     assert "Unknown backend" in result.output
 
 
+def test_install_category_help_includes_descriptions() -> None:
+    result = runner.invoke(app, ["install-category", "--help"])
+    stripped = re.sub(r"\x1b\[[0-?]*[ -/]*[@-~]", "", result.output)
+    output = " ".join(stripped.replace("│", " ").split())
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    for category in list(Category):
+        assert category.value in output
+        assert category.description in output
+
+
 def test_global_backend_reaches_subcommands(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
     monkeypatch.delenv("MODELDOCK_DEFAULT_BACKEND", raising=False)
     result = runner.invoke(app, ["--backend", "lmstudio", "config", "show"])
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_domain.py b/tests/unit/test_domain.py
index 18be1e8..3b2505c 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_domain.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_domain.py
@@ -32,6 +32,20 @@ def test_category_from_value() -> None:
         Category.from_value("nonsense")
 
 
+def test_category_descriptions() -> None:
+    # Pin exact wording so accidental rewording is caught in CI.
+    expected = {
+        Category.CHAT: "General-purpose conversational models",
+        Category.CODING: "Models optimized for code generation and completion",
+        Category.EMBEDDING: "Models that convert text into vector representations",
+        Category.VISION: "Models that understand images and text",
+        Category.REASONING: "Models optimized for multi-step reasoning",
+        Category.INSTRUCT: "Models tuned to follow instructions",
+    }
+
+    assert {category: category.description for category in Category} == expected
+
+
 def test_backend_from_value() -> None:
     assert RuntimeBackend.from_value("OLLAMA") == RuntimeBackend.OLLAMA
     assert RuntimeBackend.from_value("vllm") == RuntimeBackend.VLLM