diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 41a92ba40..c4438845f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -185,9 +185,8 @@ one resource of the requested type, `--name` may be omitted.
 
 ```bash
 # Create a project. The default is a harness project: a managed agent
-# configured by spec, no model-loop code to maintain. --defaults says so
-# explicitly; harness flags (--model-id, --max-iterations, --timeout, …)
-# tune it.
+# configured by spec, no model-loop code to maintain. Harness flags
+# (--model-id, --max-iterations, --timeout, …) tune it.
 agentcore project create --name MyAssistant
 cd MyAssistant && agentcore project deploy
 # … or run `agentcore project create` bare in a terminal for the guided
diff --git a/src/handlers/project/create/create.screen.test.tsx b/src/handlers/project/create/create.screen.test.tsx
index 5d939f28a..0e89f3698 100644
--- a/src/handlers/project/create/create.screen.test.tsx
+++ b/src/handlers/project/create/create.screen.test.tsx
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ describe("project create wizard", () => {
     await r.press("return");
 
     // Success: next steps point at the new directory and deploy.
-    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "project created in ./DemoApp", 5000);
+    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "✔ project created in ./DemoApp", 5000);
     expect(r.lastFrame()).toContain("cd DemoApp");
     expect(r.lastFrame()).toContain("agentcore project deploy");
 
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ describe("project create wizard", () => {
     await r.press("return");
     await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "this project will be created");
     await r.press("return");
-    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "project created in ./TunedApp", 5000);
+    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "✔ project created in ./TunedApp", 5000);
 
     expect(inputs[0]).toEqual({
       name: "TunedApp",
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ describe("project create wizard", () => {
     expect(review).toContain("api key arn");
     expect(review.replace(/\s/g, "")).toContain(apiKeyArn);
     await r.press("return");
-    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "project created in ./OpenAIApp", 5000);
+    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "✔ project created in ./OpenAIApp", 5000);
 
     expect(inputs[0]).toEqual({
       name: "OpenAIApp",
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ describe("project create wizard", () => {
     expect(r.lastFrame()).toContain("agent-python-strands");
     expect(r.lastFrame()).toContain("long and short-term");
     await r.press("return");
-    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "project created in ./StrandsApp", 5000);
+    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "✔ project created in ./StrandsApp", 5000);
 
     // Identical to the flag-driven `--template agent-python-strands` input.
     expect(inputs).toEqual([
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ describe("project create wizard", () => {
     await r.press("return");
     await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "this project will be created");
     await r.press("return");
-    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "project created in ./BareStrands", 5000);
+    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "✔ project created in ./BareStrands", 5000);
 
     expect(inputs[0]).toEqual({
       name: "BareStrands",
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ describe("project create wizard", () => {
     await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "this project will be created");
     expect(r.lastFrame()).not.toContain("memory");
     await r.press("return");
-    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "project created in ./HelloApp", 5000);
+    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "✔ project created in ./HelloApp", 5000);
 
     expect(inputs[0]).toEqual({
       name: "HelloApp",
@@ -470,12 +470,17 @@ describe("project create wizard", () => {
 
   test("streamed progress renders as the CLI's step list", async () => {
     const core = new TestCoreClient();
+    let releaseFirstStep!: () => void;
+    const beforeFirstStep = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
+      releaseFirstStep = resolve;
+    });
     let release!: () => void;
     const held = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
       release = resolve;
     });
     core.projectManager.create = () => {
       return (async function* () {
+        await beforeFirstStep;
         yield { type: "step", message: "syncing dependencies" };
         await held;
         throw new Error("stopped");
@@ -494,6 +499,9 @@ describe("project create wizard", () => {
     await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "this project will be created");
     await r.press("return");
 
+    await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "creating DemoApp…");
+    releaseFirstStep();
+
     // The running step is the spinner row itself, as on the command line; the
     // generic "creating…" spinner shows only until the first step arrives.
     await waitForText(r.lastFrame, "syncing dependencies");
@@ -650,7 +658,7 @@ describe("project create dispatch", () => {
     const root = buildRoot(streams.io);
 
     const error: unknown = await root
-      .route(["node", "agentcore", "project", "create", "--defaults"])
+      .route(["node", "agentcore", "project", "create", "--skip-git"])
       .then(() => undefined)
       .catch((caught: unknown) => caught);
 
diff --git a/src/handlers/project/create/index.ts b/src/handlers/project/create/index.ts
index 4b23a9bca..a816b32b7 100644
--- a/src/handlers/project/create/index.ts
+++ b/src/handlers/project/create/index.ts
@@ -86,11 +86,6 @@ export const createCreateProjectHandler = (config: CreateProjectHandlerConfig) =
       // interactive `project create` reaches the TUI wizard middleware instead
       // of dying on Commander's mandatory-option check.
       flag("name", "name of the project to create", ProjectNameSchema.optional()),
-      flag(
-        "defaults",
-        "create a harness project with default settings (this is the default)",
-        z.boolean().default(false),
-      ),
       flag(
         "template",
         "a preset of flags for scaffolding the runtime; compatible flags override preset values",
@@ -212,8 +207,7 @@ export const createCreateProjectHandler = (config: CreateProjectHandlerConfig) =
       );
       if (flags["harness-memory"] === false) presentHarnessFlags.push("no-harness-memory");
 
-      // Mirrors the original CLI's dispatch: mixing the two paths is an error,
-      // while --defaults on the runtime path is simply ignored.
+      // Mirrors the original CLI's dispatch: mixing the two paths is an error.
       if (presentRuntimeFlags.length > 0 && presentHarnessFlags.length > 0) {
         throw new InputValidationError(
           `Cannot mix runtime scaffolding flags (${formatFlagList(presentRuntimeFlags)}) ` +
@@ -297,7 +291,7 @@ export const createCreateProjectHandler = (config: CreateProjectHandlerConfig) =
             scaffoldHarnessInput: resolveScaffoldHarnessInput({ ...flags, name }),
           };
 
-      if (!isRuntimePath && !flags["defaults"] && presentHarnessFlags.length === 0) {
+      if (!isRuntimePath && presentHarnessFlags.length === 0) {
         config.io.stderr.write(
           "Creating a harness project (pass --framework or --template to scaffold agent code instead).\n",
         );
diff --git a/src/handlers/project/project.screen.test.tsx b/src/handlers/project/project.screen.test.tsx
index 90fcf55ee..e7abc7d5b 100644
--- a/src/handlers/project/project.screen.test.tsx
+++ b/src/handlers/project/project.screen.test.tsx
@@ -28,8 +28,7 @@ function projectSubcommands(): string[] {
     ValueContext.EmptyContext(),
   );
   const project = root.commands.find((command) => command.name() === "project")!;
-  // `help` is Commander's own, not one of ours.
-  return project.commands.map((command) => command.name()).filter((name) => name !== "help");
+  return project.commands.map((command) => command.name());
 }
 
 describe("project menu", () => {
diff --git a/src/handlers/project/project.test.ts b/src/handlers/project/project.test.ts
index 4bf91b179..f0749a862 100644
--- a/src/handlers/project/project.test.ts
+++ b/src/handlers/project/project.test.ts
@@ -100,13 +100,11 @@ describe("project create", () => {
     expect(io.stderr()).toContain("Creating a harness project");
   });
 
-  test("--defaults selects the harness path explicitly, without the implicit-default notice", async () => {
-    const directory = await inTempDirectory();
-    const { io } = await run(["create", "--name", "MyAgent", "--defaults"]);
-
-    const spec = await Bun.file(join(directory, "MyAgent", "agentcore", "agentcore.json")).json();
-    expect(spec.harnesses).toHaveLength(1);
-    expect(io.stderr()).not.toContain("Creating a harness project");
+  test("rejects the removed --defaults flag", async () => {
+    await inTempDirectory();
+    await expect(run(["create", "--name", "MyAgent", "--defaults"])).rejects.toThrow(
+      /unknown option '--defaults'/,
+    );
   });
 
   test("harness-only flags flow into the harness spec", async () => {
@@ -254,15 +252,6 @@ describe("project create", () => {
     ).rejects.toThrow(/harness-only flags \(--no-harness-memory\)/);
   });
 
-  test("--defaults is ignored when a runtime path flag routes to scaffolding", async () => {
-    const directory = await inTempDirectory();
-    await run(["create", "--name", "MyAgent", "--defaults", "--template", "agent-python"]);
-
-    const spec = await Bun.file(join(directory, "MyAgent", "agentcore", "agentcore.json")).json();
-    expect(spec.runtimes[0]).toMatchObject({ name: "agent_python" });
-    expect(spec.harnesses).toBeUndefined();
-  });
-
   test("a harness create installs CDK dependencies and git only (no uv sync)", async () => {
     const directory = await inTempDirectory();
     const { core } = await run(["create", "--name", "MyAgent"]);
diff --git a/src/router/router.test.ts b/src/router/router.test.ts
index 6a8eb899f..ced99b7d3 100644
--- a/src/router/router.test.ts
+++ b/src/router/router.test.ts
@@ -687,6 +687,25 @@ async function helpOutput(root: Router, argv: string[]): Promise<string> {
   return out;
 }
 
+test("command groups omit Commander's generated help subcommand", async () => {
+  const nested = new Router("nested").handler(leaf("deep", () => {}));
+  const root = new Router("app").handler(nested);
+
+  const command = compile(root, ValueContext.EmptyContext());
+  const nestedCommand = command.commands.find((child) => child.name() === "nested")!;
+
+  // Help generation used to materialize a synthetic `help [command]` child.
+  command.helpInformation();
+  nestedCommand.helpInformation();
+  expect(command.commands.map((child) => child.name())).not.toContain("help");
+  expect(nestedCommand.commands.map((child) => child.name())).not.toContain("help");
+
+  const out = await helpOutput(root, ["app", "nested", "--help"]);
+  expect(out).toContain("deep");
+  expect(out).toContain("--help");
+  expect(out).not.toContain("help [command]");
+});
+
 test("flags with long-form help render a Parameter details section", async () => {
   const create = createHandler({
     name: "create",
diff --git a/src/router/router.tsx b/src/router/router.tsx
index 4a823cbf2..5b7f41e86 100644
--- a/src/router/router.tsx
+++ b/src/router/router.tsx
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ export function compile(
   const effectiveTuiSupport = tuiSupported && node.doesSupportTui();
   const compiledNode = withEffectiveTuiSupport(node, effectiveTuiSupport);
   const c = new RoutedCommand(compiledNode);
+  c.addHelpCommand(false);
   c.description(node.description());
 
   const ownFlags = node.flags();