diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
index eae6a9c..55df2fd 100644
--- a/src/cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -1,14 +1,13 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 import { parse } from "@bomb.sh/args";
-import { animateBanner, staticBanner } from "./banner.js";
+import { animateBanner } from "./banner.js";
 
 const args = parse(process.argv.slice(2), {
 	boolean: ["json", "all", "fresh", "help"],
 	alias: { h: "help" },
 });
 
-const usage = `${staticBanner}
-usage:
+const usage = `usage:
   fid list          every knot on the network
     --json          machine-readable output
     --all           include localhost/dev junk knots
@@ -16,13 +15,13 @@ usage:
 `;
 
 const [command] = args._;
+if (!args.json) await animateBanner(); // keep --json pipe-clean
+
 if (args.help || !command) {
 	console.log(usage);
 	process.exit(command ? 0 : 1);
 }
 
-if (!args.json) await animateBanner(); // keep --json pipe-clean
-
 switch (command) {
 	case "list":
 		await (await import("./commands/list.js")).run(args);