diff --git a/selfdrive/debug/README.md b/selfdrive/debug/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..abb0c3240a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/selfdrive/debug/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# debug scripts
+
+## [can_printer.py](can_printer.py)
+
+```
+usage: can_printer.py [-h] [--bus BUS] [--max_msg MAX_MSG] [--addr ADDR]
+
+simple CAN data viewer
+
+optional arguments:
+  -h, --help         show this help message and exit
+  --bus BUS          CAN bus to print out (default: 0)
+  --max_msg MAX_MSG  max addr (default: None)
+  --addr ADDR
+```
+
+## [dump.py](dump.py)
+
+```
+usage: dump.py [-h] [--pipe] [--raw] [--json] [--dump-json] [--no-print] [--addr ADDR] [--values VALUES] [socket [socket ...]]
+
+Dump communcation sockets. See cereal/services.py for a complete list of available sockets.
+
+positional arguments:
+  socket           socket names to dump. defaults to all services defined in cereal
+
+optional arguments:
+  -h, --help       show this help message and exit
+  --pipe
+  --raw
+  --json
+  --dump-json
+  --no-print
+  --addr ADDR
+  --values VALUES  values to monitor (instead of entire event)
+```
diff --git a/selfdrive/debug/can_printer.py b/selfdrive/debug/can_printer.py
index ab09ecb1e4..cb6ff29006 100755
--- a/selfdrive/debug/can_printer.py
+++ b/selfdrive/debug/can_printer.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def can_printer(bus, max_msg, addr):
       lp = sec_since_boot()
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-  parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="can data viewer",
+  parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="simple CAN data viewer",
                                    formatter_class=argparse.ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter)
 
   parser.add_argument("--bus", type=int, help="CAN bus to print out", default=0)
diff --git a/selfdrive/debug/dump.py b/selfdrive/debug/dump.py
index ce96b360f8..047c874fb7 100755
--- a/selfdrive/debug/dump.py
+++ b/selfdrive/debug/dump.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from cereal.services import service_list
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
 
-  parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Sniff a communcation socket')
+  parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Dump communcation sockets. See cereal/services.py for a complete list of available sockets.')
   parser.add_argument('--pipe', action='store_true')
   parser.add_argument('--raw', action='store_true')
   parser.add_argument('--json', action='store_true')
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
   parser.add_argument('--no-print', action='store_true')
   parser.add_argument('--addr', default='127.0.0.1')
   parser.add_argument('--values', help='values to monitor (instead of entire event)')
-  parser.add_argument("socket", type=str, nargs='*', help="socket name")
+  parser.add_argument("socket", type=str, nargs='*', help="socket names to dump. defaults to all services defined in cereal")
   args = parser.parse_args()
 
   if args.addr != "127.0.0.1":