diff --git a/internal/cli/query.go b/internal/cli/query.go
index ac4f09d..4cfaee0 100644
--- a/internal/cli/query.go
+++ b/internal/cli/query.go
@@ -16,6 +16,20 @@ import (
 // stalled connection cannot hang the command indefinitely.
 const queryTimeout = 2 * time.Minute
 
+// queryCmd implements the explicit `sting query` subcommand. It reuses the
+// same runQuery and flag set as the root command's direct-invocation style
+// (e.g. `sting --author foo`), so both forms work and the README example
+// `sting query --author ...` is satisfied.
+var queryCmd = &cobra.Command{
+	Use:   "query",
+	Short: "Query a GitHub or GitLab user's commits over a time window",
+	Long: "Prints a Markdown or JSON commit report.\n\n" +
+		"This is the primary CLI surface for ad-hoc queries; the identical " +
+		"engine powers the MCP get_commits tool. All query flags are also " +
+		"accepted directly on the root command for brevity.",
+	RunE: runQuery,
+}
+
 // registerQueryFlags attaches the per-query flags to cmd. They are local flags
 // (not bound to viper) because they are request inputs that override the
 // resolved config defaults for a single invocation.
diff --git a/internal/cli/root.go b/internal/cli/root.go
index 79f874d..3394160 100644
--- a/internal/cli/root.go
+++ b/internal/cli/root.go
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ var rootCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:   "sting",
 	Short: "Query a GitHub or GitLab user's commits over a time window",
 	Long: "sting reports a GitHub or GitLab user's commits over a time window for an LLM agent or a terminal.\n\n" +
-		"Run with query flags to print a report, `sting mcp` to serve the read-only get_commits tool over stdio, " +
+		"Run `sting query` (or supply query flags directly) to print a report, " +
+		"`sting mcp` to serve the read-only get_commits tool over stdio, " +
 		"or `sting install` to register that server with your agent runtimes.",
 	SilenceUsage:  true,
 	SilenceErrors: true,
@@ -60,8 +61,11 @@ func init() {
 	must(v.BindPFlag("max_commits", pf.Lookup("max-commits")))
 
 	registerQueryFlags(rootCmd)
+	// Also register on the query subcommand so `sting query --author ...` works
+	// with the exact same flag surface (and satisfies documented usage).
+	registerQueryFlags(queryCmd)
 
-	rootCmd.AddCommand(mcpCmd, installCmd, uninstallCmd, versionCmd, authCmd, initCmd)
+	rootCmd.AddCommand(queryCmd, mcpCmd, installCmd, uninstallCmd, versionCmd, authCmd, initCmd)
 }
 
 // initConfig seeds defaults, wires environment overrides, and reads the config