diff --git a/mesonpy/__init__.py b/mesonpy/__init__.py
index ad1ec5564..5795136df 100644
--- a/mesonpy/__init__.py
+++ b/mesonpy/__init__.py
@@ -795,7 +795,7 @@ def _manifest(self) -> DefaultDict[str, List[Tuple[pathlib.Path, str]]]:
         install_plan = self._info('intro-install_plan')
 
         # Parse the 'meson install' args to extract --tags and --skip-subprojects
-        parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+        parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(add_help=False)
         parser.add_argument('--tags')
         parser.add_argument('--skip-subprojects', nargs='?', const='*', default='')
         args, _ = parser.parse_known_args(self._meson_args['install'])