diff --git a/cli/lightning-cli.c b/cli/lightning-cli.c
index c3a25afd14a0..68c13738fa74 100644
--- a/cli/lightning-cli.c
+++ b/cli/lightning-cli.c
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ static size_t human_readable(const char *buffer, const jsmntok_t *t, char term)
 					i++;
 					continue;
 				}
+			} else if (buffer[i] == '|') {
+				fputc('\n', stdout);
+				continue;
 			}
 			fputc(buffer[i], stdout);
 		}
@@ -174,6 +177,13 @@ static int compare_help(const jsmntok_t *const *a,
 			   buffer);
 }
 
+static void replace_char(char *buf, size_t len, char old, char new)
+{
+	char *p = buf, *end = buf + len;
+	while ((p = memchr(p, old, end - p)) != NULL)
+		*p = new;
+}
+
 static void human_help(char *buffer, const jsmntok_t *result)
 {
 	unsigned int i;
@@ -197,6 +207,8 @@ static void human_help(char *buffer, const jsmntok_t *result)
 	for (i = 0; i < tal_count(help); i++) {
 		const jsmntok_t *command;
 		command = json_get_member(buffer, help[i], "command");
+		replace_char(buffer + command->start,
+			     command->end - command->start, '|', '\n');
 		printf("%.*s\n\n",
 		       command->end - command->start, buffer + command->start);
 	}
diff --git a/contrib/pyln-client/pyln/client/plugin.py b/contrib/pyln-client/pyln/client/plugin.py
index 022a931852a0..ce2a136d57fc 100644
--- a/contrib/pyln-client/pyln/client/plugin.py
+++ b/contrib/pyln-client/pyln/client/plugin.py
@@ -84,7 +84,9 @@ def get_usage(self):
                 args.append("[%s]" % arg)
 
         if self.description is not None:
-            args.append("\n%s" % self.description)
+            doc = inspect.getdoc(self.func)
+            doc = re.sub('\n+', ' | ', doc)
+            args.append(" | %s" % doc)
 
         return " ".join(args)
 
@@ -938,16 +940,6 @@ def _getmanifest(self, **kwargs) -> JSONType:
                               'after': method.after})
                 continue
 
-            doc = inspect.getdoc(method.func)
-            if not doc:
-                self.log(
-                    'RPC method \'{}\' does not have a docstring.'.format(
-                        method.name
-                    )
-                )
-                doc = "Undocumented RPC method from a plugin."
-            doc = re.sub('\n+', ' ', doc)
-
             # For compatibility with lightningd prior to 24.08, we must
             # provide a description.  Ignored by 24.08 onwards,
             description = method.description