diff --git a/hermes_cli/completion.py b/hermes_cli/completion.py
index 591ffecc62f..efedad5eb78 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/completion.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/completion.py
@@ -216,9 +216,9 @@ _hermes() {{
     typeset -A opt_args
 
     _arguments -C \\
-        '(-)'{{-h,--help}}'[Show help and exit]' \\
-        '(-)'{{-V,--version}}'[Show version and exit]' \\
-        '(-)'{{-p,--profile}}'[Profile name]:profile:_hermes_profiles' \\
+        "(-h --help)"{{-h,--help}}"[Show help and exit]" \\
+        "(-V --version)"{{-V,--version}}"[Show version and exit]" \\
+        "(-p --profile)"{{-p,--profile}}"[Profile name]:profile:_hermes_profiles" \\
         '1:command:->commands' \\
         '*::arg:->args'
 
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ _hermes() {{
     esac
 }}
 
-_hermes "$@"
+compdef _hermes hermes
 """
 
 
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_completion.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_completion.py
index 20bde059f2e..1e85653290a 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_completion.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_completion.py
@@ -140,6 +140,36 @@ class TestGenerateZsh:
         # gateway has subcommands so a _cmds array must be generated
         assert "gateway_cmds" in out
 
+    def test_registers_compdef_instead_of_invoking_completion_function(self):
+        out = generate_zsh(_make_parser())
+        assert 'compdef _hermes hermes' in out
+        assert '_hermes "$@"' not in out
+
+    def test_uses_valid_zsh_arguments_alias_syntax(self):
+        out = generate_zsh(_make_parser())
+        assert '"(-h --help)"{-h,--help}"[Show help and exit]"' in out
+        assert '"(-V --version)"{-V,--version}"[Show version and exit]"' in out
+        assert '"(-p --profile)"{-p,--profile}"[Profile name]:profile:_hermes_profiles"' in out
+        assert "'(-h --help){-h,--help}[Show help and exit]'" not in out
+
+    def test_valid_zsh_syntax_when_sourced_after_compinit(self):
+        if not shutil.which("zsh"):
+            pytest.skip("zsh not installed")
+        out = generate_zsh(_make_parser())
+        with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(mode="w", suffix=".zsh", delete=False) as f:
+            f.write(out)
+            path = f.name
+        try:
+            result = subprocess.run(
+                ["zsh", "-fc", f"autoload -Uz compinit && compinit; source {path}"],
+                capture_output=True,
+                text=True,
+            )
+            assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+            assert result.stderr == ""
+        finally:
+            os.unlink(path)
+
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # 4. Fish output