diff --git a/docs/cli_reference.rst b/docs/cli_reference.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4dc9ce5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/cli_reference.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+Command-Line Interface
+======================
+
+PyBryt includes a small command-line interface for performing quick tasks using its functionality.
+The main tasks that the CLI currently supports are:
+
+- compiling reference implementations and saving them to a file
+- executing student implementations and saving them to a file
+- checking reference implementations against student implementations (as notebooks or pickled objects)
+  and saving/echoing the results
+
+Each of the commands is detailed in the :ref:`refererence<cli_reference>` below, but a short summary
+of each is provided here. The CLI can be invoked via the command ``pybryt`` or by calling PyBryt as a 
+Python module: ``python3 -m pybryt``. For simplicity, the convention of the former is used here.
+
+
+CLI Sub-commands
+----------------
+
+
+``check``
++++++++++
+
+``pybryt check`` is used to check a student implementation against a reference implementation. It
+takes two position arguments corresponding to the path to a reference implementation and the path to
+a student implementation. Both paths can lead either to notebooks (which will be executed/compiled
+if provided) or to pickle files.
+
+The output of this command comes in three forms:
+
+- a pickled :py:class:`ReferenceResult<pybryt.reference.ReferenceResult>` object, written to a file
+- a JSON file with a text-based representation of the ``ReferenceResult`` object
+- a report echoed to the console
+
+To set the output type, use the ``-t`` flag. If a file is written, use the ``-o`` flag to set the 
+output path (defaults to ``{stu.stem}_results.[pkl|json]``).
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+    $ ls
+    reference.ipynb         subm.ipynb
+    $ pybryt check reference.ipynb subm.ipynb
+    $ ls
+    reference.ipynb         subm.ipynb              subm_results.pkl
+    $ pybryt check reference.pkl subm.pkl -t json
+    $ ls
+    reference.ipynb         subm.ipynb              subm_results.json       subm_results.pkl
+    $ pybryt check reference.ipynb subm.pkl -t report
+    REFERENCE: median
+    SATISFIED: True
+    MESSAGES:
+    ...
+
+
+``compile``
++++++++++++
+
+``pybryt compile`` is used to compile a reference implementation to a file. It takes a single positional
+argument, the path to the notebook to be compiled. To set the destination path, use the ``-d`` flag.
+If a name is needed for the reference implementation, it can be provided with the ``-n`` flag.
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+    $ pybryt compile reference.ipynb
+    $ pybryt compile reference.ipynb -d ref.pkl -n foo
+
+
+``execute``
++++++++++++
+
+``pybryte execute`` is used to execute one or more student implementations and write the memory 
+footprints to files for futher processing. All paths passed as position arguments to this command
+are paths to student implementation notebooks.
+
+Because execution can be time-consuming, ``pybryt execute`` supports parallelism using Python's
+``multiprocessing`` library. To enable parallelism, use the ``-p`` flag.
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+    $ pybryt execute submissions/*.ipynb
+    $ pybryt execute submissions/*.ipynb -p
+
+
+.. _cli_reference:
+
+Reference
+---------
+
+This section is a short reference for all of the commands and options for PyBryt's CLI.
+
+.. click:: pybryt.cli:click_cli
+    :prog: pybryt
+    :nested: full
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 714b46a..35e25ca 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ extensions = [
     'sphinxarg.ext',
     'IPython.sphinxext.ipython_console_highlighting',
     'IPython.sphinxext.ipython_directive',
+    'sphinx_click',
 ]
 
 # extension configurations
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 0c16ab0..999680e 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ PyBryt Documentation
    annotations/index
    reference_implementations
    student_implementations
+   cli_reference
    api_reference
    Changelog <https://github.com/microsoft/pybryt/tree/main/CHANGELOG.md>
 
@@ -31,7 +32,8 @@ benefits are:
 
 - Educators do not have to enforce the structure of the solution
 - Learners practice algorithm design, code design, and solution implementation
-- Learners receive quick and meaningful pedagogical feedback, which substantially contributes to the learning experience
+- Learners receive quick and meaningful pedagogical feedback, which substantially contributes 
+  to the learning experience
 - Complexity of the learner's solution can be analyzed
 - Plagiarism detection and support for reference implementations
 - Easy integration into existing organizational or institutional grading infrastructure
diff --git a/docs/requirements.txt b/docs/requirements.txt
index 544a0a5..26dd287 100644
--- a/docs/requirements.txt
+++ b/docs/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 furo
 sphinxcontrib-apidoc
 sphinx-argparse
+sphinx-click
diff --git a/pybryt/cli.py b/pybryt/cli.py
index 7efd46e..3750243 100644
--- a/pybryt/cli.py
+++ b/pybryt/cli.py
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ def check(ref, stu, name, output_nb, output, output_type):
         except:
             raise RuntimeError(f"Could not load the reference implementation {ref}")
 
+    if output is None:
+        output = get_stem(stu) + "_results" + (".pkl", ".json")[output_type == "json"]
+
     if os.path.splitext(stu)[1] == ".ipynb":
         stu = StudentImplementation(stu, output=output_nb)
     else:
@@ -80,8 +83,6 @@ def check(ref, stu, name, output_nb, output, output_type):
     if output_type == "pickle":
         res.dump(output)
     elif output_type == "json":
-        if output is None:
-            output = os.path.splitext(res._default_dump_dest)[0] + ".json"
         d = res.to_dict()
         with open(output, "w+") as f:
             json.dump(d, f, indent=2)