diff --git a/src/repixelizer/gui_static/index.html b/src/repixelizer/gui_static/index.html
index c9cd8b5..77feefd 100644
--- a/src/repixelizer/gui_static/index.html
+++ b/src/repixelizer/gui_static/index.html
@@ -145,7 +145,17 @@
             </div>
             <form id="controlsForm" class="controls-grid">
               <label class="field">
-                <span>Device</span>
+                <span class="field-heading">
+                  <span>Device</span>
+                  <span
+                    class="help-tip"
+                    tabindex="0"
+                    role="note"
+                    title="Choose where analysis and solving run. auto picks the best available backend, cpu forces the safe path, and cuda forces the GPU if your PyTorch build supports it."
+                    aria-label="Choose where analysis and solving run. auto picks the best available backend, cpu forces the safe path, and cuda forces the GPU if your PyTorch build supports it."
+                    >?</span
+                  >
+                </span>
                 <select id="deviceInput" name="device">
                   <option value="auto" selected>auto</option>
                   <option value="cpu">cpu</option>
@@ -153,40 +163,130 @@
                 </select>
               </label>
               <label class="field">
-                <span>Target Size</span>
+                <span class="field-heading">
+                  <span>Target Size</span>
+                  <span
+                    class="help-tip"
+                    tabindex="0"
+                    role="note"
+                    title="Override the inferred output size by pinning the larger lattice dimension. The other dimension follows the input aspect ratio. Do not combine this with Target Width or Target Height."
+                    aria-label="Override the inferred output size by pinning the larger lattice dimension. The other dimension follows the input aspect ratio. Do not combine this with Target Width or Target Height."
+                    >?</span
+                  >
+                </span>
                 <input id="targetSizeInput" name="targetSize" type="number" min="1" placeholder="auto" />
               </label>
               <label class="field">
-                <span>Target Width</span>
+                <span class="field-heading">
+                  <span>Target Width</span>
+                  <span
+                    class="help-tip"
+                    tabindex="0"
+                    role="note"
+                    title="Pin the output lattice width directly. If Target Height is blank, the height is derived from the input aspect ratio. Do not combine this with Target Size."
+                    aria-label="Pin the output lattice width directly. If Target Height is blank, the height is derived from the input aspect ratio. Do not combine this with Target Size."
+                    >?</span
+                  >
+                </span>
                 <input id="targetWidthInput" name="targetWidth" type="number" min="1" placeholder="auto" />
               </label>
               <label class="field">
-                <span>Target Height</span>
+                <span class="field-heading">
+                  <span>Target Height</span>
+                  <span
+                    class="help-tip"
+                    tabindex="0"
+                    role="note"
+                    title="Pin the output lattice height directly. If Target Width is blank, the width is derived from the input aspect ratio. Do not combine this with Target Size."
+                    aria-label="Pin the output lattice height directly. If Target Width is blank, the width is derived from the input aspect ratio. Do not combine this with Target Size."
+                    >?</span
+                  >
+                </span>
                 <input id="targetHeightInput" name="targetHeight" type="number" min="1" placeholder="auto" />
               </label>
               <label class="field">
-                <span>Phase X</span>
+                <span class="field-heading">
+                  <span>Phase X</span>
+                  <span
+                    class="help-tip"
+                    tabindex="0"
+                    role="note"
+                    title="Pin the horizontal lattice phase offset in cell units. Leave this blank to let the pipeline search. Phase X and Phase Y only work when the output size is fixed."
+                    aria-label="Pin the horizontal lattice phase offset in cell units. Leave this blank to let the pipeline search. Phase X and Phase Y only work when the output size is fixed."
+                    >?</span
+                  >
+                </span>
                 <input id="phaseXInput" name="phaseX" type="number" step="0.05" placeholder="search" />
               </label>
               <label class="field">
-                <span>Phase Y</span>
+                <span class="field-heading">
+                  <span>Phase Y</span>
+                  <span
+                    class="help-tip"
+                    tabindex="0"
+                    role="note"
+                    title="Pin the vertical lattice phase offset in cell units. Leave this blank to let the pipeline search. Phase X and Phase Y only work when the output size is fixed."
+                    aria-label="Pin the vertical lattice phase offset in cell units. Leave this blank to let the pipeline search. Phase X and Phase Y only work when the output size is fixed."
+                    >?</span
+                  >
+                </span>
                 <input id="phaseYInput" name="phaseY" type="number" step="0.05" placeholder="search" />
               </label>
               <label class="field">
-                <span>Steps</span>
+                <span class="field-heading">
+                  <span>Steps</span>
+                  <span
+                    class="help-tip"
+                    tabindex="0"
+                    role="note"
+                    title="Number of optimizer steps for the phase-field solver. Higher values take longer but can refine the result. Set this to 0 to keep the initial placement without solver drift."
+                    aria-label="Number of optimizer steps for the phase-field solver. Higher values take longer but can refine the result. Set this to 0 to keep the initial placement without solver drift."
+                    >?</span
+                  >
+                </span>
                 <input id="stepsInput" name="steps" type="number" min="0" value="48" />
               </label>
               <label class="field">
-                <span>Seed</span>
+                <span class="field-heading">
+                  <span>Seed</span>
+                  <span
+                    class="help-tip"
+                    tabindex="0"
+                    role="note"
+                    title="Random seed used by the solver and any stochastic analysis bits. Reusing the same seed makes runs more repeatable."
+                    aria-label="Random seed used by the solver and any stochastic analysis bits. Reusing the same seed makes runs more repeatable."
+                    >?</span
+                  >
+                </span>
                 <input id="seedInput" name="seed" type="number" min="0" value="7" />
               </label>
               <label class="toggle-row">
                 <input id="stripBackgroundInput" name="stripBackground" type="checkbox" />
-                <span>Strip checkerboard-ish junk</span>
+                <span class="toggle-copy">
+                  <span>Strip checkerboard-ish junk</span>
+                  <span
+                    class="help-tip"
+                    tabindex="0"
+                    role="note"
+                    title="Remove light neutral backgrounds connected to the image edge before inference. Useful for fake transparency grids and similar edge junk."
+                    aria-label="Remove light neutral backgrounds connected to the image edge before inference. Useful for fake transparency grids and similar edge junk."
+                    >?</span
+                  >
+                </span>
               </label>
               <label class="toggle-row">
                 <input id="skipRerankInput" name="skipRerank" type="checkbox" />
-                <span>Skip low-confidence phase rerank</span>
+                <span class="toggle-copy">
+                  <span>Skip low-confidence phase rerank</span>
+                  <span
+                    class="help-tip"
+                    tabindex="0"
+                    role="note"
+                    title="Skip the preview rerank pass that rescues shaky size or phase picks when confidence is low. Faster, but more likely to keep a bad lattice guess."
+                    aria-label="Skip the preview rerank pass that rescues shaky size or phase picks when confidence is low. Faster, but more likely to keep a bad lattice guess."
+                    >?</span
+                  >
+                </span>
               </label>
             </form>
             <button id="runButton" class="button" type="button">Run The Machine</button>
diff --git a/src/repixelizer/gui_static/styles.css b/src/repixelizer/gui_static/styles.css
index b52d509..255888e 100644
--- a/src/repixelizer/gui_static/styles.css
+++ b/src/repixelizer/gui_static/styles.css
@@ -430,7 +430,7 @@ p {
   gap: 7px;
 }
 
-.field span,
+.field > span,
 .scrubber label,
 .zoom-block label {
   font-size: 0.84rem;
@@ -439,6 +439,35 @@ p {
   color: var(--ui-text-muted);
 }
 
+.field-heading,
+.toggle-copy {
+  display: inline-flex;
+  align-items: center;
+  gap: 8px;
+  flex-wrap: wrap;
+}
+
+.help-tip {
+  display: inline-flex;
+  align-items: center;
+  justify-content: center;
+  width: 18px;
+  height: 18px;
+  flex: 0 0 auto;
+  border: 2px solid rgba(255, 216, 74, 0.28);
+  background: rgba(255, 216, 74, 0.12);
+  color: var(--ui-accent);
+  font-family: "Press Start 2P", "VT323", monospace;
+  font-size: 0.5rem;
+  line-height: 1;
+  cursor: help;
+}
+
+.help-tip:focus-visible {
+  outline: 2px dotted var(--ui-text-muted);
+  outline-offset: 2px;
+}
+
 .field input,
 .field select {
   width: 100%;