diff --git a/cli/cobra.go b/cli/cobra.go
index bfcb1bdcc8f2..02e1d2d4b628 100644
--- a/cli/cobra.go
+++ b/cli/cobra.go
@@ -185,6 +185,10 @@ var helpCommand = &cobra.Command{
 	},
 }
 
+// isExperimental reports whether cmd (or one of its parents) carries the
+// "experimentalCLI" annotation. This is a client-side, build-time check:
+// it only inspects the static Annotations map and never consults a
+// connected daemon.
 func isExperimental(cmd *cobra.Command) bool {
 	if _, ok := cmd.Annotations["experimentalCLI"]; ok {
 		return true
@@ -330,6 +334,12 @@ func vendorAndVersion(cmd *cobra.Command) string {
 	return ""
 }
 
+// managementSubCommands and orchestratorSubCommands (below) group
+// sub-commands by the "swarm" annotation for help-text display. The
+// annotation itself is evaluated server-side elsewhere: a command's
+// swarm-related behavior/availability is checked against the connected
+// daemon's reported swarm state (see ServerInfo/SwarmStatus), not this
+// static annotation lookup.
 func managementSubCommands(cmd *cobra.Command) []*cobra.Command {
 	cmds := []*cobra.Command{}
 	for _, sub := range allManagementSubCommands(cmd) {
diff --git a/cmd/docker/docker.go b/cmd/docker/docker.go
index 2341570b91a1..8ef2580551d4 100644
--- a/cmd/docker/docker.go
+++ b/cmd/docker/docker.go
@@ -628,8 +628,11 @@ func hideSubcommandIf(subcmd *cobra.Command, condition func(string) bool, annota
 func hideUnsupportedFeatures(cmd *cobra.Command, details versionDetails) {
 	var (
 		notExperimental = func(_ string) bool { return !details.ServerInfo().HasExperimental }
-		notOSType       = func(v string) bool { return details.ServerInfo().OSType != "" && v != details.ServerInfo().OSType }
-		notSwarmStatus  = func(v string) bool {
+		// notOSType implements the server-side check for the "ostype" annotation:
+		// it hides flags/commands whose "ostype" value doesn't match the
+		// connected daemon's reported ServerInfo().OSType.
+		notOSType      = func(v string) bool { return details.ServerInfo().OSType != "" && v != details.ServerInfo().OSType }
+		notSwarmStatus = func(v string) bool {
 			s := details.ServerInfo().SwarmStatus
 			if s == nil {
 				// engine did not return swarm status header
@@ -775,6 +778,10 @@ func isVersionSupported(f *pflag.Flag, clientVersion string) bool {
 	return true
 }
 
+// isOSTypeSupported checks the "ostype" flag annotation against osType,
+// which callers pass as the connected daemon's ServerInfo().OSType. This
+// makes "ostype" a server-side check: it depends on the daemon's reported
+// OS, not on any client-side/build-time state.
 func isOSTypeSupported(f *pflag.Flag, osType string) bool {
 	if v := getFlagAnnotation(f, "ostype"); v != "" && osType != "" {
 		return osType == v