diff --git a/mcli b/mcli
index 170f5f025e90bad979518ea3d876bdc83bd96ee7..83b7ac097c34802cc04cff40da87d53642cfc966 100755
--- a/mcli
+++ b/mcli
@@ -1,5 +1,22 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
+# 'status' command is an exception, must be run before setting all the env vars
+if [[ "$1" == "status" ]]; then
+    echo "VERSION=$VERSION"
+    echo "MACAO_ROOT=$MACAO_ROOT"
+    echo "SOURCES_DIR=$SOURCES_DIR"
+    echo "SCRIPTS_DIR=$SCRIPTS_DIR"
+    echo "RESULTS_DIR=$RESULTS_DIR"
+    echo "INDEXES_DIR=$INDEXES_DIR"
+    echo ""
+    echo "Python virtual env: ${VIRTUAL_ENV:-"not set"}"
+    echo -n "mcli: "
+    if which mcli >/dev/null; then echo "available"; else echo "not in PATH"; fi
+    echo ""
+    git status
+    exit
+fi
+
 export VERSION="${VERSION:-macao_12}" # macao_12 by default
 export MACAO_ROOT="${MACAO_ROOT:-$(dirname "$(realpath "$0")")}"
 export SOURCES_DIR="$MACAO_ROOT/Basilisk/MACAO/$VERSION"
@@ -14,6 +31,11 @@ Usage: $(basename "$0") <command> [args]
 
 COMMANDS
 
+status
+    Print useful info about the current environment.
+shell [-p|--pyenv]
+    Open a shell with mcli's environment variables set, including PATH.
+    If -p or --pyenv is specified, also enter the Python virtual env.
 list-streams <file>
     List audio streams in <file>
 count-streams [<file>]
@@ -29,9 +51,6 @@ extract-rdf
     Run the extractor to generate RDF from text sources
 extract-mp3
     Extract audio streams from all Flash SWF files
-shell [-p|--pyenv]
-    Open a shell with mcli's environment variables set, including PATH.
-    If -p or --pyenv is specified, also enter the Python virtual env.
 help
     Print this help and exit
 EOF