diff --git a/framework/console/Action.php b/framework/console/Action.php
index 197495ef99..dbb3b35498 100644
--- a/framework/console/Action.php
+++ b/framework/console/Action.php
@@ -14,32 +14,33 @@ use yii\helpers\Console;
  * Action is the base class for all controller action classes.
  *
  * @inheritdoc
+ * @property \yii\console\Controller $controller
  *
  * @author Carsten Brandt <mail@cebe.cc>
  * @since 2.0
  */
 class Action extends \yii\base\Action
 {
+    /**
+     * Returns a short description (one line) of information about the action.
+     *
+     * The default implementation returns help information retrieved from the PHPDoc comments.
+     *
+     * @return string
+     */
     public function getDescription()
     {
-        $class = new \ReflectionClass($this);
-        $docLines = preg_split('~(\n|\r|\r\n)~', $class->getDocComment());
-        if (isset($docLines[1])) {
-            return trim($docLines[1], ' *');
-        }
-        return '';
+        return null;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns help information for the action.
+     *
+     * The default implementation returns help information retrieved from the PHPDoc comments.
+     * @return string
+     */
     public function getHelp()
     {
-        $class = new \ReflectionClass($this);
-        $comment = strtr(trim(preg_replace('/^\s*\**( |\t)?/m', '', trim($class->getDocComment(), '/'))), "\r", '');
-        if (preg_match('/^\s*@\w+/m', $comment, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE)) {
-            $comment = trim(substr($comment, 0, $matches[0][1]));
-        }
-        if ($comment !== '') {
-            return rtrim(Console::renderColoredString(Console::markdownToAnsi($comment)));
-        }
-        return '';
+        return null;
     }
 }
diff --git a/framework/console/Controller.php b/framework/console/Controller.php
index 92c16b8e92..d8b9221cb2 100644
--- a/framework/console/Controller.php
+++ b/framework/console/Controller.php
@@ -284,18 +284,30 @@ class Controller extends \yii\base\Controller
     }
 
     /**
-     * Returns a short description (one line) of information about this controller or an action.
+     * Returns a short description (one line) of information about this controller or it's action (if specified).
      *
-     * You may override this method to return customized help information for this controller.
+     * You may override this method to return customized description.
      * The default implementation returns help information retrieved from the PHPDoc comments
      * of the controller class.
      *
+     * @param string $actionID action to get description for. null means overall controller description.
      * @return string
      */
-    public function getDescription()
+    public function getDescription($actionID = null)
     {
-        $class = new \ReflectionClass($this);
-        $docLines = preg_split('~(\n|\r|\r\n)~', $class->getDocComment());
+        $action = null;
+        if ($actionID === null) {
+            $class = new \ReflectionClass($this);
+        } else {
+            $action = $this->createAction($actionID);
+            $class = new \ReflectionClass($action);
+        }
+
+        if ($action instanceof InlineAction) {
+            $class = new \ReflectionMethod($this, $action->actionMethod);
+        }
+
+        $docLines = preg_split('~\R~', $class->getDocComment());
         if (isset($docLines[1])) {
             return trim($docLines[1], ' *');
         }
@@ -303,15 +315,27 @@ class Controller extends \yii\base\Controller
     }
 
     /**
-     * Returns help information for this controller.
+     * Returns help information for this controller or it's action (if specified).
      *
+     * You may override this method to return customized help.
      * The default implementation returns help information retrieved from the PHPDoc comments
      * of the controller class.
+     * @param string $actionID action to get help for. null means overall controller help.
      * @return string
      */
-    public function getHelp()
+    public function getHelp($actionID = null)
     {
-        $class = new \ReflectionClass($this);
+        $action = null;
+        if ($actionID === null) {
+            $class = new \ReflectionClass($this);
+        } else {
+            $class = new \ReflectionClass($this->createAction($actionID));
+        }
+
+        if ($action instanceof InlineAction) {
+            $class = new \ReflectionMethod($this, $action->actionMethod);
+        }
+
         $comment = strtr(trim(preg_replace('/^\s*\**( |\t)?/m', '', trim($class->getDocComment(), '/'))), "\r", '');
         if (preg_match('/^\s*@\w+/m', $comment, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE)) {
             $comment = trim(substr($comment, 0, $matches[0][1]));
diff --git a/framework/console/InlineAction.php b/framework/console/InlineAction.php
index 264d5d5f04..1a3a330018 100644
--- a/framework/console/InlineAction.php
+++ b/framework/console/InlineAction.php
@@ -20,26 +20,27 @@ use yii\helpers\Console;
  */
 class InlineAction extends \yii\base\InlineAction
 {
+
+    /**
+     * Returns a short description (one line) of information about the action.
+     *
+     * The default implementation returns help information retrieved from the PHPDoc comments.
+     *
+     * @return string
+     */
     public function getDescription()
     {
-        $class = new \ReflectionMethod($this->controller, $this->actionMethod);
-        $docLines = preg_split('~(\n|\r|\r\n)~', $class->getDocComment());
-        if (isset($docLines[1])) {
-            return trim($docLines[1], ' *');
-        }
-        return '';
+        return null;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns help information for the action.
+     *
+     * The default implementation returns help information retrieved from the PHPDoc comments.
+     * @return string
+     */
     public function getHelp()
     {
-        $class = new \ReflectionMethod($this->controller, $this->actionMethod);
-        $comment = strtr(trim(preg_replace('/^\s*\**( |\t)?/m', '', trim($class->getDocComment(), '/'))), "\r", '');
-        if (preg_match('/^\s*@\w+/m', $comment, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE)) {
-            $comment = trim(substr($comment, 0, $matches[0][1]));
-        }
-        if ($comment !== '') {
-            return rtrim(Console::renderColoredString(Console::markdownToAnsi($comment)));
-        }
-        return '';
+        return null;
     }
 }
diff --git a/framework/console/controllers/HelpController.php b/framework/console/controllers/HelpController.php
index 1a5ba688a7..8cee1725bb 100644
--- a/framework/console/controllers/HelpController.php
+++ b/framework/console/controllers/HelpController.php
@@ -250,11 +250,15 @@ class HelpController extends Controller
      */
     protected function getActionSummary($controller, $actionID)
     {
+        $description = '';
         $action = $controller->createAction($actionID);
         if ($action instanceof InlineAction || $action instanceof Action) {
-            return $action->getDescription();
+            $description = $action->getDescription();
+            if ($description === null) {
+                $description = $controller->getDescription($actionID);
+            }
         }
-        return '';
+        return $description;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -281,6 +285,9 @@ class HelpController extends Controller
         $options = $this->getOptionHelps($controller, $actionID);
 
         $description = $action->getHelp();
+        if ($description === null) {
+            $description = $controller->getHelp($actionID);
+        }
         if ($description !== '') {
             $this->stdout("\nDESCRIPTION\n", Console::BOLD);
             $this->stdout("\n$description\n\n");