diff --git a/src/frontend/xcecli/cmd/jobs/submit.go b/src/frontend/xcecli/cmd/jobs/submit.go
index 0c7c3349..38cbc8cd 100755
--- a/src/frontend/xcecli/cmd/jobs/submit.go
+++ b/src/frontend/xcecli/cmd/jobs/submit.go
@@ -91,6 +91,14 @@ func (js *JobSubmitter) ParseCmdArgs(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		if js.useTTY && js.useXJob {
 			return fmt.Errorf("error: cannot use both --tty and --xjob")
 		}
+		// Bare -I is the attach interactive session: -I without --xjob is
+		// equivalent to -I --tty. The old mapping (interactive=3, readonly
+		// DISPLAY web view) had no interactive input and no user hint; the
+		// API's interactive=3 semantics are unchanged -- only this CLI's
+		// default remaps to TTY attach (use --xjob for VNC).
+		if !js.useXJob {
+			js.useTTY = true
+		}
 	}
 
 	// check if there is standard input redirection
@@ -691,9 +699,10 @@ Example:
         xce jobs submit -P project_name sleep 10       # submit job with project name
         xce jobs submit --configfile job.xce           # submit job using parameters from a configuration file
         xce jobs submit -m "host1 host2" sleep 10      # submit job into host1 host2
+        xce jobs submit -I sleep 10                    # submit interactive job and attach in this terminal (same as -I --tty)
         xce jobs submit -I --tty sleep 10              # submit interactive job with tty and attach in this terminal
         xce jobs submit -I --tty --browse sleep 10     # submit interactive tty job, open the web URL in a browser
-        xce jobs submit -I --xjob sleep 10             # submit interactive job with xjob
+        xce jobs submit -I --xjob sleep 10             # submit interactive job with xjob (VNC)
         xce jobs submit -J 'name[1-N]' sleep 10        # submit a job array of N elements named "name"
         xce jobs submit -J 'name[1]' sleep 10          # submit a job array of one element
 
@@ -758,9 +767,9 @@ Job arrays:
 	flags.StringVarP(&jobSubmitter.outdir, "outdir", "d", "", "specify the output directory")
 	flags.StringVarP(&jobSubmitter.projectName, "project_name", "P", "", "specify the project name")
 	flags.StringVar(&jobSubmitter.configFile, "configfile", "", "specify the configuration file for job submission")
-	flags.BoolVarP(&jobSubmitter.interactive, "interactive", "I", false, "submit interactive job")
-	flags.BoolVar(&jobSubmitter.useTTY, "tty", false, "use TTY for interactive job (attach in this terminal after dispatch; --browse opens the web URL instead)")
-	flags.BoolVar(&jobSubmitter.useXJob, "xjob", false, "use XJob for interactive job")
+	flags.BoolVarP(&jobSubmitter.interactive, "interactive", "I", false, "submit interactive job (attach in this terminal; same as -I --tty; add --xjob for VNC)")
+	flags.BoolVar(&jobSubmitter.useTTY, "tty", false, "use TTY for interactive job (attach in this terminal after dispatch; --browse opens the web URL instead; default for -I)")
+	flags.BoolVar(&jobSubmitter.useXJob, "xjob", false, "use XJob (VNC) for interactive job")
 	flags.BoolVar(&jobSubmitter.useBrowse, "browse", false, "open the interactive session URL in a browser instead of attaching (TTY jobs attach by default)")
 	flags.StringVarP(&jobSubmitter.askedHosts, "m", "m", "", "specify the running hosts, with space for multiple values")
 	flags.StringVarP(&jobSubmitter.launchType, "launch_type", "", "", "specify the launch type")