An application and a context-based help system operate on a computer. The application includes a plurality of components that effectuate application functions, where each component of the application is constructed to describe a current context of the component representative of a current state of the component. At least some of the components are active at any one time. The help system includes a help engine that receives the current context from each active component, dynamically builds a current overall context of the application based on each received current context, locates help topics based on the current overall context, and filters and prioritizes the located help topics.