The presence of classical type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1) positively influences prognosis in cancer, but their intricate networking with the various T cell types found in the tumour microenvironment is not fully appreciated. Here the authors show that cDC1 encounter with CD4+ helper T-cells transforms their gene expression signature, and these “helped” dendritic cells enable the function of anti-tumour cytotoxic T-cells.