diff --git a/packages/nuxt-cli/src/utils/install.ts b/packages/nuxt-cli/src/utils/install.ts
index 1a0401db0..4b4721b44 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt-cli/src/utils/install.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt-cli/src/utils/install.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import type { Buffer } from 'node:buffer'
 import type { ChildProcess, SpawnOptions } from 'node:child_process'
-import type { DetectResult } from 'package-manager-detector'
+import type { Agent, Command, DetectResult } from 'package-manager-detector'
 
 import { spawn } from 'node:child_process'
 import { existsSync, rmSync, statSync } from 'node:fs'
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import process from 'node:process'
 import { styleText } from 'node:util'
 
 import { log, S_BAR } from '@clack/prompts'
-import { resolveCommand } from 'package-manager-detector/commands'
+import { COMMANDS, resolveCommand } from 'package-manager-detector/commands'
 import { normalizeSpawnCommand } from 'tinyexec'
 
 import { getLockFiles } from './package-managers'
@@ -28,16 +28,21 @@ const ANSI_RE = /\u001B\[[\d;]*[A-Z]/gi
 
 const DENO_SPECIFIER_RE = /^(?:npm|jsr|file):/
 
+/** Like `resolveCommand`, but `null` rather than a throw for an agent `package-manager-detector` does not know. */
+function resolveAgentCommand(agent: Agent, command: Command, args: string[]) {
+  return Object.hasOwn(COMMANDS, agent) ? resolveCommand(agent, command, args) : null
+}
+
 function getInstallCommand({ cwd, packageManager: { agent, name }, dependencies = [], dev, uninstall }: InstallOptions) {
   if (!dependencies.length) {
-    return resolveCommand(agent, 'install', [])!
+    return resolveAgentCommand(agent, 'install', [])
   }
-  return resolveCommand(agent, uninstall ? 'uninstall' : 'add', [
+  return resolveAgentCommand(agent, uninstall ? 'uninstall' : 'add', [
     // pnpm refuses to add to a workspace root without this flag.
     ...name === 'pnpm' && existsSync(resolve(cwd, 'pnpm-workspace.yaml')) ? ['--workspace-root'] : [],
     ...dev && !uninstall ? ['-D'] : [],
     ...name === 'deno' ? dependencies.map(dep => DENO_SPECIFIER_RE.test(dep) ? dep : `npm:${dep}`) : dependencies,
-  ])!
+  ])
 }
 
 export interface InstallOptions {
@@ -78,8 +83,11 @@ export interface InstallResult {
  * instead of hanging behind a spinner where its question is invisible.
  */
 export async function runInstall(options: InstallOptions): Promise<InstallResult> {
-  const { command, args } = getInstallCommand(options)
-  return await execute(command, [...args, ...nonInteractiveArgs(options.packageManager)], options)
+  const exec = getInstallCommand(options)
+  if (!exec) {
+    return { success: false, output: '', command: '', ignoredBuilds: [], error: `Installing dependencies is not supported for ${options.packageManager.name}` }
+  }
+  return await execute(exec.command, [...exec.args, ...nonInteractiveArgs(options.packageManager)], options)
 }
 
 export interface DedupeOptions extends Omit<InstallOptions, 'dependencies' | 'dev' | 'uninstall'> {
@@ -107,7 +115,7 @@ export async function runDedupe(options: DedupeOptions): Promise<InstallResult>
 
   const { agent, name } = options.packageManager
   // Yarn 1 deduplicates as part of a regular install.
-  const exec = resolveCommand(agent, agent === 'yarn' ? 'install' : 'dedupe', [])
+  const exec = resolveAgentCommand(agent, agent === 'yarn' ? 'install' : 'dedupe', [])
   if (!exec) {
     return { success: false, output: '', command: '', ignoredBuilds: [], error: `Deduplication is not supported for ${name}` }
   }
diff --git a/packages/nuxt-cli/src/utils/package-managers.ts b/packages/nuxt-cli/src/utils/package-managers.ts
index 6f979e7ba..3b2d29d78 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt-cli/src/utils/package-managers.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt-cli/src/utils/package-managers.ts
@@ -2,11 +2,19 @@ import type { AgentName, DetectResult } from 'package-manager-detector'
 import { execFileSync } from 'node:child_process'
 import process from 'node:process'
 
+import { COMMANDS } from 'package-manager-detector/commands'
 import { LOCKS } from 'package-manager-detector/constants'
 import { detect } from 'package-manager-detector/detect'
 
-/** Supported package managers, in the order they are offered to the user. */
-export const packageManagerNames: AgentName[] = ['npm', 'pnpm', 'yarn', 'bun', 'deno', 'aube', 'nub']
+const preferredOrder = ['npm', 'pnpm', 'yarn', 'bun', 'deno', 'aube', 'nub', 'upm']
+
+/**
+ * Supported package managers, in the order they are offered to the user.
+ *
+ * Only those `package-manager-detector` has commands for are kept, so a name it
+ * does not support yet (such as `upm`) is never offered and then fails to install.
+ */
+export const packageManagerNames = preferredOrder.filter((name): name is AgentName => Object.hasOwn(COMMANDS, name))
 
 /** Used when no package manager can be detected. */
 export const defaultPackageManager: DetectResult = { name: 'npm', agent: 'npm' }
diff --git a/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/utils/install.spec.ts b/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/utils/install.spec.ts
index b7b2057cc..f505f9439 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/utils/install.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/utils/install.spec.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import type { DetectResult } from 'package-manager-detector'
 import { existsSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { chmod, mkdir, mkdtemp, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
@@ -141,6 +142,13 @@ describe.skipIf(process.platform === 'win32')('runInstall arguments', () => {
     const result = await runInstall({ cwd: dir, packageManager: { name: 'deno', agent: 'deno' }, dependencies: ['a', 'jsr:@std/path'] })
     expect(result.command).toBe('deno add npm:a jsr:@std/path')
   })
+
+  it('should report a package manager without commands as a failure', async () => {
+    const packageManager = { name: 'unknown-pm', agent: 'unknown-pm' } as unknown as DetectResult
+    const result = await runInstall({ cwd: process.cwd(), packageManager, dependencies: ['a'] })
+
+    expect(result).toEqual({ success: false, output: '', command: '', ignoredBuilds: [], error: 'Installing dependencies is not supported for unknown-pm' })
+  })
 })
 
 describe('runDedupe', () => {
@@ -199,6 +207,14 @@ describe('runDedupe', () => {
     expect(result.error).toBe('Deduplication is not supported for bun')
   })
 
+  it('should report a package manager without commands as a failure', async () => {
+    const packageManager = { name: 'unknown-pm', agent: 'unknown-pm' } as unknown as DetectResult
+    const result = await runDedupe({ cwd: process.cwd(), packageManager })
+
+    expect(result.success).toBe(false)
+    expect(result.error).toBe('Deduplication is not supported for unknown-pm')
+  })
+
   it('should report a missing package manager instead of throwing', async () => {
     vi.stubEnv('PATH', join(tmpdir(), 'nuxt-cli-nonexistent-bin'))
     const result = await runDedupe({
diff --git a/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/utils/package-managers.spec.ts b/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/utils/package-managers.spec.ts
index 5050d8740..da560f923 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/utils/package-managers.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/utils/package-managers.spec.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
+import type { AgentName } from 'package-manager-detector'
 import { mkdir, mkdtemp, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
-import process from 'node:process'
 
+import process from 'node:process'
+import { resolveCommand } from 'package-manager-detector/commands'
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
 
-import { detectPackageManager, getLockFiles, getPackageManagerVersion } from '../../../src/utils/package-managers'
+import { detectPackageManager, getLockFiles, getPackageManagerVersion, isPackageManagerName, packageManagerNames } from '../../../src/utils/package-managers'
 
 describe('detectPackageManager', () => {
   async function createNestedProject() {
@@ -37,6 +39,30 @@ describe('getLockFiles', () => {
   })
 })
 
+describe('packageManagerNames', () => {
+  it('should only offer package managers that can install', () => {
+    for (const name of packageManagerNames) {
+      expect(resolveCommand(name, 'install', []), name).not.toBeNull()
+      expect(resolveCommand(name, 'add', ['a']), name).not.toBeNull()
+      expect(resolveCommand(name, 'uninstall', ['a']), name).not.toBeNull()
+    }
+  })
+})
+
+// upm is offered once `package-manager-detector` supports it.
+describe.skipIf(!isPackageManagerName('upm'))('upm', () => {
+  it('should be detected from `upm.lock`', async () => {
+    const dir = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'nuxt-pm-test-'))
+    await writeFile(join(dir, 'upm.lock'), '')
+
+    expect(await detectPackageManager(dir)).toEqual({ name: 'upm', agent: 'upm' })
+  })
+
+  it('should own `upm.lock`', () => {
+    expect(getLockFiles('upm' as AgentName)).toEqual(['upm.lock'])
+  })
+})
+
 describe('getPackageManagerVersion', () => {
   it('returns the command version', () => {
     expect(getPackageManagerVersion(process.execPath)).toBe(process.version)