diff --git a/packages/cli/bin/sh1pt.js b/packages/cli/bin/sh1pt.js
index b1d5c53a..4e768895 100755
--- a/packages/cli/bin/sh1pt.js
+++ b/packages/cli/bin/sh1pt.js
@@ -1,2 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
-import('../dist/index.js');
+import('../dist/index.js')
+  .then(({ run }) => run(process.argv.slice(2)))
+  .catch((err) => {
+    console.error(err?.message || err);
+    process.exit(1);
+  });
diff --git a/packages/cli/package.json b/packages/cli/package.json
index 87ea6292..f8f2f0a2 100644
--- a/packages/cli/package.json
+++ b/packages/cli/package.json
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
   "scripts": {
     "build": "tsc -p tsconfig.json",
     "dev": "tsx src/index.ts",
+    "test": "cd ../.. && pnpm exec vitest run packages/cli/src/**/*.test.ts",
     "typecheck": "tsc -p tsconfig.json --noEmit",
     "prepublishOnly": "pnpm build"
   },
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/index.ts b/packages/cli/src/index.ts
index 0f14db17..3bc0dc4a 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/index.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 import { Command } from 'commander';
 import kleur from 'kleur';
 import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
+import { resolve } from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+import { logError } from './lib/logger.js';
 import { buildCmd } from './commands/build.js';
 import { createActionsCmd } from './commands/build-actions.js';
 import { promoteCmd } from './commands/promote.js';
@@ -66,7 +69,17 @@ for (const cat of CATEGORIES) {
   program.addCommand(makeCategoryCmd(cat));
 }
 
-program.parseAsync(process.argv).catch((err) => {
-  console.error(kleur.red(`error: ${err.message}`));
-  process.exit(1);
-});
+export async function run(argv = process.argv.slice(2)): Promise<void> {
+  await program.parseAsync(argv, { from: 'user' });
+}
+
+const invokedPath = process.argv[1] ? resolve(process.argv[1]) : '';
+const modulePath = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
+const isDirectExecution = invokedPath !== '' && invokedPath === modulePath;
+if (isDirectExecution) {
+  run().catch((err) => {
+    const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+    logError(kleur.red(`error: ${message}`));
+    process.exit(1);
+  });
+}
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/lib/logger.ts b/packages/cli/src/lib/logger.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..20f9ff67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/lib/logger.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export function logError(message: string): void {
+  console.error(message);
+}