diff --git a/lib/utils/remaining-flags.ts b/lib/utils/remaining-flags.ts
index cd40c4c8e..0da5b55e4 100644
--- a/lib/utils/remaining-flags.ts
+++ b/lib/utils/remaining-flags.ts
@@ -2,13 +2,16 @@ import { Command } from 'commander';
 
 export function getRemainingFlags(cli: Command) {
   const rawArgs = [...(cli as any).rawArgs];
+
+  const spliceIndex = rawArgs.findIndex((item: string) =>
+    item.startsWith('--'),
+  );
+  if (spliceIndex === -1) {
+    return [];
+  }
+
   return rawArgs
-    .splice(
-      Math.max(
-        rawArgs.findIndex((item: string) => item.startsWith('--')),
-        0,
-      ),
-    )
+    .splice(spliceIndex)
     .filter((item: string, index: number, array: string[]) => {
       // If the option is consumed by commander.js, then we skip it
       if (cli.options.find((o: any) => o.short === item || o.long === item)) {
@@ -18,7 +21,7 @@ export function getRemainingFlags(cli: Command) {
       // If it's an argument of an option consumed by commander.js, then we
       // skip it too
       const prevKeyRaw = array[index - 1];
-      if (prevKeyRaw) {
+      if (prevKeyRaw?.startsWith('-')) {
         const previousKey = camelCase(
           prevKeyRaw.replace(/--/g, '').replace('no', ''),
         );
@@ -40,10 +43,13 @@ export function getRemainingFlags(cli: Command) {
  */
 
 function camelCase(flag: string) {
-  return flag
-    .split('-')
-    .filter((word) => word.length > 0)
-    .reduce((str, word) => {
-      return str + word[0].toUpperCase() + word.slice(1);
-    });
+  const words = flag.split('-').filter((word) => word.length > 0);
+
+  if (words.length === 0) {
+    return '';
+  }
+
+  return words.reduce((str, word) => {
+    return str + word[0].toUpperCase() + word.slice(1);
+  });
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/helpers.ts b/test/e2e/helpers.ts
index f5e4d5be5..bb92baf96 100644
--- a/test/e2e/helpers.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/helpers.ts
@@ -69,8 +69,9 @@ export function spawnNest(
   args: string,
   cwd?: string,
   env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
+  cliPath?: string,
 ): { child: ChildProcess; output: () => string; kill: () => void } {
-  const child = spawn('node', [CLI_PATH, ...args.split(/\s+/)], {
+  const child = spawn('node', [cliPath ?? CLI_PATH, ...args.split(/\s+/)], {
     cwd: cwd ?? process.cwd(),
     env: { ...process.env, ...env },
     stdio: ['pipe', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
@@ -551,3 +552,22 @@ export function removeLocalCli(appPath: string): void {
     fs.rmSync(localCli, { recursive: true, force: true });
   }
 }
+
+/**
+ * Creates a symlink for the nest cli script path,
+ * useful when testing different execution paths
+ * @param linkPath the desired symlink path
+ */
+export function createCliSymlink(linkPath: string) {
+  fs.symlinkSync(CLI_PATH, linkPath, 'file');
+}
+
+/**
+ * removes an existing link
+ * @param linkPath the link
+ */
+export function removelink(linkPath: string) {
+  if (fs.existsSync(linkPath)) {
+    fs.unlinkSync(linkPath);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/e2e/start.command.e2e-spec.ts b/test/e2e/start.command.e2e-spec.ts
index e2e0b23f4..462d9f33e 100644
--- a/test/e2e/start.command.e2e-spec.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/start.command.e2e-spec.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { execSync } from 'child_process';
 import * as path from 'path';
+import * as crypto from 'crypto';
 import { afterAll, afterEach, beforeAll, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 import {
   convertToCjs,
@@ -11,6 +12,7 @@ import {
   installWebpackDeps,
   readFileContent,
   removeLocalCli,
+  removelink,
   removeTempDir,
   runNest,
   runNestRaw,
@@ -20,6 +22,7 @@ import {
   spawnNest,
   waitFor,
   writeFileContent,
+  createCliSymlink,
 } from './helpers.js';
 
 describe('Start Command - CJS project (e2e)', () => {
@@ -178,6 +181,35 @@ describe('Start Command - CJS project (e2e)', () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it('should start when the cli path contains "-no-"', async () => {
+    const port = 4070;
+
+    const randomChars = crypto.randomBytes(8).toString('hex');
+    const pathWithNo = path.join(tmpDir, `nest-no-test-cli${randomChars}`);
+
+    createCliSymlink(pathWithNo);
+
+    const proc = spawnNest(
+      'start',
+      appPath,
+      { PORT: String(port) },
+      pathWithNo,
+    );
+
+    try {
+      await waitFor(
+        () => proc.output().includes('Nest application successfully started'),
+        60_000,
+      );
+
+      const response = await httpGet(`http://127.0.0.1:${port}`);
+      expect(response.status).toBe(200);
+    } finally {
+      proc.kill();
+      removelink(pathWithNo);
+    }
+  });
+
   describe('with SWC builder', () => {
     beforeAll(() => {
       execSync('npm install --save-dev @swc/cli @swc/core', {
diff --git a/test/lib/utils/remaining-flags.spec.ts b/test/lib/utils/remaining-flags.spec.ts
index 2504379dd..e71b491be 100644
--- a/test/lib/utils/remaining-flags.spec.ts
+++ b/test/lib/utils/remaining-flags.spec.ts
@@ -42,14 +42,29 @@ describe('getRemainingFlags', () => {
     expect(result).toEqual([]);
   });
 
-  it('should return all raw args when no flags starting with "--" are present', () => {
-    // When no "--" flags exist, findIndex returns -1, Math.max(-1, 0) = 0,
-    // so splice(0) returns all elements from the rawArgs array
+  it('should return an empty array when no flags starting with "--" are present', () => {
+    // When no "--" flags exist, findIndex returns -1, which means no flags are present.
+    // terminate early when no flags are found
     const cmd = createCommand(['node', 'nest', 'start'], []);
 
     const result = getRemainingFlags(cmd);
 
-    expect(result).toEqual(['node', 'nest', 'start']);
+    expect(result).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it('should not crash when flags containing -no- exist', () => {
+    const cmd = createCommand([
+      'node',
+      'nest',
+      'start',
+      '--watch',
+      '-no-',
+      'value',
+    ]);
+
+    const result = getRemainingFlags(cmd);
+
+    expect(result).toEqual(['--watch', '-no-', 'value']);
   });
 
   it('should filter out short option flags consumed by commander', () => {