@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "@bomb.sh/tab": "^0.0.21",
     "@clack/prompts": "^1.7.0",
+    "args-tokenizer": "^0.3.0",
     "citty": "^0.2.2",
     "clickable-path": "^0.0.1",
     "confbox": "^0.2.4",
 
@@ -4,12 +4,14 @@ import process from 'node:process'
 
 import { styleText } from 'node:util'
 import { box, outro } from '@clack/prompts'
+import { tokenizeArgs } from 'args-tokenizer'
 import { defineCommand } from 'citty'
 import { resolve } from 'pathe'
 import { x } from 'tinyexec'
 
 import { loadKit } from '../utils/kit'
 import { logger } from '../utils/logger'
+import { withPrependedPath } from '../utils/path-env'
 import { relativeToProcess, resolveRootDir } from '../utils/paths'
 import { dotEnvArgs, envNameArgs, extendsArgs, logLevelArgs, rootDirArgs } from './_shared'
 
@@ -153,14 +155,17 @@ const command = defineCommand({
 
     outro(`Running ${styleText('cyan', previewCommand)} in ${styleText('cyan', relativeToProcess(outputPath))}`)
 
-    const [command, ...commandArgs] = previewCommand.trim().split(/\s+/) as [string, ...string[]]
+    const [command, ...commandArgs] = tokenizeArgs(previewCommand) as [string, ...string[]]
     await x(command, commandArgs, {
       throwOnError: true,
       nodeOptions: {
         stdio: 'inherit',
         cwd: outputPath,
         env: {
-          ...process.env,
+          ...withPrependedPath(process.env, [
+            resolve(outputPath, 'node_modules/.bin'),
+            resolve(cwd, 'node_modules/.bin'),
+          ]),
           NUXT_PORT: port,
           NITRO_PORT: port,
           NUXT_HOST: host,
 
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+import { chmod, mkdir, mkdtemp, readFile, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
+import { join } from 'node:path'
+import process from 'node:process'
+
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+
+import start from '../../../src/commands/start'
+import { runCommandDef } from '../../../src/run-command'
+
+const tempDirs: string[] = []
+
+vi.mock('../../../src/utils/kit', () => ({
+  loadKit: async () => ({
+    loadNuxt: async () => ({ close: async () => {} }),
+  }),
+}))
+
+vi.mock('@clack/prompts', async importOriginal => ({
+  ...await importOriginal<typeof import('@clack/prompts')>(),
+  box: vi.fn(),
+  outro: vi.fn(),
+}))
+
+afterEach(async () => {
+  vi.unstubAllEnvs()
+  await Promise.all(tempDirs.splice(0).map(dir => rm(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })))
+})
+
+async function fixture(command: string) {
+  const cwd = await mkdtemp(join(process.cwd(), '.tmp-preview-'))
+  tempDirs.push(cwd)
+
+  const outputDir = join(cwd, '.output')
+  await mkdir(outputDir)
+  await writeFile(join(outputDir, 'nitro.json'), JSON.stringify({
+    preset: 'test',
+    commands: { preview: command },
+  }))
+
+  return { cwd, outputDir }
+}
+
+describe('start command execution', () => {
+  it('supports quoted arguments in Nitro preview commands', async () => {
+    const { cwd, outputDir } = await fixture('node server.mjs "hello world"')
+    await writeFile(join(outputDir, 'server.mjs'), `import { writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'; writeFileSync('result', process.argv[2])`)
+
+    await runCommandDef(start, [cwd])
+
+    expect(await readFile(join(outputDir, 'result'), 'utf8')).toBe('hello world')
+  })
+
+  it('does not interpret shell operators', async () => {
+    const { cwd, outputDir } = await fixture('node server.mjs && node injected.mjs')
+    await writeFile(join(outputDir, 'server.mjs'), `import { writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'; writeFileSync('result', JSON.stringify(process.argv.slice(2)))`)
+    await writeFile(join(outputDir, 'injected.mjs'), `import { writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'; writeFileSync('injected', '1')`)
+
+    await runCommandDef(start, [cwd])
+
+    expect(JSON.parse(await readFile(join(outputDir, 'result'), 'utf8'))).toEqual(['&&', 'node', 'injected.mjs'])
+    await expect(readFile(join(outputDir, 'injected'), 'utf8')).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: 'ENOENT' })
+  })
+
+  it('preserves the child environment and applies the port override', async () => {
+    const { cwd, outputDir } = await fixture('node server.mjs')
+    await writeFile(join(outputDir, 'server.mjs'), `import { writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'; writeFileSync('result', JSON.stringify({ port: process.env.NUXT_PORT, custom: process.env.PREVIEW_TEST }))`)
+    vi.stubEnv('PREVIEW_TEST', 'present')
+
+    await runCommandDef(start, [cwd, '--port', '4321'])
+
+    expect(JSON.parse(await readFile(join(outputDir, 'result'), 'utf8'))).toEqual({ port: '4321', custom: 'present' })
+  })
+
+  it.skipIf(process.platform === 'win32')('resolves local executables used by Nitro presets', async () => {
+    const { cwd, outputDir } = await fixture('preview-private-bin "hello world"')
+    const binDir = join(outputDir, 'node_modules', '.bin')
+    const bin = join(binDir, 'preview-private-bin')
+    await mkdir(binDir, { recursive: true })
+    await writeFile(bin, `#!/bin/sh\nprintf %s "$1" > result\n`)
+    await chmod(bin, 0o755)
+
+    await runCommandDef(start, [cwd])
+
+    expect(await readFile(join(outputDir, 'result'), 'utf8')).toBe('hello world')
+  })
+})