diff --git a/.changeset/chilled-melons-switch.md b/.changeset/chilled-melons-switch.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..404c34acc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/chilled-melons-switch.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+'@sveltejs/sv-utils': patch
+'sv': patch
+---
+
+feat(sv-utils): all semantic colors now accept `string | string[]`
diff --git a/packages/sv-utils/src/color.ts b/packages/sv-utils/src/color.ts
index 168c59528..e1496dbfa 100644
--- a/packages/sv-utils/src/color.ts
+++ b/packages/sv-utils/src/color.ts
@@ -1,21 +1,24 @@
 import { styleText } from 'node:util';
 
+type ColorInput = string | string[];
+const toStr = (input: ColorInput): string => (Array.isArray(input) ? input.join(' ') : input);
+
 export const color = {
 	// Semantic colors
-	addon: (str: string): string => styleText('greenBright', str),
-	command: (str: string): string => styleText(['bold', 'cyanBright'], str),
-	env: (str: string): string => styleText('yellow', str),
-	path: (str: string): string => styleText('blueBright', str),
-	route: (str: string): string => styleText(['bold', 'underline'], str),
-	website: (str: string): string => styleText('cyan', str),
-	optional: (str: string): string => styleText('gray', str),
-	dim: (str: string): string => styleText(['gray', 'dim'], str), // needed for terminal that don't support `dim` well
+	addon: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText('greenBright', toStr(str)),
+	command: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText(['bold', 'cyanBright'], toStr(str)),
+	env: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText('yellow', toStr(str)),
+	path: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText('blueBright', toStr(str)),
+	route: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText(['bold', 'underline'], toStr(str)),
+	website: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText('cyan', toStr(str)),
+	optional: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText('gray', toStr(str)),
+	dim: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText(['gray', 'dim'], toStr(str)), // needed for terminal that don't support `dim` well
 
 	// Status colors
-	success: (str: string): string => styleText('green', str),
-	warning: (str: string): string => styleText('yellow', str),
-	error: (str: string): string => styleText('red', str),
+	success: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText('green', toStr(str)),
+	warning: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText('yellow', toStr(str)),
+	error: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText('red', toStr(str)),
 
 	// Visibility
-	hidden: (str: string): string => styleText('hidden', str)
+	hidden: (str: ColorInput): string => styleText('hidden', toStr(str))
 };
diff --git a/packages/sv-utils/src/index.ts b/packages/sv-utils/src/index.ts
index ad6df04f4..29005fa4a 100644
--- a/packages/sv-utils/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/sv-utils/src/index.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+import {
+	resolveCommand as _resolveCommand,
+	type Agent,
+	type Command
+} from 'package-manager-detector';
 import {
 	parseCss,
 	parseHtml,
@@ -20,6 +25,12 @@ export {
 	resolveCommand
 } from 'package-manager-detector';
 
+/** Resolves a package manager command and returns it as a string array (command + args). */
+export function resolveCommandArray(agent: Agent, command: Command, args: string[]): string[] {
+	const cmd = _resolveCommand(agent, command, args)!;
+	return [cmd.command, ...cmd.args];
+}
+
 // Parsing & language namespaces
 export * as css from './tooling/css/index.ts';
 export * as js from './tooling/js/index.ts';
diff --git a/packages/sv/src/addons/better-auth.ts b/packages/sv/src/addons/better-auth.ts
index 3dc18859b..f19c3f82e 100644
--- a/packages/sv/src/addons/better-auth.ts
+++ b/packages/sv/src/addons/better-auth.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import {
 	color,
 	dedent,
 	transforms,
-	resolveCommand,
+	resolveCommandArray,
 	createPrinter,
 	type TransformFn
 } from '@sveltejs/sv-utils';
@@ -517,13 +517,9 @@ export default defineAddon({
 	},
 
 	nextSteps: ({ options, packageManager }) => {
-		const { command: authCmd, args: authArgs } = resolveCommand(packageManager, 'run', [
-			'auth:schema'
-		])!;
-		const { command: dbCmd, args: dbArgs } = resolveCommand(packageManager, 'run', ['db:push'])!;
 		const steps = [
-			`Run ${color.command(`${authCmd} ${authArgs.join(' ')}`)} to generate the auth schema`,
-			`Run ${color.command(`${dbCmd} ${dbArgs.join(' ')}`)} to update your database`,
+			`Run ${color.command(resolveCommandArray(packageManager, 'run', ['auth:schema']))} to generate the auth schema`,
+			`Run ${color.command(resolveCommandArray(packageManager, 'run', ['db:push']))} to update your database`,
 			`Check ${color.env('ORIGIN')} & ${color.env('BETTER_AUTH_SECRET')} in ${color.path('.env')} and adjust it to your needs`
 		];
 		if (options.demo.includes('github')) {
diff --git a/packages/sv/src/addons/drizzle.ts b/packages/sv/src/addons/drizzle.ts
index 897949172..f807f11cc 100644
--- a/packages/sv/src/addons/drizzle.ts
+++ b/packages/sv/src/addons/drizzle.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import {
 	dedent,
 	type TransformFn,
 	transforms,
-	resolveCommand,
+	resolveCommandArray,
 	fileExists,
 	createPrinter
 } from '@sveltejs/sv-utils';
@@ -481,25 +481,17 @@ export default defineAddon({
 		const steps: string[] = [];
 		if (options.database === 'd1') {
 			const ext = fileExists(cwd, 'wrangler.toml') ? 'toml' : 'jsonc';
-			const { command, args } = resolveCommand(packageManager, 'run', [
-				'wrangler',
-				'd1',
-				'create',
-				`<DATABASE_NAME>`
-			])!;
-
 			steps.push(
 				`Add your ${color.env('CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID')}, ${color.env('CLOUDFLARE_DATABASE_ID')}, and ${color.env('CLOUDFLARE_D1_TOKEN')} to ${color.path('.env')}`
 			);
 			steps.push(
-				`Run ${color.command(`${command} ${args.join(' ')}`)} to generate a D1 database ID for your ${color.path(`wrangler.${ext}`)}`
+				`Run ${color.command(resolveCommandArray(packageManager, 'run', ['wrangler', 'd1', 'create', '<DATABASE_NAME>']))} to generate a D1 database ID for your ${color.path(`wrangler.${ext}`)}`
 			);
 		}
 
 		if (options.docker) {
-			const { command, args } = resolveCommand(packageManager, 'run', ['db:start'])!;
 			steps.push(
-				`Run ${color.command(`${command} ${args.join(' ')}`)} to start the docker container`
+				`Run ${color.command(resolveCommandArray(packageManager, 'run', ['db:start']))} to start the docker container`
 			);
 		} else if (options.database !== 'd1') {
 			steps.push(
@@ -507,9 +499,8 @@ export default defineAddon({
 			);
 		}
 
-		const { command, args } = resolveCommand(packageManager, 'run', ['db:push'])!;
 		steps.push(
-			`Run ${color.command(`${command} ${args.join(' ')}`)} to update your database schema`
+			`Run ${color.command(resolveCommandArray(packageManager, 'run', ['db:push']))} to update your database schema`
 		);
 
 		return steps;
diff --git a/packages/sv/src/addons/sveltekit-adapter.ts b/packages/sv/src/addons/sveltekit-adapter.ts
index bbb9f5fb2..dd3f9a3a2 100644
--- a/packages/sv/src/addons/sveltekit-adapter.ts
+++ b/packages/sv/src/addons/sveltekit-adapter.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import {
 	color,
-	resolveCommand,
+	resolveCommandArray,
 	text,
 	transforms,
 	fileExists,
@@ -231,9 +231,8 @@ export default defineAddon({
 	nextSteps({ options, packageManager }) {
 		const steps: string[] = [];
 		if (options.adapter === 'cloudflare') {
-			const { command, args } = resolveCommand(packageManager, 'run', ['gen'])!;
 			steps.push(
-				`Run ${color.command(`${command} ${args.join(' ')}`)} to update ${color.addon('cloudflare')} types`
+				`Run ${color.command(resolveCommandArray(packageManager, 'run', ['gen']))} to update ${color.addon('cloudflare')} types`
 			);
 		}
 		return steps;
diff --git a/packages/sv/src/cli/check.ts b/packages/sv/src/cli/check.ts
index 98cbbc657..fd5f2dfa0 100644
--- a/packages/sv/src/cli/check.ts
+++ b/packages/sv/src/cli/check.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { color, resolveCommand } from '@sveltejs/sv-utils';
+import { color, resolveCommandArray } from '@sveltejs/sv-utils';
 import { Command } from 'commander';
 import * as resolve from 'empathic/resolve';
 import { execSync } from 'node:child_process';
@@ -26,9 +26,8 @@ async function runCheck(cwd: string, args: string[]) {
 	// validates that `svelte-check` is locally installed
 	const resolved = resolve.from(cwd, 'svelte-check', true);
 	if (!resolved) {
-		const cmd = resolveCommand(pm, 'add', ['-D', 'svelte-check'])!;
 		console.error(
-			`'svelte-check' is not installed locally. Install it with: ${color.command(`${cmd.command} ${cmd.args.join(' ')}`)}`
+			`'svelte-check' is not installed locally. Install it with: ${color.command(resolveCommandArray(pm, 'add', ['-D', 'svelte-check']))}`
 		);
 		process.exit(1);
 	}
@@ -40,8 +39,8 @@ async function runCheck(cwd: string, args: string[]) {
 
 	// avoids printing the stack trace for `sv` when `svelte-check` exits with an error code
 	try {
-		const cmd = resolveCommand(pm, 'execute-local', ['svelte-check', ...args])!;
-		execSync(`${cmd.command} ${cmd.args.join(' ')}`, { stdio: 'inherit', cwd });
+		const cmd = resolveCommandArray(pm, 'execute-local', ['svelte-check', ...args]).join(' ');
+		execSync(cmd, { stdio: 'inherit', cwd });
 	} catch (error) {
 		forwardExitCode(error);
 	} finally {
diff --git a/packages/sv/src/cli/create.ts b/packages/sv/src/cli/create.ts
index b31804536..d81ff99ce 100644
--- a/packages/sv/src/cli/create.ts
+++ b/packages/sv/src/cli/create.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import * as p from '@clack/prompts';
-import { color, resolveCommand, commonFilePaths, getPackageJson } from '@sveltejs/sv-utils';
+import { color, resolveCommandArray, commonFilePaths, getPackageJson } from '@sveltejs/sv-utils';
 import { Command, Option } from 'commander';
 import fs from 'node:fs';
 import path from 'node:path';
@@ -145,15 +145,12 @@ export const create = new Command('create')
 				);
 			}
 			if (!packageManager) {
-				const { args, command } = resolveCommand(pm, 'install', [])!;
-				initialSteps.push(`  ${i++}: ${color.command(`${command} ${args.join(' ')}`)}`);
+				initialSteps.push(`  ${i++}: ${color.command(resolveCommandArray(pm, 'install', []))}`);
 			}
 
-			const { args, command } = resolveCommand(pm, 'run', ['dev', '--open'])!;
-			const pmRunCmd = `${command} ${args.join(' ')}`;
 			const steps = [
 				...initialSteps,
-				`  ${i++}: ${color.command(pmRunCmd)}`,
+				`  ${i++}: ${color.command(resolveCommandArray(pm, 'run', ['dev', '--open']))}`,
 				'',
 				`To close the dev server, hit ${color.command('Ctrl-C')}`
 			];
diff --git a/packages/sv/src/cli/migrate.ts b/packages/sv/src/cli/migrate.ts
index e4c9095fa..22886dc60 100644
--- a/packages/sv/src/cli/migrate.ts
+++ b/packages/sv/src/cli/migrate.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { resolveCommand } from '@sveltejs/sv-utils';
+import { resolveCommandArray } from '@sveltejs/sv-utils';
 import { Command } from 'commander';
 import { execSync } from 'node:child_process';
 import process from 'node:process';
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@ async function runMigrate(cwd: string, args: string[]) {
 		// skips the download confirmation prompt for `npx`
 		if (pm === 'npm') cmdArgs.unshift('--yes');
 
-		const cmd = resolveCommand(pm, 'execute', cmdArgs)!;
-		execSync(`${cmd.command} ${cmd.args.join(' ')}`, { stdio: 'inherit', cwd });
+		execSync(resolveCommandArray(pm, 'execute', cmdArgs).join(' '), { stdio: 'inherit', cwd });
 	} catch (error) {
 		forwardExitCode(error);
 	}
diff --git a/packages/sv/src/cli/tests/cli.ts b/packages/sv/src/cli/tests/cli.ts
index fe8e37883..f801dd534 100644
--- a/packages/sv/src/cli/tests/cli.ts
+++ b/packages/sv/src/cli/tests/cli.ts
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ describe('cli', () => {
 
 	it.for(testCases)(
 		'should create a new project with name $projectName',
-		{ timeout: 111_000 },
+		{ timeout: 123_000 },
 		async (testCase) => {
 			const { projectName, args, template = 'minimal' } = testCase;
 
diff --git a/packages/sv/src/core/common.ts b/packages/sv/src/core/common.ts
index 578f2f689..856b8e0c5 100644
--- a/packages/sv/src/core/common.ts
+++ b/packages/sv/src/core/common.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import * as p from '@clack/prompts';
 import {
 	type AgentName,
 	color,
-	resolveCommand,
+	resolveCommandArray,
 	isVersionUnsupportedBelow
 } from '@sveltejs/sv-utils';
 import type { Argument, Command, Help, HelpConfiguration, Option } from 'commander';
@@ -236,8 +236,9 @@ export function buildAndLogArgs(
 	if (agent === null || agent === undefined) allArgs.push('--no-install');
 	else allArgs.push('--install', agent);
 
-	const res = resolveCommand(agent ?? 'npm', 'execute', [...allArgs, ...lastArgs])!;
-	const message = [res.command, ...res.args].join(' ');
+	const message = resolveCommandArray(agent ?? 'npm', 'execute', [...allArgs, ...lastArgs]).join(
+		' '
+	);
 
 	p.log.message(color.optional(color.dim(`To skip prompts next time, run:`)));
 	p.log.info(color.optional(message), { spacing: -1 });
diff --git a/packages/sv/src/core/engine.ts b/packages/sv/src/core/engine.ts
index 1c7656467..9cfa02a47 100644
--- a/packages/sv/src/core/engine.ts
+++ b/packages/sv/src/core/engine.ts
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ async function runAddon({ addon, loaded, multiple, workspace, workspaceOptions }
 			const { command, args } = resolveCommand(workspace.packageManager, 'execute', commandArgs)!;
 
 			const addonPrefix = multiple ? `${addon.id}: ` : '';
-			const executedCommand = `${command} ${args.join(' ')}`;
+			const executedCommand = [command, ...args].join(' ');
 			if (!TESTING) {
 				p.log.step(
 					`${addonPrefix}Running external command ${color.optional(`(${executedCommand})`)}`