diff --git a/pkl-cli/src/main/kotlin/org/pkl/cli/CliProjectResolver.kt b/pkl-cli/src/main/kotlin/org/pkl/cli/CliProjectResolver.kt
index 5040bb88..e8a11d68 100644
--- a/pkl-cli/src/main/kotlin/org/pkl/cli/CliProjectResolver.kt
+++ b/pkl-cli/src/main/kotlin/org/pkl/cli/CliProjectResolver.kt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright © 2024-2025 Apple Inc. and the Pkl project authors. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright © 2024-2026 Apple Inc. and the Pkl project authors. All rights reserved.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -15,9 +15,11 @@
  */
 package org.pkl.cli
 
+import java.io.IOException
 import java.io.Writer
 import java.nio.file.Path
 import org.pkl.commons.cli.CliBaseOptions
+import org.pkl.core.PklException
 import org.pkl.core.SecurityManagers
 import org.pkl.core.module.ProjectDependenciesManager
 import org.pkl.core.packages.PackageResolver
@@ -46,9 +48,13 @@ class CliProjectResolver(
       val dependencies = ProjectDependenciesResolver(project, packageResolver, errWriter).resolve()
       val depsFile =
         projectFile.parent.resolve(ProjectDependenciesManager.PKL_PROJECT_DEPS_FILENAME).toFile()
-      depsFile.outputStream().use { dependencies.writeTo(it) }
-      consoleWriter.appendLine(depsFile.toString())
-      consoleWriter.flush()
+      try {
+        depsFile.outputStream().use { dependencies.writeTo(it) }
+        consoleWriter.appendLine(depsFile.toString())
+        consoleWriter.flush()
+      } catch (e: IOException) {
+        throw PklException("Failed to write to $depsFile: ${e.message}", e)
+      }
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/pkl-cli/src/test/kotlin/org/pkl/cli/CliProjectResolverTest.kt b/pkl-cli/src/test/kotlin/org/pkl/cli/CliProjectResolverTest.kt
index 451016c3..73de717d 100644
--- a/pkl-cli/src/test/kotlin/org/pkl/cli/CliProjectResolverTest.kt
+++ b/pkl-cli/src/test/kotlin/org/pkl/cli/CliProjectResolverTest.kt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright © 2024-2025 Apple Inc. and the Pkl project authors. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright © 2024-2026 Apple Inc. and the Pkl project authors. All rights reserved.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ package org.pkl.cli
 import java.io.File
 import java.io.StringWriter
 import java.nio.file.Path
+import kotlin.io.path.createDirectories
 import org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat
+import org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatCode
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterAll
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.assertThrows
@@ -27,6 +29,7 @@ import org.pkl.commons.cli.CliBaseOptions
 import org.pkl.commons.cli.CliException
 import org.pkl.commons.test.FileTestUtils
 import org.pkl.commons.test.PackageServer
+import org.pkl.commons.writeString
 import org.pkl.core.util.IoUtils
 
 class CliProjectResolverTest {
@@ -457,4 +460,40 @@ class CliProjectResolverTest {
           .trimIndent()
       )
   }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `IOException when writing to PklProject-deps-json`(@TempDir tempDir: Path) {
+    val consoleOut = StringWriter()
+    val errOut = StringWriter()
+    tempDir
+      .resolve("PklProject")
+      .writeString(
+        """
+      amends "pkl:Project"
+
+      dependencies {
+        ["birds"] {
+          uri = "package://localhost:0/birds@0.5.0"
+        }
+      }
+    """
+          .trimIndent()
+      )
+    // coerce an IOException by making this a directory
+    val depsJsonFile = tempDir.resolve("PklProject.deps.json").also { it.createDirectories() }
+    assertThatCode {
+        CliProjectResolver(
+            CliBaseOptions(
+              caCertificates = listOf(FileTestUtils.selfSignedCertificate),
+              testPort = packageServer.port,
+              noCache = true,
+            ),
+            listOf(tempDir),
+            consoleWriter = consoleOut,
+            errWriter = errOut,
+          )
+          .run()
+      }
+      .hasMessageContaining("Failed to write to $depsJsonFile")
+  }
 }