@@ -126,7 +126,8 @@ function resolveRunOptions (parsed) {
     defaultPath: true
   }
 
-  if (envOptions.path != null) {
+  // Like config(), an empty path keeps the default .env.
+  if (envOptions.path) {
     options.paths = [envOptions.path]
     options.defaultPath = false
   }
 
@@ -88,6 +88,23 @@ t.test('file flags reject missing or empty lists', ct => {
   ct.end()
 })
 
+t.test('empty path environment variables load the default .env like config()', ct => {
+  const cwd = ct.testdir({ '.env': 'BASIC=default_basic\n' })
+  const env = Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(process.env).filter(([key]) => !key.toUpperCase().startsWith('DOTENV_')))
+  delete env.BASIC
+  for (const name of ['DOTENV_PATH', 'DOTENV_CONFIG_PATH']) {
+    const result = cp.spawnSync(process.execPath, [
+      path.resolve(__dirname, '../dist/index.cjs'), 'run', '-q',
+      process.execPath, '-e', 'console.log(process.env.BASIC)'
+    ], { cwd, encoding: 'utf8', env: { ...env, [name]: '' } })
+
+    ct.equal(result.status, 0, `${name}: ${result.stderr}`)
+    ct.equal(result.stdout, 'default_basic\n', `${name}: loads .env`)
+    ct.equal(result.stderr, '', `${name}: no error`)
+  }
+  ct.end()
+})
+
 t.test('preserves spaces, quotes, empty arguments, and shell metacharacters', ct => {
   const args = ['two words', 'a"quote', '', 'trailing\\', 'a&b', 'x|y', '<input>', '%PATH%', '!name!', '(value)', '^caret']
   const result = run([
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -126,7 +126,8 @@ function resolveRunOptions (parsed) {`
`126`	`126`	`defaultPath: true`
`127`	`127`	`}`
`128`	`128`
`129`		`- if (envOptions.path != null) {`
	`129`	`+ // Like config(), an empty path keeps the default .env.`
	`130`	`+ if (envOptions.path) {`
`130`	`131`	`options.paths = [envOptions.path]`
`131`	`132`	`options.defaultPath = false`
`132`	`133`	`}`