diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/dev/runDevServer.js b/packages/cli/src/commands/dev/runDevServer.js
index d6f19fddd..c3e6ce705 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/dev/runDevServer.js
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/dev/runDevServer.js
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ async function runDevServer({ context }) {
       cwd: context.directories.devServer,
       env: {
         ...process.env,
+        LOWDEFY_PACKAGE_MANAGER: context.packageManager,
         LOWDEFY_DIRECTORY_CONFIG: context.directories.config,
         PORT: context.options.port,
       },
diff --git a/packages/server-dev/src/manager/getContext.mjs b/packages/server-dev/src/manager/getContext.mjs
index 69d9ab1dd..321194b6a 100644
--- a/packages/server-dev/src/manager/getContext.mjs
+++ b/packages/server-dev/src/manager/getContext.mjs
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ import startWatchers from './processes/startWatchers.mjs';
 const argv = yargs(hideBin(process.argv)).argv;
 
 async function getContext() {
-  const { packageManager = 'npm', verbose = false } = argv;
+  const { verbose = false } = argv;
   const context = {
     directories: {
       build: path.resolve(process.cwd(), './build'),
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ async function getContext() {
       ),
       server: process.cwd(),
     },
-    packageManager,
+    packageManager: argv.packageManager || process.env.LOWDEFY_PACKAGE_MANAGER || 'npm',
     port: argv.port || process.env.PORT || 3000,
     verbose,
     version: process.env.npm_package_version,