diff --git a/cli/context/store/store.go b/cli/context/store/store.go
index 44e9477fb014..066b5769d728 100644
--- a/cli/context/store/store.go
+++ b/cli/context/store/store.go
@@ -124,6 +124,9 @@ func (s *ContextStore) List() ([]Metadata, error) {
 
 // Names return Metadata names for a Lister
 func Names(s Lister) ([]string, error) {
+	if s == nil {
+		return nil, errors.New("nil lister")
+	}
 	list, err := s.List()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/cli/context/store/store_test.go b/cli/context/store/store_test.go
index ad61036dbe52..c785b2e01524 100644
--- a/cli/context/store/store_test.go
+++ b/cli/context/store/store_test.go
@@ -260,3 +260,9 @@ func TestCorruptMetadata(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err = s.GetMetadata("source")
 	assert.ErrorContains(t, err, fmt.Sprintf("parsing %s: unexpected end of JSON input", contextFile))
 }
+
+func TestNames(t *testing.T) {
+	names, err := Names(nil)
+	assert.Check(t, is.Error(err, "nil lister"))
+	assert.Check(t, is.Len(names, 0))
+}