diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/archiveDir.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/archiveDir.ts
index afab9c9c1ca..89aeb1f4cb2 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/archiveDir.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/archiveDir.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
-import zlib from 'node:zlib'
 import {createWriteStream} from 'node:fs'
-import {ProgressData} from 'archiver'
+import zlib from 'node:zlib'
+
+import {type ProgressData} from 'archiver'
+
 import debug from './debug'
 
 const archiver = require('archiver')
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/chooseBackupIdPrompt.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/chooseBackupIdPrompt.ts
index 14d15b049c9..55fefdb8187 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/chooseBackupIdPrompt.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/chooseBackupIdPrompt.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-import type {CliCommandContext} from '@sanity/cli'
+import {type CliCommandContext} from '@sanity/cli'
+
 import {defaultApiVersion} from '../../commands/backup/backupGroup'
 import resolveApiClient from './resolveApiClient'
 
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/cleanupTmpDir.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/cleanupTmpDir.ts
index fb2d111e5c6..f32dc4b203d 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/cleanupTmpDir.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/cleanupTmpDir.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import rimraf from 'rimraf'
+
 import debug from './debug'
 
 function cleanupTmpDir(tmpDir: string): void {
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/downloadAsset.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/downloadAsset.ts
index faba7c1c3f5..99268e8b0f3 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/downloadAsset.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/downloadAsset.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
-import path from 'node:path'
 import {createWriteStream} from 'node:fs'
+import path from 'node:path'
+
 import {getIt} from 'get-it'
 import {keepAlive, promise} from 'get-it/middleware'
-import withRetry from './withRetry'
+
 import debug from './debug'
+import withRetry from './withRetry'
 
 const CONNECTION_TIMEOUT = 15 * 1000 // 15 seconds
 const READ_TIMEOUT = 3 * 60 * 1000 // 3 minutes
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/downloadDocument.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/downloadDocument.ts
index bda9fb66d1a..3267b92c659 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/downloadDocument.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/downloadDocument.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-import type {MiddlewareResponse} from 'get-it'
-import {getIt} from 'get-it'
+import {getIt, type MiddlewareResponse} from 'get-it'
 import {keepAlive, promise} from 'get-it/middleware'
+
 import debug from './debug'
 import withRetry from './withRetry'
 
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/fetchNextBackupPage.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/fetchNextBackupPage.ts
index b3d4de58ada..d9c4d288591 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/fetchNextBackupPage.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/fetchNextBackupPage.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import {Readable} from 'node:stream'
-import {SanityClient, QueryParams} from '@sanity/client'
+
+import {type QueryParams, type SanityClient} from '@sanity/client'
 
 type File = {
   name: string
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/parseApiErr.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/parseApiErr.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..92ef01fcb3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/parseApiErr.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+// apiErr is a type that represents an error returned by the API
+interface ApiErr {
+  statusCode: number
+  message: string
+}
+
+// parseApiErr is a function that attempts with the best effort to parse
+// an error returned by the API since different API endpoint may end up
+// returning different error structures.
+// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any,@typescript-eslint/explicit-module-boundary-types
+function parseApiErr(err: any): ApiErr {
+  const apiErr = {} as ApiErr
+  if (err.code) {
+    apiErr.statusCode = err.code
+  } else if (err.statusCode) {
+    apiErr.statusCode = err.statusCode
+  }
+
+  if (err.message) {
+    apiErr.message = err.message
+  } else if (err.statusMessage) {
+    apiErr.message = err.statusMessage
+  } else if (err?.response?.body?.message) {
+    apiErr.message = err.response.body.message
+  } else if (err?.response?.data?.message) {
+    apiErr.message = err.response.data.message
+  } else {
+    // If no message can be extracted, print the whole error.
+    apiErr.message = JSON.stringify(err)
+  }
+
+  return apiErr
+}
+
+export default parseApiErr
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/progressSpinner.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/progressSpinner.ts
index 9a7bd968dab..9009d32a00a 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/progressSpinner.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/progressSpinner.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import type {CliOutputter} from '@sanity/cli'
+import {type CliOutputter} from '@sanity/cli'
 import prettyMs from 'pretty-ms'
 
 type ProgressEvent = {
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/resolveApiClient.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/resolveApiClient.ts
index 23f6496ebe8..bda841094f5 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/resolveApiClient.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/actions/backup/resolveApiClient.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-import {CliCommandContext} from '@sanity/cli'
-import {SanityClient} from '@sanity/client'
+import {type CliCommandContext} from '@sanity/cli'
+import {type SanityClient} from '@sanity/client'
+
 import {chooseDatasetPrompt} from '../dataset/chooseDatasetPrompt'
 
 type ResolvedApiClient = {
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/backupGroup.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/backupGroup.ts
index 381ddcdd22c..e506e3b78af 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/backupGroup.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/backupGroup.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import {CliCommandGroupDefinition} from '@sanity/cli'
+import {type CliCommandGroupDefinition} from '@sanity/cli'
 
 // defaultApiVersion is the backend API version used for dataset backup.
 // First version of the backup API is vX since this feature is not yet released
@@ -13,16 +13,4 @@ const datasetBackupGroup: CliCommandGroupDefinition = {
   hideFromHelp: true,
 }
 
-export function validateLimit(limit: string): string {
-  const parsed = parseInt(limit, 10)
-
-  // We allow limit up to Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER to leave it for server-side validation,
-  //  while still sending sensible value in limit string.
-  if (isNaN(parsed) || parsed < 1 || parsed > Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER) {
-    throw new Error(`--limit must be an integer between 1 and ${Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER}`)
-  }
-
-  return limit.toString()
-}
-
 export default datasetBackupGroup
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/disableBackupCommand.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/disableBackupCommand.ts
index 78674f92fe5..9f2fac3eb4a 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/disableBackupCommand.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/disableBackupCommand.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-import {CliCommandDefinition} from '@sanity/cli'
+import {type CliCommandDefinition} from '@sanity/cli'
+
 import resolveApiClient from '../../actions/backup/resolveApiClient'
 import {defaultApiVersion} from './backupGroup'
 
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/downloadBackupCommand.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/downloadBackupCommand.ts
index b57d73770ae..46c21ca5a97 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/downloadBackupCommand.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/downloadBackupCommand.ts
@@ -1,27 +1,33 @@
 import {createWriteStream, existsSync, mkdirSync} from 'node:fs'
+import {mkdtemp} from 'node:fs/promises'
 import {tmpdir} from 'node:os'
 import path from 'node:path'
-import {mkdtemp} from 'node:fs/promises'
-import type {
-  CliCommandArguments,
-  CliCommandContext,
-  CliCommandDefinition,
-  SanityClient,
+
+import {
+  type CliCommandArguments,
+  type CliCommandContext,
+  type CliCommandDefinition,
+  type SanityClient,
 } from '@sanity/cli'
 import {absolutify} from '@sanity/util/fs'
-import {isBoolean, isNumber, isString} from 'lodash'
-import prettyMs from 'pretty-ms'
 import {Mutex} from 'async-mutex'
 import createDebug from 'debug'
+import {isString} from 'lodash'
+import prettyMs from 'pretty-ms'
+import {hideBin} from 'yargs/helpers'
+import yargs from 'yargs/yargs'
+
+import archiveDir from '../../actions/backup/archiveDir'
 import chooseBackupIdPrompt from '../../actions/backup/chooseBackupIdPrompt'
-import resolveApiClient from '../../actions/backup/resolveApiClient'
+import cleanupTmpDir from '../../actions/backup/cleanupTmpDir'
 import downloadAsset from '../../actions/backup/downloadAsset'
 import downloadDocument from '../../actions/backup/downloadDocument'
+import {type File, PaginatedGetBackupStream} from '../../actions/backup/fetchNextBackupPage'
+import parseApiErr from '../../actions/backup/parseApiErr'
 import newProgress from '../../actions/backup/progressSpinner'
-import {PaginatedGetBackupStream, File} from '../../actions/backup/fetchNextBackupPage'
-import archiveDir from '../../actions/backup/archiveDir'
-import cleanupTmpDir from '../../actions/backup/cleanupTmpDir'
+import resolveApiClient from '../../actions/backup/resolveApiClient'
 import humanFileSize from '../../util/humanFileSize'
+import isPathDirName from '../../util/isPathDirName'
 import {defaultApiVersion} from './backupGroup'
 
 const debug = createDebug('sanity:backup')
@@ -53,6 +59,14 @@ Examples
   sanity backup download DATASET_NAME --backup-id 2024-01-01-backup-3 --out /path/to/file --overwrite
 `
 
+function parseCliFlags(args: {argv?: string[]}) {
+  return yargs(hideBin(args.argv || process.argv).slice(2))
+    .options('backup-id', {type: 'string'})
+    .options('out', {type: 'string'})
+    .options('concurrency', {type: 'number', default: DEFAULT_DOWNLOAD_CONCURRENCY})
+    .options('overwrite', {type: 'boolean', default: false}).argv
+}
+
 const downloadBackupCommand: CliCommandDefinition = {
   name: 'download',
   group: 'backup',
@@ -152,12 +166,8 @@ const downloadBackupCommand: CliCommandDefinition = {
       )
     } catch (error) {
       progressSpinner.fail()
-      let msg = error.statusCode ? error.response.body.message : error.message
-      // If no message can be extracted, print the whole error.
-      if (msg === undefined) {
-        msg = String(error)
-      }
-      throw new Error(`Downloading dataset backup failed: ${msg}`)
+      const {message} = parseApiErr(error)
+      throw new Error(`Downloading dataset backup failed: ${message}`)
     }
 
     progressSpinner.set({step: `Archiving files into a tarball...`, update: true})
@@ -189,7 +199,7 @@ async function prepareBackupOptions(
   context: CliCommandContext,
   args: CliCommandArguments,
 ): Promise<[SanityClient, DownloadBackupOptions]> {
-  const flags = args.extOptions
+  const flags = await parseCliFlags(args)
   const [dataset] = args.argsWithoutOptions
   const {prompt, workDir} = context
   const {projectId, datasetName, client} = await resolveApiClient(
@@ -213,25 +223,14 @@ async function prepareBackupOptions(
   }
 
   if ('concurrency' in flags) {
-    if (
-      !isNumber(flags.concurrency) ||
-      Number(flags.concurrency) < 1 ||
-      Number(flags.concurrency) > MAX_DOWNLOAD_CONCURRENCY
-    ) {
+    if (flags.concurrency < 1 || flags.concurrency > MAX_DOWNLOAD_CONCURRENCY) {
       throw new Error(`concurrency should be in 1 to ${MAX_DOWNLOAD_CONCURRENCY} range`)
     }
   }
 
-  if ('overwrite' in flags && !isBoolean(flags.overwrite)) {
-    throw new Error(`overwrite should be valid boolean`)
-  }
-
   const defaultOutFileName = `${datasetName}-backup-${backupId}.tar.gz`
   let out = await (async (): Promise<string> => {
-    if ('out' in flags) {
-      if (!isString(flags.out)) {
-        throw new Error(`output path should be valid string`)
-      }
+    if (flags.out !== undefined) {
       // Rewrite the output path to an absolute path, if it is not already.
       return absolutify(flags.out)
     }
@@ -274,15 +273,10 @@ async function prepareBackupOptions(
       token,
       outDir: path.dirname(out),
       outFileName: path.basename(out),
-      overwrite: Boolean(flags.overwrite),
-      concurrency: Number(flags.concurrency) || DEFAULT_DOWNLOAD_CONCURRENCY,
+      overwrite: flags.overwrite,
+      concurrency: flags.concurrency || DEFAULT_DOWNLOAD_CONCURRENCY,
     },
   ]
 }
 
-function isPathDirName(filepath: string): boolean {
-  // Check if the path has an extension, commonly indicating a file
-  return !/\.\w+$/.test(filepath)
-}
-
 export default downloadBackupCommand
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/enableBackupCommand.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/enableBackupCommand.ts
index fd841713fcb..48caa4a2286 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/enableBackupCommand.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/enableBackupCommand.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-import {CliCommandDefinition} from '@sanity/cli'
+import {type CliCommandDefinition} from '@sanity/cli'
+
 import resolveApiClient from '../../actions/backup/resolveApiClient'
 import {defaultApiVersion} from './backupGroup'
 
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/listBackupCommand.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/listBackupCommand.ts
index 691e62f2ca2..17e4154ed7c 100644
--- a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/listBackupCommand.ts
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/commands/backup/listBackupCommand.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
-import type {CliCommandDefinition} from '@sanity/cli'
+import {type CliCommandDefinition} from '@sanity/cli'
 import {Table} from 'console-table-printer'
 import {isAfter, isValid, lightFormat, parse} from 'date-fns'
+import {hideBin} from 'yargs/helpers'
+import yargs from 'yargs/yargs'
+
+import parseApiErr from '../../actions/backup/parseApiErr'
 import resolveApiClient from '../../actions/backup/resolveApiClient'
-import {defaultApiVersion, validateLimit} from './backupGroup'
+import {defaultApiVersion} from './backupGroup'
 
 const DEFAULT_LIST_BACKUP_LIMIT = 30
 
@@ -40,6 +44,13 @@ Examples
   sanity backup list DATASET_NAME --after 2024-01-31 --before 2024-01-10
 `
 
+function parseCliFlags(args: {argv?: string[]}) {
+  return yargs(hideBin(args.argv || process.argv).slice(2))
+    .options('after', {type: 'string'})
+    .options('before', {type: 'string'})
+    .options('limit', {type: 'number', default: DEFAULT_LIST_BACKUP_LIMIT, alias: 'l'}).argv
+}
+
 const listDatasetBackupCommand: CliCommandDefinition<ListDatasetBackupFlags> = {
   name: 'list',
   group: 'backup',
@@ -48,7 +59,7 @@ const listDatasetBackupCommand: CliCommandDefinition<ListDatasetBackupFlags> = {
   helpText,
   action: async (args, context) => {
     const {output, chalk} = context
-    const flags = args.extOptions
+    const flags = await parseCliFlags(args)
     const [dataset] = args.argsWithoutOptions
 
     const {projectId, datasetName, token, client} = await resolveApiClient(
@@ -59,11 +70,14 @@ const listDatasetBackupCommand: CliCommandDefinition<ListDatasetBackupFlags> = {
 
     const query: ListBackupRequestQueryParams = {limit: DEFAULT_LIST_BACKUP_LIMIT.toString()}
     if (flags.limit) {
-      try {
-        query.limit = validateLimit(flags.limit)
-      } catch (err) {
-        throw new Error(`Parsing --limit: ${err}`)
+      // We allow limit up to Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER to leave it for server-side validation,
+      //  while still sending sensible value in limit string.
+      if (flags.limit < 1 || flags.limit > Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER) {
+        throw new Error(
+          `Parsing --limit: must be an integer between 1 and ${Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER}`,
+        )
       }
+      query.limit = flags.limit.toString()
     }
 
     if (flags.before || flags.after) {
@@ -71,7 +85,7 @@ const listDatasetBackupCommand: CliCommandDefinition<ListDatasetBackupFlags> = {
         const parsedBefore = processDateFlags(flags.before)
         const parsedAfter = processDateFlags(flags.after)
 
-        if (parsedAfter && parsedBefore && isAfter(parsedBefore, parsedAfter)) {
+        if (parsedAfter && parsedBefore && isAfter(parsedAfter, parsedBefore)) {
           throw new Error('--after date must be before --before')
         }
 
@@ -90,10 +104,8 @@ const listDatasetBackupCommand: CliCommandDefinition<ListDatasetBackupFlags> = {
         query: {...query},
       })
     } catch (error) {
-      const msg = error.statusCode
-        ? error.response.body.message
-        : error.message || error.statusMessage
-      output.error(`${chalk.red(`List dataset backup failed: ${msg}`)}\n`)
+      const {message} = parseApiErr(error)
+      output.error(`${chalk.red(`List dataset backup failed: ${message}`)}\n`)
     }
 
     if (response && response.backups) {
@@ -126,7 +138,7 @@ const listDatasetBackupCommand: CliCommandDefinition<ListDatasetBackupFlags> = {
 
 function processDateFlags(date: string | undefined): Date | undefined {
   if (!date) return undefined
-  const parsedDate = parse(date, 'YYYY-MM-DD', new Date())
+  const parsedDate = parse(date, 'yyyy-MM-dd', new Date())
   if (isValid(parsedDate)) {
     return parsedDate
   }
diff --git a/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/util/isPathDirName.ts b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/util/isPathDirName.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..342c0e5578a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/sanity/src/_internal/cli/util/isPathDirName.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+function isPathDirName(filepath: string): boolean {
+  // Check if the path has an extension, commonly indicating a file
+  return !/\.\w+$/.test(filepath)
+}
+
+export default isPathDirName