diff --git a/silverback/_click_ext.py b/silverback/_click_ext.py
index ebc6e2f7..dbe388a6 100644
--- a/silverback/_click_ext.py
+++ b/silverback/_click_ext.py
@@ -345,4 +345,11 @@ def bot_path_callback(ctx: click.Context, param: click.Parameter, path: str | No
     try:
         return import_from_string(path)
     except ImportFromStringError:
-        return import_from_string(f"bots.{path}")
+        try:
+            return import_from_string(f"bots.{path}")
+        except ModuleNotFoundError:
+            # This may happen if accidentally running `silverback run`
+            # with no bots arguments outside of your bots-project directory.
+            raise click.BadParameter(
+                "Nothing to run: No bot argument(s) given and no bots module found."
+            )
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 7fae51e7..43842316 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -1,7 +1,19 @@
+def test_run_no_bots(cli, runner):
+    result = runner.invoke(cli, "run")
+    assert result.exit_code != 0
+    expected = (
+        "Usage: cli run [OPTIONS] [BOT]\n"
+        "Try 'cli run --help' for help.\n\n"
+        "Error: Invalid value for '[BOT]': "
+        "Nothing to run: No bot argument(s) given and no bots module found.\n"
+    )
+    assert result.output == expected
+
+
 def test_run_verbosity(cli, runner):
     """
     A test showing the verbosity option works.
     If it didn't work, the exit code would not be 0 here.
     """
-    result = runner.invoke(cli, ["run", "--help", "--verbosity", "DEBUG"])
+    result = runner.invoke(cli, ["run", "--help", "--verbosity", "DEBUG"], catch_exceptions=False)
     assert result.exit_code == 0