diff --git a/src/utils/deploy.ts b/src/utils/deploy.ts
index ac4a5ee2..bedc5cea 100644
--- a/src/utils/deploy.ts
+++ b/src/utils/deploy.ts
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@
  * For full license text, see LICENSE.txt file in the repo root or https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause
  */
 
-
-
 import { ConfigAggregator, Messages, Org, SfError, SfProject } from '@salesforce/core';
 import { Duration } from '@salesforce/kit';
 import { Nullable } from '@salesforce/ts-types';
@@ -26,7 +24,7 @@ import { DEPLOY_STATUS_CODES } from './errorCodes.js';
 import { DeployCache } from './deployCache.js';
 import { writeManifest } from './manifestCache.js';
 
-Messages.importMessagesDirectoryFromMetaUrl(import.meta.url)
+Messages.importMessagesDirectoryFromMetaUrl(import.meta.url);
 export const cacheMessages = Messages.loadMessages('@salesforce/plugin-deploy-retrieve', 'cache');
 
 const deployMessages = Messages.loadMessages('@salesforce/plugin-deploy-retrieve', 'deploy.metadata');
@@ -156,7 +154,7 @@ export async function executeDeploy(
     });
     componentSet = await buildComponentSet(opts, stl);
     if (componentSet.size === 0) {
-      if (Boolean(opts['source-dir']) ?? Boolean(opts.manifest) ?? Boolean(opts.metadata) ?? throwOnEmpty) {
+      if (opts['source-dir'] ?? opts.manifest ?? opts.metadata ?? throwOnEmpty) {
         // the user specified something to deploy, but there isn't anything
         throw new SfError(
           deployMessages.getMessage('error.nothingToDeploy'),
diff --git a/test/nuts/deploy/metadata.nut.ts b/test/nuts/deploy/metadata.nut.ts
index dfa818f8..bba4bd67 100644
--- a/test/nuts/deploy/metadata.nut.ts
+++ b/test/nuts/deploy/metadata.nut.ts
@@ -5,13 +5,23 @@
  * For full license text, see LICENSE.txt file in the repo root or https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause
  */
 
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+import * as fs from 'node:fs';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 import { expect } from 'chai';
 import { SourceTestkit } from '@salesforce/source-testkit';
 import { DeployResultJson } from '../../../src/utils/types.js';
 
+const packageXml = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
+    <version>59.0</version>
+</Package>
+`;
+
 describe('deploy metadata NUTs', () => {
   let testkit: SourceTestkit;
+  const packageFile = 'package.xml';
+  let xmlPath: string | undefined;
 
   before(async () => {
     testkit = await SourceTestkit.create({
@@ -19,12 +29,23 @@ describe('deploy metadata NUTs', () => {
       nut: fileURLToPath(import.meta.url),
     });
     await testkit.deploy({ args: '--source-dir force-app', exitCode: 0 });
+    xmlPath = join(testkit.projectDir, packageFile);
+    await fs.promises.writeFile(xmlPath, packageXml);
   });
 
   after(async () => {
     await testkit?.clean();
   });
 
+  it('should throw if component set is empty', async () => {
+    try {
+      await testkit.deploy({ args: '--manifest package.xml --dry-run', json: true, exitCode: 1 });
+    } catch (e) {
+      const err = e as Error;
+      expect(err.name).to.equal('NothingToDeploy');
+    }
+  });
+
   it('should deploy ApexClasses from wildcard match (single character)', async () => {
     const response = await testkit.deploy({ args: '--metadata "ApexClass:P*"' });
     expect(response?.status).to.equal(0);