diff --git a/.changeset/fuzzy-store-variables.md b/.changeset/fuzzy-store-variables.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ee89cd880fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fuzzy-store-variables.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@shopify/cli': patch
+---
+
+Reject invalid variable values before store execute requests are sent.
diff --git a/packages/store/src/cli/services/store/execute/request.test.ts b/packages/store/src/cli/services/store/execute/request.test.ts
index e0bebbfc557..9fc0672e8ec 100644
--- a/packages/store/src/cli/services/store/execute/request.test.ts
+++ b/packages/store/src/cli/services/store/execute/request.test.ts
@@ -110,6 +110,24 @@ describe('prepareStoreExecuteRequest', () => {
     expect(request.parsedOperation.operationDefinition.operation).toBe('mutation')
   })
 
+  test.each(['null', '[]', '"value"', 'true', '42'])('throws when inline variables are %s', async (variables) => {
+    await expect(
+      prepareStoreExecuteRequest({
+        query: 'query { shop { name } }',
+        variables,
+      }),
+    ).rejects.toThrow('expected a non-null JSON object')
+  })
+
+  test('throws when inline variables are empty', async () => {
+    await expect(
+      prepareStoreExecuteRequest({
+        query: 'query { shop { name } }',
+        variables: '  ',
+      }),
+    ).rejects.toThrow('--variables')
+  })
+
   test('throws when variables contain invalid JSON', async () => {
     await expect(
       prepareStoreExecuteRequest({
@@ -119,6 +137,29 @@ describe('prepareStoreExecuteRequest', () => {
     ).rejects.toThrow('Invalid JSON')
   })
 
+  test.each(['null', '[]', '"value"', 'true', '42'])('throws when file variables are %s', async (variables) => {
+    await inTemporaryDirectory(async (tmpDir) => {
+      const variableFile = joinPath(tmpDir, 'variables.json')
+      await writeFile(variableFile, variables)
+
+      await expect(
+        prepareStoreExecuteRequest({
+          query: 'query { shop { name } }',
+          variableFile,
+        }),
+      ).rejects.toThrow('expected a non-null JSON object')
+    })
+  })
+
+  test('accepts an empty variable object', async () => {
+    await expect(
+      prepareStoreExecuteRequest({
+        query: 'query { shop { name } }',
+        variables: '{}',
+      }),
+    ).resolves.toMatchObject({parsedVariables: {}})
+  })
+
   test('reads variables from a file', async () => {
     await inTemporaryDirectory(async (tmpDir) => {
       // Given
diff --git a/packages/store/src/cli/services/store/execute/request.ts b/packages/store/src/cli/services/store/execute/request.ts
index 71289bdaba3..618c1fa370e 100644
--- a/packages/store/src/cli/services/store/execute/request.ts
+++ b/packages/store/src/cli/services/store/execute/request.ts
@@ -47,14 +47,36 @@ async function readQuery(input: {query?: string; queryFile?: string}): Promise<s
   )
 }
 
+function validateVariables(
+  value: unknown,
+  source: ReturnType<typeof outputToken.yellow> | ReturnType<typeof outputToken.path>,
+): {[key: string]: unknown} {
+  if (value === null || typeof value !== 'object' || Array.isArray(value)) {
+    throw new AbortError(
+      outputContent`Invalid variables in ${source}: expected a non-null JSON object.`,
+      'Please provide a JSON object for variables.',
+    )
+  }
+
+  return value as {[key: string]: unknown}
+}
+
 async function parseVariables(
   variables?: string,
   variableFile?: string,
 ): Promise<{[key: string]: unknown} | undefined> {
-  if (variables) {
+  if (variables !== undefined) {
+    if (!variables.trim()) {
+      throw new AbortError(
+        outputContent`The ${outputToken.yellow('--variables')} flag value is empty.`,
+        'Please provide a non-null JSON object for variables.',
+      )
+    }
+
     try {
-      return JSON.parse(variables)
+      return validateVariables(JSON.parse(variables), outputToken.yellow('--variables'))
     } catch (error) {
+      if (error instanceof AbortError) throw error
       const errorMessage = error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'Unknown error'
       throw new AbortError(
         outputContent`Invalid JSON in ${outputToken.yellow('--variables')} flag: ${errorMessage}`,
@@ -72,8 +94,9 @@ async function parseVariables(
 
     const fileContent = await readFile(variableFile, {encoding: 'utf8'})
     try {
-      return JSON.parse(fileContent)
+      return validateVariables(JSON.parse(fileContent), outputToken.path(variableFile))
     } catch (error) {
+      if (error instanceof AbortError) throw error
       const errorMessage = error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'Unknown error'
       throw new AbortError(
         outputContent`Invalid JSON in variable file ${outputToken.path(variableFile)}: ${errorMessage}`,