diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/cli/installActions.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/cli/installActions.ts
index b2aefc2121f4c..1c5dc75038bec 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/cli/installActions.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/cli/installActions.ts
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ export async function markDockerImage(dockerImageNameTemplate: string) {
   await writeDockerVersion(dockerImageNameTemplate);
 }
 
-export async function installBrowsers(args: string[], options: { withDeps?: boolean, force?: boolean, dryRun?: boolean, list?: boolean, shell?: boolean, noShell?: boolean, onlyShell?: boolean, progress?: boolean, remove?: boolean }) {
+export async function installBrowsers(args: string[], options: { withDeps?: boolean, force?: boolean, dryRun?: boolean, list?: boolean, shell?: boolean, onlyShell?: boolean, progress?: boolean, remove?: boolean }) {
   if (options.progress === false)
     process.env.PLAYWRIGHT_DOWNLOAD_NO_PROGRESS = '1';
   if (isLikelyNpxGlobal()) {
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/cli/program.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/cli/program.ts
index efb1040a77678..cec10813fc804 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/cli/program.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/cli/program.ts
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ export function decorateProgram(program: Command) {
       .option('--no-shell', 'do not install chromium headless shell')
       .option('--no-progress', 'do not show download progress bars')
       .option('--no-remove', 'do not remove unused browsers')
-      .action(async function(args: string[], options: { withDeps?: boolean, force?: boolean, dryRun?: boolean, list?: boolean, shell?: boolean, noShell?: boolean, onlyShell?: boolean, progress?: boolean, remove?: boolean }) {
+      .action(async function(args: string[], options: { withDeps?: boolean, force?: boolean, dryRun?: boolean, list?: boolean, shell?: boolean, onlyShell?: boolean, progress?: boolean, remove?: boolean }) {
         try {
           await installBrowsers(args, options);
         } catch (e) {
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/cli-client/program.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/cli-client/program.ts
index 3ac0efd0417f4..3279731070754 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/cli-client/program.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/cli-client/program.ts
@@ -453,8 +453,12 @@ function validateFlags(args: MinimistArgs, command: { flags: Record<string, 'boo
       continue;
     if ((globalOptions as readonly string[]).includes(key))
       continue;
-    if (!(key in command.flags))
-      unknownFlags.push(key);
+    if (key in command.flags)
+      continue;
+    // Negated flags like '--no-shell' are parsed as { shell: false }.
+    if (args[key] === false && `no-${key}` in command.flags)
+      continue;
+    unknownFlags.push(key);
   }
   if (unknownFlags.length)
     output.errorUnknownOption(unknownFlags, command.help);
diff --git a/tests/mcp/cli-misc.spec.ts b/tests/mcp/cli-misc.spec.ts
index 7d825e8113b55..546ebae889eee 100644
--- a/tests/mcp/cli-misc.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/mcp/cli-misc.spec.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,16 @@ test('install-browser', async ({ cli, server, mcpBrowser }) => {
   expect(output).toMatch(/chromium-\d+/);
 });
 
+test('install-browser --no-shell', async ({ cli }) => {
+  const withShell = await cli('install-browser', 'chromium', '--dry-run');
+  expect(withShell.exitCode).toBe(0);
+  expect(withShell.output).toContain('chromium-headless-shell');
+  const noShell = await cli('install-browser', 'chromium', '--no-shell', '--dry-run');
+  expect(noShell.exitCode).toBe(0);
+  expect(noShell.output).toMatch(/chromium v\d+/);
+  expect(noShell.output).not.toContain('chromium-headless-shell');
+});
+
 test('install workspace', async ({ cli }, testInfo) => {
   const { output } = await cli('install');
   expect(output).toContain(`Workspace initialized at`);