diff --git a/packages/cli/src/index.js b/packages/cli/src/index.js
index fd633598a3..29878c55ec 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/index.js
+++ b/packages/cli/src/index.js
@@ -13,3 +13,4 @@ export { default as setup } from './setup'
 export { default as run } from './run'
 export { loadNuxtConfig } from './utils/config'
 export { getWebpackConfig } from './utils/webpack'
+export { isNuxtDir } from './utils/dir'
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/run.js b/packages/cli/src/run.js
index 9d4979d43c..b9fde5758d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/run.js
+++ b/packages/cli/src/run.js
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-import fs from 'fs'
 import execa from 'execa'
 import { name as pkgName } from '../package.json'
 import NuxtCommand from './command'
 import setup from './setup'
 import getCommand from './commands'
+import { isNuxtDir } from './utils/dir'
 
 function packageExists (name) {
   try {
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ export default async function run (_argv, hooks = {}) {
   let cmd = await getCommand(argv[0])
 
   // Matching `nuxt` or `nuxt [dir]` or `nuxt -*` for `nuxt dev` shortcut
-  if (!cmd && (!argv[0] || argv[0][0] === '-' || (argv[0] !== 'static' && fs.existsSync(argv[0])))) {
+  if (!cmd && (!argv[0] || argv[0][0] === '-' || isNuxtDir(argv[0]))) {
     argv.unshift('dev')
     cmd = await getCommand('dev')
   }
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/utils/dir.js b/packages/cli/src/utils/dir.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c96208d508
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/utils/dir.js
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+import fs from 'fs'
+import path from 'path'
+
+export function isNuxtDir (rootDir) {
+  if (fs.existsSync(path.join(rootDir, 'nuxt.config.js')) ||
+    fs.existsSync(path.join(rootDir, 'pages')) ||
+    fs.existsSync(path.join(rootDir, 'nuxt.config.ts'))) {
+    return true
+  }
+  return false
+}
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/unit/run.test.js b/packages/cli/test/unit/run.test.js
index 6134085795..0b99bd18d7 100644
--- a/packages/cli/test/unit/run.test.js
+++ b/packages/cli/test/unit/run.test.js
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import path from 'path'
 import execa from 'execa'
 import run from '../../src/run'
 import getCommand from '../../src/commands'
@@ -37,9 +38,10 @@ describe('run', () => {
   })
 
   test('nuxt <dir> aliases to nuxt dev <dir>', async () => {
-    await run([__dirname])
+    const rootDir = path.resolve(__dirname, '../fixtures')
+    await run([rootDir])
     expect(getCommand).toHaveBeenCalledWith('dev')
-    expect(NuxtCommand.run).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.anything(), [__dirname], {})
+    expect(NuxtCommand.run).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.anything(), [rootDir], {})
   })
 
   test('external commands', async () => {