diff --git a/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/NPMProxy.ts b/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/NPMProxy.ts
index 8e996861f32a..bdb209d51f42 100644
--- a/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/NPMProxy.ts
+++ b/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/NPMProxy.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import { sync as findUpSync } from 'find-up';
 import { existsSync, readFileSync } from 'fs';
 import path from 'path';
 import { logger } from '@storybook/node-logger';
+import { FindPackageVersionsError } from '@storybook/core-events/server-errors';
+
 import { JsPackageManager } from './JsPackageManager';
 import type { PackageJson } from './PackageJson';
 import type { InstallationMetadata, PackageMetadata } from './types';
@@ -225,23 +227,26 @@ export class NPMProxy extends JsPackageManager {
     fetchAllVersions: T
   ): Promise<T extends true ? string[] : string> {
     const args = [fetchAllVersions ? 'versions' : 'version', '--json'];
-
-    const commandResult = await this.executeCommand({
-      command: 'npm',
-      args: ['info', packageName, ...args],
-    });
-
     try {
+      const commandResult = await this.executeCommand({
+        command: 'npm',
+        args: ['info', packageName, ...args],
+      });
+
       const parsedOutput = JSON.parse(commandResult);
 
-      if (parsedOutput.error) {
-        // FIXME: improve error handling
-        throw new Error(parsedOutput.error.summary);
-      } else {
-        return parsedOutput;
+      if (parsedOutput.error?.summary) {
+        // this will be handled in the catch block below
+        throw parsedOutput.error.summary;
       }
-    } catch (e) {
-      throw new Error(`Unable to find versions of ${packageName} using npm`);
+
+      return parsedOutput;
+    } catch (error) {
+      throw new FindPackageVersionsError({
+        error,
+        packageManager: 'NPM',
+        packageName,
+      });
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/PNPMProxy.ts b/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/PNPMProxy.ts
index a2f8baf6206b..df1bb5041a0d 100644
--- a/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/PNPMProxy.ts
+++ b/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/PNPMProxy.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ import dedent from 'ts-dedent';
 import { sync as findUpSync } from 'find-up';
 import path from 'path';
 import fs from 'fs';
+import { FindPackageVersionsError } from '@storybook/core-events/server-errors';
+
 import { JsPackageManager } from './JsPackageManager';
 import type { PackageJson } from './PackageJson';
 import type { InstallationMetadata, PackageMetadata } from './types';
@@ -222,22 +224,26 @@ export class PNPMProxy extends JsPackageManager {
   ): Promise<T extends true ? string[] : string> {
     const args = [fetchAllVersions ? 'versions' : 'version', '--json'];
 
-    const commandResult = await this.executeCommand({
-      command: 'pnpm',
-      args: ['info', packageName, ...args],
-    });
-
     try {
+      const commandResult = await this.executeCommand({
+        command: 'pnpm',
+        args: ['info', packageName, ...args],
+      });
+
       const parsedOutput = JSON.parse(commandResult);
 
-      if (parsedOutput.error) {
-        // FIXME: improve error handling
-        throw new Error(parsedOutput.error.summary);
-      } else {
-        return parsedOutput;
+      if (parsedOutput.error?.summary) {
+        // this will be handled in the catch block below
+        throw parsedOutput.error.summary;
       }
-    } catch (e) {
-      throw new Error(`Unable to find versions of ${packageName} using pnpm`);
+
+      return parsedOutput;
+    } catch (error) {
+      throw new FindPackageVersionsError({
+        error,
+        packageManager: 'PNPM',
+        packageName,
+      });
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/Yarn1Proxy.ts b/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/Yarn1Proxy.ts
index 5980b26accc4..6b6518d6858c 100644
--- a/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/Yarn1Proxy.ts
+++ b/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/Yarn1Proxy.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ import dedent from 'ts-dedent';
 import { sync as findUpSync } from 'find-up';
 import { existsSync, readFileSync } from 'fs';
 import path from 'path';
+import { FindPackageVersionsError } from '@storybook/core-events/server-errors';
+
 import { createLogStream } from '../utils/cli';
 import { JsPackageManager } from './JsPackageManager';
 import type { PackageJson } from './PackageJson';
@@ -162,20 +164,24 @@ export class Yarn1Proxy extends JsPackageManager {
     fetchAllVersions: T
   ): Promise<T extends true ? string[] : string> {
     const args = [fetchAllVersions ? 'versions' : 'version', '--json'];
-
-    const commandResult = await this.executeCommand({
-      command: 'yarn',
-      args: ['info', packageName, ...args],
-    });
-
     try {
+      const commandResult = await this.executeCommand({
+        command: 'yarn',
+        args: ['info', packageName, ...args],
+      });
+
       const parsedOutput = JSON.parse(commandResult);
       if (parsedOutput.type === 'inspect') {
         return parsedOutput.data;
       }
-      throw new Error(`Unable to find versions of ${packageName} using yarn`);
-    } catch (e) {
-      throw new Error(`Unable to find versions of ${packageName} using yarn`);
+      // eslint-disable-next-line local-rules/no-uncategorized-errors
+      throw new Error(`Yarn did not provide an output with type 'inspect'.`);
+    } catch (error) {
+      throw new FindPackageVersionsError({
+        error,
+        packageManager: 'Yarn 1',
+        packageName,
+      });
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/Yarn2Proxy.ts b/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/Yarn2Proxy.ts
index db4bb886c461..989e063256a5 100644
--- a/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/Yarn2Proxy.ts
+++ b/code/lib/core-common/src/js-package-manager/Yarn2Proxy.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import { existsSync, readFileSync } from 'fs';
 import path from 'path';
 import { PosixFS, VirtualFS, ZipOpenFS } from '@yarnpkg/fslib';
 import { getLibzipSync } from '@yarnpkg/libzip';
+import { FindPackageVersionsError } from '@storybook/core-events/server-errors';
+
 import { createLogStream } from '../utils/cli';
 import { JsPackageManager } from './JsPackageManager';
 import type { PackageJson } from './PackageJson';
@@ -248,17 +250,20 @@ export class Yarn2Proxy extends JsPackageManager {
   ): Promise<T extends true ? string[] : string> {
     const field = fetchAllVersions ? 'versions' : 'version';
     const args = ['--fields', field, '--json'];
-
-    const commandResult = await this.executeCommand({
-      command: 'yarn',
-      args: ['npm', 'info', packageName, ...args],
-    });
-
     try {
+      const commandResult = await this.executeCommand({
+        command: 'yarn',
+        args: ['npm', 'info', packageName, ...args],
+      });
+
       const parsedOutput = JSON.parse(commandResult);
       return parsedOutput[field];
-    } catch (e) {
-      throw new Error(`Unable to find versions of ${packageName} using yarn 2`);
+    } catch (error) {
+      throw new FindPackageVersionsError({
+        error,
+        packageManager: 'Yarn Berry',
+        packageName,
+      });
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/code/lib/core-events/src/errors/server-errors.ts b/code/lib/core-events/src/errors/server-errors.ts
index e6719945d3f6..b85fcaa2783b 100644
--- a/code/lib/core-events/src/errors/server-errors.ts
+++ b/code/lib/core-events/src/errors/server-errors.ts
@@ -604,3 +604,22 @@ export class NoStatsForViteDevError extends StorybookError {
     `;
   }
 }
+
+export class FindPackageVersionsError extends StorybookError {
+  readonly category = Category.CLI;
+
+  readonly code = 1;
+
+  constructor(
+    public data: { error: Error | unknown; packageName: string; packageManager: string }
+  ) {
+    super();
+  }
+
+  template() {
+    return dedent`
+      Unable to find versions of "${this.data.packageName}" using ${this.data.packageManager}
+      ${this.data.error && `Reason: ${this.data.error}`}
+    `;
+  }
+}