diff --git a/lib/base-command.js b/lib/base-command.js
index e763820cb052b..e4a7bbbec724a 100644
--- a/lib/base-command.js
+++ b/lib/base-command.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ const { relative } = require('path')
 const { definitions } = require('@npmcli/config/lib/definitions')
 const getWorkspaces = require('./workspaces/get-workspaces.js')
 const { aliases: cmdAliases } = require('./utils/cmd-list')
+const log = require('./utils/log-shim.js')
 
 class BaseCommand {
   static workspaces = false
@@ -142,6 +143,24 @@ class BaseCommand {
     return this.exec(args)
   }
 
+  // Compare the number of entries with what was expected
+  checkExpected (entries) {
+    if (!this.npm.config.isDefault('expect-results')) {
+      const expected = this.npm.config.get('expect-results')
+      if (!!entries !== !!expected) {
+        log.warn(this.name, `Expected ${expected ? '' : 'no '}results, got ${entries}`)
+        process.exitCode = 1
+      }
+    } else if (!this.npm.config.isDefault('expect-result-count')) {
+      const expected = this.npm.config.get('expect-result-count')
+      if (expected !== entries) {
+        /* eslint-disable-next-line max-len */
+        log.warn(this.name, `Expected ${expected} result${expected === 1 ? '' : 's'}, got ${entries}`)
+        process.exitCode = 1
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   async setWorkspaces () {
     const includeWorkspaceRoot = this.isArboristCmd
       ? false
diff --git a/lib/commands/query.js b/lib/commands/query.js
index 68aa1fa2c06a5..17a55a446b086 100644
--- a/lib/commands/query.js
+++ b/lib/commands/query.js
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ class Query extends BaseCommand {
     'workspaces',
     'include-workspace-root',
     'package-lock-only',
+    'expect-results',
   ]
 
   get parsedResponse () {
@@ -81,6 +82,7 @@ class Query extends BaseCommand {
     const items = await tree.querySelectorAll(args[0], this.npm.flatOptions)
     this.buildResponse(items)
 
+    this.checkExpected(this.#response.length)
     this.npm.output(this.parsedResponse)
   }
 
@@ -104,6 +106,7 @@ class Query extends BaseCommand {
       }
       this.buildResponse(items)
     }
+    this.checkExpected(this.#response.length)
     this.npm.output(this.parsedResponse)
   }
 
diff --git a/tap-snapshots/test/lib/commands/config.js.test.cjs b/tap-snapshots/test/lib/commands/config.js.test.cjs
index 6c4a27ca5916b..7ee863b161acc 100644
--- a/tap-snapshots/test/lib/commands/config.js.test.cjs
+++ b/tap-snapshots/test/lib/commands/config.js.test.cjs
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ exports[`test/lib/commands/config.js TAP config list --json > output matches sna
   "dry-run": false,
   "editor": "{EDITOR}",
   "engine-strict": false,
+  "expect-entries": null,
   "fetch-retries": 2,
   "fetch-retry-factor": 10,
   "fetch-retry-maxtimeout": 60000,
@@ -207,6 +208,7 @@ diff-unified = 3
 dry-run = false 
 editor = "{EDITOR}" 
 engine-strict = false 
+expect-entries = null 
 fetch-retries = 2 
 fetch-retry-factor = 10 
 fetch-retry-maxtimeout = 60000 
diff --git a/test/lib/commands/query.js b/test/lib/commands/query.js
index adf617316772e..ebe89ed0da278 100644
--- a/test/lib/commands/query.js
+++ b/test/lib/commands/query.js
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ t.test('recursive tree', async t => {
   await npm.exec('query', ['*'])
   t.matchSnapshot(joinedOutput(), 'should return everything in the tree, accounting for recursion')
 })
+
 t.test('workspace query', async t => {
   const { npm, joinedOutput } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
     config: {
@@ -237,3 +238,85 @@ t.test('package-lock-only', t => {
   })
   t.end()
 })
+
+t.test('expect entries', t => {
+  const { exitCode } = process
+  t.afterEach(() => process.exitCode = exitCode)
+  const prefixDir = {
+    node_modules: {
+      a: { name: 'a', version: '1.0.0' },
+    },
+    'package.json': JSON.stringify({
+      name: 'project',
+      dependencies: { a: '^1.0.0' },
+    }),
+  }
+  t.test('false, has entries', async t => {
+    const { logs, npm, joinedOutput } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+      prefixDir,
+    })
+    npm.config.set('expect-results', false)
+    await npm.exec('query', ['#a'])
+    t.not(joinedOutput(), '[]', 'has entries')
+    t.same(logs.warn, [['query', 'Expected no results, got 1']])
+    t.ok(process.exitCode, 'exits with code')
+  })
+  t.test('false, no entries', async t => {
+    const { npm, joinedOutput } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+      prefixDir,
+    })
+    npm.config.set('expect-results', false)
+    await npm.exec('query', ['#b'])
+    t.equal(joinedOutput(), '[]', 'does not have entries')
+    t.notOk(process.exitCode, 'exits without code')
+  })
+  t.test('true, has entries', async t => {
+    const { npm, joinedOutput } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+      prefixDir,
+    })
+    npm.config.set('expect-results', true)
+    await npm.exec('query', ['#a'])
+    t.not(joinedOutput(), '[]', 'has entries')
+    t.notOk(process.exitCode, 'exits without code')
+  })
+  t.test('true, no entries', async t => {
+    const { logs, npm, joinedOutput } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+      prefixDir,
+    })
+    npm.config.set('expect-results', true)
+    await npm.exec('query', ['#b'])
+    t.equal(joinedOutput(), '[]', 'does not have entries')
+    t.same(logs.warn, [['query', 'Expected results, got 0']])
+    t.ok(process.exitCode, 'exits with code')
+  })
+  t.test('count, matches', async t => {
+    const { npm, joinedOutput } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+      prefixDir,
+    })
+    npm.config.set('expect-result-count', 1)
+    await npm.exec('query', ['#a'])
+    t.not(joinedOutput(), '[]', 'has entries')
+    t.notOk(process.exitCode, 'exits without code')
+  })
+  t.test('count 1, does not match', async t => {
+    const { logs, npm, joinedOutput } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+      prefixDir,
+    })
+    npm.config.set('expect-result-count', 1)
+    await npm.exec('query', ['#b'])
+    t.equal(joinedOutput(), '[]', 'does not have entries')
+    t.same(logs.warn, [['query', 'Expected 1 result, got 0']])
+    t.ok(process.exitCode, 'exits with code')
+  })
+  t.test('count 3, does not match', async t => {
+    const { logs, npm, joinedOutput } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+      prefixDir,
+    })
+    npm.config.set('expect-result-count', 3)
+    await npm.exec('query', ['#b'])
+    t.equal(joinedOutput(), '[]', 'does not have entries')
+    t.same(logs.warn, [['query', 'Expected 3 results, got 0']])
+    t.ok(process.exitCode, 'exits with code')
+  })
+  t.end()
+})
diff --git a/workspaces/config/lib/definitions/definitions.js b/workspaces/config/lib/definitions/definitions.js
index 6f8760fce1d3e..1f320dfc9d9b6 100644
--- a/workspaces/config/lib/definitions/definitions.js
+++ b/workspaces/config/lib/definitions/definitions.js
@@ -665,6 +665,26 @@ define('engine-strict', {
   flatten,
 })
 
+define('expect-results', {
+  default: null,
+  type: [null, Boolean],
+  exclusive: ['expect-result-count'],
+  description: `
+    Tells npm whether or not to expect results from the command.
+    Can be either true (expect some results) or false (expect no results).
+  `,
+})
+
+define('expect-result-count', {
+  default: null,
+  type: [null, Number],
+  hint: '<count>',
+  exclusive: ['expect-results'],
+  description: `
+    Tells to expect a specific number of results from the command.
+  `,
+})
+
 define('fetch-retries', {
   default: 2,
   type: Number,