diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 637f1761..6a713929 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"name": "titanium",
-	"version": "8.1.5",
+	"version": "8.2.0",
 	"author": "TiDev, Inc. <npm@tidev.io>",
 	"description": "Command line interface for building Titanium SDK apps",
 	"type": "module",
diff --git a/src/cli.js b/src/cli.js
index cb793a7d..39557e33 100644
--- a/src/cli.js
+++ b/src/cli.js
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ const sdkCommands = {
 	build:   'builds a project',
 	clean:   'removes previous build directories',
 	create:  'creates a new project',
-	project: 'get and set tiapp.xml settings'
+	project: 'get and set tiapp.xml settings',
+	serve:   'serves a project through the Titanium Vite runtime',
 };
 
 /**
@@ -416,12 +417,17 @@ export class CLI {
 		const cmd = args.pop();
 		args.pop(); // discard argv
 
-		// remove any trailing undefined args
-		while (args.length && args[args.length - 1] === undefined) {
-			args.pop();
+		// Commander keeps declared and excess positional args on the command.
+		const positionalArgs = Array.isArray(cmd?.args) ? cmd.args.slice() : [];
+		if (positionalArgs.length) {
+			this.argv._ = positionalArgs;
+		} else {
+			// Fallback for command handlers that pass positional args directly.
+			while (args.length && args[args.length - 1] === undefined) {
+				args.pop();
+			}
+			this.argv._ = args;
 		}
-
-		this.argv._ = args;
 		this.applyArgv(cmd);
 
 		if (!this.ready) {
@@ -621,20 +627,19 @@ export class CLI {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * If the current command is the "build" command, this function will check
-	 * if the "build" command has a `--platform` option (which is should), then
-	 * prompt for the platform is not explicitly passed in.
+	 * If the current command supports platform-specific config, this function
+	 * checks for the `--platform` option and prompts when missing.
 	 *
-	 * Finally, the platform specific options and flags are added to the
-	 * Commander.js "build" command context so that the second parse will
-	 * pick up the newly defined options/flags.
+	 * Finally, the platform specific options and flags are added to the command
+	 * context so that the second parse picks up the newly defined options/flags.
 	 *
 	 * @returns {Promise}
 	 * @access private
 	 */
 	async initBuildPlatform() {
 		const cmdName = this.command.name();
-		if (cmdName !== 'build') {
+		// Commands with build-style platform branches.
+		if (cmdName !== 'build' && cmdName !== 'serve') {
 			return;
 		}
 
@@ -643,6 +648,15 @@ export class CLI {
 			return;
 		}
 
+		// Support shorthand positional platform syntax, e.g. `ti serve ios`.
+		// Commander parses this into processedArgs via the [platform] argument
+		// declared in loadCommand().
+		const positionalPlatform = this.command.processedArgs?.[0];
+		if (!this.argv.platform && positionalPlatform && platformOption.values.includes(positionalPlatform)) {
+			this.debugLogger.trace(`Converting positional platform argument "${positionalPlatform}" to --platform`);
+			this.argv.platform = positionalPlatform;
+		}
+
 		// when specifying `--platform ios`, the SDK's option callback converts
 		// it to `iphone`, however the platform config uses `ios` and we must
 		// convert it back
@@ -983,6 +997,8 @@ export class CLI {
 				this.command.createHelp = () => {
 					return Object.assign(new TiHelp(this, conf.platforms), this.command.configureHelp());
 				};
+
+				cmd.argument('[platform]', 'target platform');
 			}
 
 			applyCommandConfig(this, cmdName, cmd, conf);
diff --git a/test/commands/ti-build.test.js b/test/commands/ti-build.test.js
index f1148598..e4e67135 100644
--- a/test/commands/ti-build.test.js
+++ b/test/commands/ti-build.test.js
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ describe('ti build', () => {
 
 		const output = stripColor(stdout);
 		assert.match(output, /Titanium Command-Line Interface/);
-		assert.match(output, /Usage: titanium build \[options\]/);
+		assert.match(output, /Usage: titanium build \[options\] \[platform\]/);
 		assert.match(output, /Builds an existing app or module project./);
 		assert.match(output, /Build Options:/);
 		assert.match(output, /Global Options:/);