fix(dev): add actionable error for missing cert file

[danielroe]

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📚 Description

better dx

[coderabbitai]

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Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 99135a6 and 49b1e02.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• packages/nuxt-cli/src/dev/cert.ts
• packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/dev-cert.spec.ts

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commit: 49b1e02

[github-actions]

CLI benchmark

@nuxt/cli v4.0.0-alpha.1 (baseline) vs v4.0.0-alpha.1 (this PR)

Metric	baseline v4.0.0-alpha.1	head v4.0.0-alpha.1	Delta
nuxt --version wall time (median)	65 ms	64 ms	-2.4%
nuxt --help wall time (median)	143 ms	142 ms	-0.6%
nuxt dev --help wall time (median)	109 ms	107 ms	-1.8%
nuxt --version modules loaded	37	37	0.0%
nuxt --help modules loaded	139	139	0.0%
nuxt dev --help modules loaded	82	82	0.0%
Installed node_modules	2.37 MB	2.37 MB	+0.0%
Published tarball (packed)	229.0 kB	229.2 kB	+0.1%

Full report

@nuxt/cli v4.0.0-alpha.1 (baseline) vs v4.0.0-alpha.1 (head)

Setting	Value
Baseline	ref:99135a6c1e64b98f38cf23913f8938ce3ac0c400 (v4.0.0-alpha.1)
Head	local packages/nuxt-cli at f728d75 (v4.0.0-alpha.1)
Node	v24.21.0
OS	Linux 6.17.0 (kernel 6.17.0-1022-azure)
CPU	AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor x 4
Memory	15.6 GB
Load average at start	1.04, 0.31, 0.10
Run started	2026-09-21T22:31:28.832Z

Cold CLI startup

Median of 15 interleaved runs per command, one warmup discarded.

Command	baseline v4.0.0-alpha.1 median	head v4.0.0-alpha.1 median	Delta	baseline v4.0.0-alpha.1 min / p95	head v4.0.0-alpha.1 min / p95
nuxt --version	65 ms	64 ms	-2.4%	64 ms / 70 ms	62 ms / 68 ms
nuxt --version (first output byte)	61 ms	60 ms	-2.4%	60 ms / 66 ms	58 ms / 63 ms
nuxt --help	143 ms	142 ms	-0.6%	141 ms / 144 ms	139 ms / 145 ms
nuxt --help (first output byte)	137 ms	137 ms	-0.1%	135 ms / 139 ms	134 ms / 140 ms
nuxt dev --help	109 ms	107 ms	-1.8%	104 ms / 111 ms	104 ms / 110 ms
nuxt dev --help (first output byte)	104 ms	102 ms	-2.2%	99 ms / 106 ms	99 ms / 105 ms
nuxt <unknown-command> (no-op)	153 ms	153 ms	+0.3%	150 ms / 155 ms	149 ms / 155 ms
nuxt <unknown-command> (no-op) (first output byte)	147 ms	148 ms	+0.5%	145 ms / 150 ms	144 ms / 150 ms

Module load cost

Counted with a module.registerHooks load hook, compile cache disabled. Counts every JS module actually evaluated on that code path (built-ins excluded, native addons excluded).

Command	baseline v4.0.0-alpha.1 modules	head v4.0.0-alpha.1 modules	Delta	baseline v4.0.0-alpha.1 source bytes	head v4.0.0-alpha.1 source bytes	Delta
nuxt --version	37	37	0.0%	302.3 kB	302.3 kB	0.0%
nuxt --help	139	139	0.0%	1.03 MB	1.03 MB	0.0%
nuxt dev --help	82	82	0.0%	644.4 kB	644.4 kB	0.0%

Install footprint and published tarball

Each version installed on its own into an empty project with nothing but @nuxt/cli as a dependency, so the tree is exactly the CLI and its transitive dependencies. npm cache is warm and the registry is only consulted for metadata, so install wall time is indicative, not a network benchmark.

Metric	baseline v4.0.0-alpha.1	head v4.0.0-alpha.1	Delta
Direct dependencies of @nuxt/cli	22	22	0.0%
Packages in the installed tree (unique name@version)	38	38	0.0%
Unique package names	38	38	0.0%
Package directories on disk (cross-check)	31	31	0.0%
Installed node_modules on disk	2.37 MB	2.37 MB	+0.0%
Installed files	407	407	0.0%
Install wall time (warm npm cache, median of 3)	1.27 s	1.27 s	-0.3%
Published tarball (packed)	229.0 kB	229.2 kB	+0.1%
Published tarball (unpacked)	748.3 kB	749.1 kB	+0.1%
Files in tarball	84	84	0.0%

Interleaved runs on a shared runner: trust the deltas, not the absolute timings. The dev, restart and build suites run locally via pnpm bench:cli.