diff --git a/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md b/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md
index 6a15893628e..4beaf2228ed 100644
--- a/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 * Increase the SSH server startup timeout from 10 to 45 minutes when a GPU accelerator is requested via `databricks ssh connect --accelerator` ([#5569](https://github.com/databricks/cli/pull/5569)).
 * Fix authentication falling back to the default profile in `.databrickscfg` when a host is already configured via the environment (e.g. `DATABRICKS_HOST` with `DATABRICKS_TOKEN`) ([#5616](https://github.com/databricks/cli/pull/5616)).
 * ssh: fix opening remote environment in Cursor, which previously hung on default-extension install and never opened the editor ([#5619](https://github.com/databricks/cli/pull/5619)).
+* Improve the error shown when `databricks labs install` cannot find a project's `labs.yml`: the message now explains that either the requested version does not exist or the project is not installable with the CLI, and links to the repository ([#5559](https://github.com/databricks/cli/pull/5559)).
 
 
 ### Bundles
diff --git a/cmd/labs/project/fetcher.go b/cmd/labs/project/fetcher.go
index c6969ae1ba7..395bd10ca54 100644
--- a/cmd/labs/project/fetcher.go
+++ b/cmd/labs/project/fetcher.go
@@ -151,6 +151,16 @@ func (f *fetcher) loadRemoteProjectDefinition(cmd *cobra.Command, version string
 	var err error
 	if !offlineInstall {
 		raw, err = github.ReadFileFromRef(ctx, "databrickslabs", f.name, version, "labs.yml")
+		// A 404 on labs.yml has two causes we can't tell apart here: the requested
+		// version doesn't exist, or the repository simply doesn't ship a labs.yml
+		// (most databrickslabs repos don't, e.g. libraries published to package
+		// indexes) and so isn't installable through the CLI. Either way it's not a
+		// download failure, so surface both possibilities instead of the raw error.
+		if errors.Is(err, github.ErrNotFound) {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("no labs.yml at databrickslabs/%s@%s (%w); "+
+				"either this version does not exist or this project cannot be installed with the Databricks CLI, "+
+				"see https://github.com/databrickslabs/%s for instructions", f.name, version, err, f.name)
+		}
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("read labs.yml from GitHub: %w", err)
 		}
diff --git a/cmd/labs/project/fetcher_test.go b/cmd/labs/project/fetcher_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2e93c1f79d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/labs/project/fetcher_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+package project_test
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/databricks/cli/cmd/labs/github"
+	"github.com/databricks/cli/internal/testcli"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestInstallerFailsWhenLabsYmlMissing(t *testing.T) {
+	server := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		if strings.HasSuffix(r.URL.Path, "/labs.yml") {
+			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusNotFound)
+			return
+		}
+		t.Errorf("unexpected request: %s", r.URL.Path)
+		http.Error(w, "unexpected request", http.StatusInternalServerError)
+	}))
+	defer server.Close()
+	ctx := installerContext(t, server)
+
+	// A 404 on labs.yml has two causes: the repository ships no labs.yml (reached
+	// here via the only released version, v0.3.15), or the requested version does
+	// not exist (v9.9.9). Both must produce the same actionable error.
+	tests := []struct {
+		name    string
+		ref     string
+		version string
+	}{
+		{name: "released version without labs.yml", ref: "blueprint", version: "v0.3.15"},
+		{name: "nonexistent version", ref: "blueprint@v9.9.9", version: "v9.9.9"},
+	}
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			r := testcli.NewRunner(t, ctx, "labs", "install", tc.ref)
+			_, _, err := r.Run()
+			assert.ErrorIs(t, err, github.ErrNotFound)
+			assert.ErrorContains(t, err, "no labs.yml at databrickslabs/blueprint@"+tc.version)
+			assert.ErrorContains(t, err, "either this version does not exist or this project cannot be installed with the Databricks CLI")
+		})
+	}
+}