diff --git a/apps/oxfmt/src-js/cli/js_config.ts b/apps/oxfmt/src-js/cli/js_config.ts
index 435c2d4500748..b81acdc15c328 100644
--- a/apps/oxfmt/src-js/cli/js_config.ts
+++ b/apps/oxfmt/src-js/cli/js_config.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { basename as pathBasename } from "node:path";
 import { pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
+import { getUnsupportedTypeScriptModuleLoadHintForError } from "./node_version";
 
 const isObject = (v: unknown) => typeof v === "object" && v !== null && !Array.isArray(v);
 
@@ -23,7 +24,13 @@ export async function loadJsConfig(path: string): Promise<object | null> {
   const fileUrl = pathToFileURL(path);
   fileUrl.searchParams.set("cache", Date.now().toString());
 
-  const { default: config } = await import(fileUrl.href);
+  let config: unknown;
+  try {
+    ({ default: config } = await import(fileUrl.href));
+  } catch (err) {
+    const unsupportedNodeHint = getUnsupportedTypeScriptModuleLoadHintForError(err, path);
+    throw unsupportedNodeHint ?? err;
+  }
 
   if (config === undefined) throw new Error("Configuration file has no default export.");
 
diff --git a/apps/oxfmt/src-js/cli/node_version.ts b/apps/oxfmt/src-js/cli/node_version.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..955aefceaaa6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/oxfmt/src-js/cli/node_version.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+import { extname as pathExtname } from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+export const NODE_TYPESCRIPT_SUPPORT_RANGE = "^20.19.0 || >=22.12.0";
+
+const TS_MODULE_EXTENSIONS = new Set([".ts", ".mts", ".cts"]);
+
+function normalizeModuleSpecifierPath(specifier: string): string {
+  if (!specifier.startsWith("file:")) return specifier;
+
+  try {
+    return fileURLToPath(specifier);
+  } catch {
+    return specifier;
+  }
+}
+
+export function isTypeScriptModuleSpecifier(specifier: string): boolean {
+  const ext = pathExtname(normalizeModuleSpecifierPath(specifier)).toLowerCase();
+  return TS_MODULE_EXTENSIONS.has(ext);
+}
+
+function isUnknownFileExtensionError(err: unknown): boolean {
+  if ((err as { code?: unknown })?.code === "ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION") return true;
+
+  const message = (err as { message?: unknown })?.message;
+  return typeof message === "string" && /unknown(?: or unsupported)? file extension/i.test(message);
+}
+
+function getErrorSummary(err: unknown): string {
+  if (err instanceof Error) return String(err);
+
+  const message = (err as { message?: unknown })?.message;
+  if (typeof message === "string" && message !== "") return message;
+
+  return "Unknown error";
+}
+
+export function getUnsupportedTypeScriptModuleLoadHintForError(
+  err: unknown,
+  specifier: string,
+  nodeVersion: string = process.version,
+): string | null {
+  if (!isTypeScriptModuleSpecifier(specifier) || !isUnknownFileExtensionError(err)) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  return `${getErrorSummary(err)}\n\nTypeScript config files require Node.js ${NODE_TYPESCRIPT_SUPPORT_RANGE}.\nDetected Node.js ${nodeVersion}.\nPlease upgrade Node.js or use a JSON config file instead.`;
+}
diff --git a/apps/oxfmt/test/cli/js_config/node_version.test.ts b/apps/oxfmt/test/cli/js_config/node_version.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..b387576d37fcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/oxfmt/test/cli/js_config/node_version.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import {
+  NODE_TYPESCRIPT_SUPPORT_RANGE,
+  getUnsupportedTypeScriptModuleLoadHintForError,
+  isTypeScriptModuleSpecifier,
+} from "../../../src-js/cli/node_version";
+
+describe("node_version", () => {
+  it("detects supported TypeScript config specifiers", () => {
+    expect(isTypeScriptModuleSpecifier("/tmp/oxfmt.config.ts")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isTypeScriptModuleSpecifier("/tmp/oxfmt.config.mts")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isTypeScriptModuleSpecifier("/tmp/oxfmt.config.cts")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isTypeScriptModuleSpecifier("file:///tmp/oxfmt.config.ts")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isTypeScriptModuleSpecifier("/tmp/oxfmt.config.js")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("adds a node version hint for unsupported TypeScript module loading", () => {
+    const err = new TypeError(
+      'Unknown file extension ".ts" for /tmp/oxfmt.config.ts',
+    ) as TypeError & {
+      code?: string;
+    };
+    err.code = "ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION";
+
+    expect(
+      getUnsupportedTypeScriptModuleLoadHintForError(err, "/tmp/oxfmt.config.ts", "v22.11.0"),
+    ).toBe(
+      `TypeError: Unknown file extension ".ts" for /tmp/oxfmt.config.ts\n\nTypeScript config files require Node.js ${NODE_TYPESCRIPT_SUPPORT_RANGE}.\nDetected Node.js v22.11.0.\nPlease upgrade Node.js or use a JSON config file instead.`,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("does not add the hint for non-TypeScript specifiers or unrelated errors", () => {
+    const err = new Error("Cannot find package");
+    expect(getUnsupportedTypeScriptModuleLoadHintForError(err, "/tmp/oxfmt.config.ts")).toBeNull();
+
+    const unknownExtension = new TypeError('Unknown file extension ".ts"');
+    expect(
+      getUnsupportedTypeScriptModuleLoadHintForError(unknownExtension, "/tmp/oxfmt.config.js"),
+    ).toBeNull();
+  });
+});