diff --git a/src/Actions/GetNodeVersionAction.php b/src/Actions/GetNodeVersionAction.php
index 7ef197b..7a9a93f 100644
--- a/src/Actions/GetNodeVersionAction.php
+++ b/src/Actions/GetNodeVersionAction.php
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@ private function resolveVersion(): ?string
 
     protected function resolveVersionFromBinary(): ?string
     {
+        if (! $this->canUseShellExec()) {
+            return null;
+        }
+
         $output = shell_exec('node --version 2>/dev/null');
 
         if (blank($output)) {
@@ -59,4 +63,9 @@ protected function resolveVersionFromBinary(): ?string
 
         return preg_match('/^\d+\.\d+/', $version) ? $version : null;
     }
+
+    protected function canUseShellExec(): bool
+    {
+        return function_exists('shell_exec');
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/GetNodeVersionActionTest.php b/tests/GetNodeVersionActionTest.php
index c453d09..09a1d25 100644
--- a/tests/GetNodeVersionActionTest.php
+++ b/tests/GetNodeVersionActionTest.php
@@ -31,6 +31,27 @@ protected function resolveVersionFromBinary(): ?string
     rmdir($dir);
 });
 
+test('reads version from .nvmrc when shell_exec is disabled', function () {
+    $dir = sys_get_temp_dir().'/kite-sdk-test-'.uniqid();
+    mkdir($dir);
+    file_put_contents($dir.'/.nvmrc', '20.11.0');
+
+    $action = new class($dir) extends GetNodeVersionAction
+    {
+        protected function canUseShellExec(): bool
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+    };
+
+    $result = $action->handle(new Collection, fn ($data) => $data);
+
+    expect($result[0]['value'])->toBe('20.11.0');
+
+    unlink($dir.'/.nvmrc');
+    rmdir($dir);
+});
+
 test('strips leading v from .nvmrc version', function () {
     $dir = sys_get_temp_dir().'/kite-sdk-test-'.uniqid();
     mkdir($dir);