diff --git a/ark/repo/nodeOptions.js b/ark/repo/nodeOptions.js
index c629a0fdba..c5dfc8f281 100644
--- a/ark/repo/nodeOptions.js
+++ b/ark/repo/nodeOptions.js
@@ -1,14 +1,33 @@
 // @ts-check
 
+/** @param {number} major @returns {string} */
+function getFallbackReason(major) {
+	if (major >= 26) {
+		return "Node.js >= 26 does not allow --experimental-transform-types in NODE_OPTIONS; falling back to tsx..."
+	}
+
+	return "--experimental-transform-types requires Node >= 22.7.0, falling back to tsx..."
+}
+
+/**
+ * @param {number} major
+ * @param {number} minor
+ * @returns {string}
+ */
+function versionedFlagsFor(major, minor) {
+	const useExperimentalTransformTypes =
+		(major > 22 && major < 26) || (major === 22 && minor >= 7)
+	if (useExperimentalTransformTypes) {
+		return "--experimental-transform-types --no-warnings"
+	}
+
+	console.log(getFallbackReason(major))
+	return "--import tsx"
+}
+
 const [major, minor] = process.version.replace("v", "").split(".").map(Number)
 
-const versionedFlags =
-	major > 22 || (major === 22 && minor >= 7) ?
-		"--experimental-transform-types --no-warnings"
-	:	(console.log(
-			"--experimental-transform-types requires Node >= 22.7.0, falling back to tsx..."
-		),
-		"--import tsx")
+const versionedFlags = versionedFlagsFor(major, minor)
 
 export const nodeDevOptions = `${process.env.NODE_OPTIONS ?? ""} --conditions ark-ts ${versionedFlags}`