diff --git a/cli/main.rs b/cli/main.rs
index 1fb942963d633..e9fbeba5b3bdd 100644
--- a/cli/main.rs
+++ b/cli/main.rs
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ use crate::tools::check;
 
 use args::CliOptions;
 use deno_ast::MediaType;
+use deno_core::anyhow::bail;
 use deno_core::error::generic_error;
 use deno_core::error::AnyError;
 use deno_core::error::JsError;
@@ -256,6 +257,21 @@ async fn compile_command(
 
   graph.valid().unwrap();
 
+  // at the moment, we don't support npm specifiers in deno_compile, so show an error
+  let first_npm_specifier = graph
+    .specifiers()
+    .values()
+    .filter_map(|r| match r {
+      Ok((specifier, kind, _)) if *kind == deno_graph::ModuleKind::External => {
+        Some(specifier.clone())
+      }
+      _ => None,
+    })
+    .next();
+  if let Some(npm_specifier) = first_npm_specifier {
+    bail!("npm specifiers have not yet been implemented for deno compile (https://github.com/denoland/deno/issues/15960). Found: {}", npm_specifier)
+  }
+
   let parser = ps.parsed_source_cache.as_capturing_parser();
   let eszip = eszip::EszipV2::from_graph(graph, &parser, Default::default())?;
 
diff --git a/cli/tests/integration/npm_tests.rs b/cli/tests/integration/npm_tests.rs
index 8fa79d06cdc96..722cbdb39186b 100644
--- a/cli/tests/integration/npm_tests.rs
+++ b/cli/tests/integration/npm_tests.rs
@@ -711,6 +711,14 @@ fn ensure_registry_files_local() {
   }
 }
 
+itest!(compile_errors {
+  args: "compile -A --quiet --unstable npm/esm/main.js",
+  output_str: Some("error: npm specifiers have not yet been implemented for deno compile (https://github.com/denoland/deno/issues/15960). Found: npm:chalk@5\n"),
+  exit_code: 1,
+  envs: env_vars(),
+  http_server: true,
+});
+
 fn env_vars_no_sync_download() -> Vec<(String, String)> {
   vec![
     ("DENO_NODE_COMPAT_URL".to_string(), util::std_file_url()),