diff --git a/components/yaml.js b/components/yaml.js
index 43037be82..26449a692 100644
--- a/components/yaml.js
+++ b/components/yaml.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
+const exists = require('../utils/exists-sync');
 const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
 const yaml = require('js-yaml');
@@ -43,7 +44,7 @@ const fileloader = {
     if (!path.isAbsolute(input.file)) input.file = findFile(input.file, this.base);
 
     // Otherwise check the path exists
-    return fs.existsSync(input.file);
+    return exists(input.file);
   },
   construct: function(data) {
     // transform data
diff --git a/hooks/lando-copy-v3-scripts.js b/hooks/lando-copy-v3-scripts.js
index e378e352c..8e17ca71d 100644
--- a/hooks/lando-copy-v3-scripts.js
+++ b/hooks/lando-copy-v3-scripts.js
@@ -3,9 +3,12 @@
 const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
 
+const exists = require('../utils/exists-sync');
+
 module.exports = async lando => {
   return lando.Promise.map(lando.config.plugins, plugin => {
-    if (fs.existsSync(plugin.scripts)) {
+    // @NOTE: plugin.scripts is undefined for plugins that do not ship scripts
+    if (exists(plugin.scripts)) {
       const confDir = path.join(lando.config.userConfRoot, 'scripts');
       const dest = require('../utils/move-config')(plugin.scripts, confDir);
       require('../utils/make-executable')(fs.readdirSync(dest), dest);
diff --git a/hooks/lando-generate-tasks-cache.js b/hooks/lando-generate-tasks-cache.js
index 728553d5b..91b371e33 100644
--- a/hooks/lando-generate-tasks-cache.js
+++ b/hooks/lando-generate-tasks-cache.js
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ const _ = require('lodash');
 const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
 
+const exists = require('../utils/exists-sync');
+
 module.exports = async lando => {
   // load in legacy inits
   await require('./lando-load-legacy-inits')(lando);
@@ -11,7 +13,7 @@ module.exports = async lando => {
   // build the cache
   return lando.Promise.resolve(lando.config.plugins)
     // Make sure the tasks dir exists
-    .filter(plugin => fs.existsSync(plugin.tasks))
+    .filter(plugin => exists(plugin.tasks))
     // Get a list off full js files that exist in that dir
     .map(plugin => _(fs.readdirSync(plugin.tasks))
       .map(file => path.join(plugin.tasks, file))
diff --git a/hooks/lando-load-legacy-inits.js b/hooks/lando-load-legacy-inits.js
index 14eab002e..3abd37348 100644
--- a/hooks/lando-load-legacy-inits.js
+++ b/hooks/lando-load-legacy-inits.js
@@ -5,23 +5,27 @@ const fs = require('fs');
 const glob = require('glob');
 const path = require('path');
 
+// @NOTE: dirs are plucked off of the plugin objects so they are undefined for any plugin that
+// does not have that particular dir, hence the permissive exists check
+const exists = require('../utils/exists-sync');
+
 // Helper to get init config
 const getLegacyInitConfig = dirs => _(dirs)
-  .filter(dir => fs.existsSync(dir))
+  .filter(dir => exists(dir))
   .flatMap(dir => glob.sync(path.join(dir, '*', 'init.js')))
   .map(file => require(file))
   .value();
 
 // Helper to get init config
 const getInitConfig = dirs => _(dirs)
-  .filter(dir => fs.existsSync(dir))
+  .filter(dir => exists(dir))
   .flatMap(dir => fs.readdirSync(dir).map(file => path.join(dir, file)))
   .map(file => require(file))
   .value();
 
 // Helper to get init source config
 const getInitSourceConfig = dirs => _(dirs)
-  .filter(dir => fs.existsSync(dir))
+  .filter(dir => exists(dir))
   .flatMap(dir => glob.sync(path.join(dir, '*.js')))
   .map(file => require(file))
   .flatMap(source => source.sources)
diff --git a/lib/docker.js b/lib/docker.js
index c38325471..a061316fa 100644
--- a/lib/docker.js
+++ b/lib/docker.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 // Modules
 const _ = require('lodash');
 const Dockerode = require('dockerode');
-const fs = require('fs');
+const exists = require('../utils/exists-sync');
 const Promise = require('./promise');
 
 /*
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ const containerOpt = (container, method, message, opts = {}) => container[method
 /*
  * Helper to determine files exists in an array of files
  */
-const srcExists = (files = []) => _.reduce(files, (exists, file) => fs.existsSync(file) || exists, false);
+const srcExists = (files = []) => _.reduce(files, (found, file) => exists(file) || found, false);
 
 /*
  * Creates a new yaml instance.
diff --git a/lib/engine.js b/lib/engine.js
index b86c919b4..79abbc919 100644
--- a/lib/engine.js
+++ b/lib/engine.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 // Modules
 const _ = require('lodash');
-const fs = require('fs');
+const exists = require('../utils/exists-sync');
 const LandoDaemon = require('./daemon');
 const Landerode = require('./docker');
 const router = require('./router');
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ module.exports = class Engine {
       run,
     );
     // Determine install status
-    this.composeInstalled = fs.existsSync(config.orchestratorBin);
+    this.composeInstalled = exists(config.orchestratorBin);
     this.dockerInstalled = this.daemon.docker !== false;
 
     // set the compose separator
diff --git a/lib/lando.js b/lib/lando.js
index 3403e5c08..7f51f0227 100644
--- a/lib/lando.js
+++ b/lib/lando.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 'use strict';
 
 const _ = require('lodash');
+const exists = require('../utils/exists-sync');
 const fs = require('fs');
 const glob = require('glob');
 const path = require('path');
@@ -136,7 +137,7 @@ const bootstrapApp = lando => {
   // start with legacy builder discovery
   const legacyBuilders = _(['compose', 'types', 'services', 'recipes'])
     .flatMap(type => _.map(lando.config.plugins, plugin => plugin[type]))
-    .filter(dir => fs.existsSync(dir))
+    .filter(dir => exists(dir))
     .flatMap(dir => glob.sync(path.join(dir, '*', 'builder.js')))
     .map(file => lando.factory.add(file).name)
     .value();
@@ -145,7 +146,7 @@ const bootstrapApp = lando => {
   // then move to legacy builders we can lazy load from builders
   const legacyItems = _(['builders'])
     .flatMap(type => _.map(lando.config.plugins, plugin => plugin[type]))
-    .filter(dir => fs.existsSync(dir))
+    .filter(dir => exists(dir))
     .flatMap(dir => fs.readdirSync(dir).map(file => path.join(dir, file)))
     .map(file => lando.factory.add(file))
     .value();
diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index 9f9a80828..e224129f7 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ module.exports = {
   // these are new and useful v4 thing
   debugShim: (...args) => require('../utils/debug-shim')(...args),
   downloadX: (...args) => require('../utils/download-x')(...args),
+  existsSync: (...args) => require('../utils/exists-sync')(...args),
   getAxios: (...args) => require('../utils/get-axios')(...args),
   getJsYaml: () => require('js-yaml'),
   getLodash: () => require('lodash'),
diff --git a/test/exists-sync.spec.js b/test/exists-sync.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9ff4142f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/exists-sync.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+/*
+ * Tests for utils/exists-sync.
+ * @file exists-sync.spec.js
+ */
+
+'use strict';
+
+// Setup chai.
+const chai = require('chai');
+const expect = chai.expect;
+chai.should();
+
+const fs = require('fs');
+const os = require('os');
+const path = require('path');
+const {execFileSync} = require('child_process');
+
+// Get the module to test
+const exists = require('../utils/exists-sync');
+
+// node >=24 emits DEP0187 when fs.existsSync gets a non path-like arg
+const isNode24 = Number(process.versions.node.split('.')[0]) >= 24;
+
+// helper to run a snippet in a child process with deprecations promoted to throws
+// @NOTE: node only emits a given deprecation once per process so we cannot reliably assert on
+// this from inside the shared mocha process
+const runStrict = code => execFileSync(process.execPath, ['--throw-deprecation', '-e', code], {
+  cwd: path.resolve(__dirname, '..'),
+  encoding: 'utf8',
+  stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
+});
+
+describe('exists-sync', () => {
+  const realFile = path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'lando-exists-sync-test.txt');
+
+  before(() => fs.writeFileSync(realFile, 'lando'));
+  after(() => fs.rmSync(realFile, {force: true}));
+
+  it('should return false for non path-like values instead of throwing or warning', () => {
+    const invalids = [undefined, null, {}, {file: '/tmp'}, [], ['/tmp'], 42, true, false, NaN, () => {}];
+    for (const invalid of invalids) {
+      expect(exists(invalid), `expected false for ${String(invalid)}`).to.equal(false);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('should behave like fs.existsSync for path-like values', () => {
+    expect(exists(realFile)).to.equal(true);
+    expect(exists(Buffer.from(realFile))).to.equal(true);
+    expect(exists(new URL(`file://${realFile}`))).to.equal(true);
+
+    const missing = path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'lando-exists-sync-nope.txt');
+    expect(exists(missing)).to.equal(false);
+    expect(exists(Buffer.from(missing))).to.equal(false);
+    expect(exists(new URL(`file://${missing}`))).to.equal(false);
+  });
+
+  it('should not emit a DEP0187 deprecation warning for invalid values', () => {
+    const code = `
+      const exists = require('./utils/exists-sync');
+      for (const bad of [undefined, null, {}, [], 42, true]) {
+        if (exists(bad) !== false) throw new Error('expected false for ' + String(bad));
+      }
+    `;
+    expect(() => runStrict(code)).to.not.throw();
+  });
+
+  // this guards the guard, if node ever stops warning here the test above stops proving anything
+  (isNode24 ? it : it.skip)('should be verifiably avoiding a real fs.existsSync deprecation', () => {
+    expect(() => runStrict(`require('fs').existsSync(undefined)`)).to.throw(/DeprecationWarning/);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/utils/exists-sync.js b/utils/exists-sync.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cac4e4960
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/exists-sync.js
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const fs = require('fs');
+
+/**
+ * Permissive fs.existsSync().
+ *
+ * Node >=24 emits a DEP0187 deprecation warning when fs.existsSync() is handed anything that is
+ * not a string, Buffer or URL. Lando has a bunch of call sites that are legitimately permissive
+ * eg they pluck optional keys off of plugin/config objects and just want a "is there a file
+ * there?" answer. This restores the pre-24 behavior of quietly returning false for those.
+ *
+ * @param {*} file - The thing to check, may be anything
+ * @return {boolean} Whether file is a path that exists
+ */
+module.exports = file => {
+  // bail on anything fs.existsSync() would warn about
+  if (typeof file !== 'string' && !Buffer.isBuffer(file) && !(file instanceof URL)) return false;
+  // otherwise defer to node
+  return fs.existsSync(file);
+};
diff --git a/utils/get-passphraseless-keys.js b/utils/get-passphraseless-keys.js
index f6d5d47b9..038118b69 100644
--- a/utils/get-passphraseless-keys.js
+++ b/utils/get-passphraseless-keys.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
+const exists = require('./exists-sync');
 const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
 const read = require('./read-file');
@@ -37,7 +38,8 @@ module.exports = (paths = []) => {
 
   // now lets try to find all the private keys without passphrases
   return paths
-    .filter(path => fs.existsSync(path))
+    // @NOTE: paths comes from user config so it can contain basically anything
+    .filter(path => exists(path))
     .map(path => fs.statSync(path).isDirectory() ? getAllFiles(path) : path)
     .flat(Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY)
     .map(file => ({file, contents: read(file)}))
diff --git a/utils/get-plugin-config.js b/utils/get-plugin-config.js
index ac0d07086..37c59a936 100644
--- a/utils/get-plugin-config.js
+++ b/utils/get-plugin-config.js
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 'use strict';
 
-const fs = require('fs');
+const exists = require('./exists-sync');
 const merge = require('lodash/merge');
 const read = require('./read-file');
 
 module.exports = (file, config = {}) => {
   // if config file exists then rebase config on top of it
-  if (fs.existsSync(file)) return merge({}, read(file), config);
+  if (exists(file)) return merge({}, read(file), config);
   // otherwise return config alone
   return config;
 };
diff --git a/utils/get-tasks.js b/utils/get-tasks.js
index 3ae593808..7ba280199 100644
--- a/utils/get-tasks.js
+++ b/utils/get-tasks.js
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ const _ = require('lodash');
 const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
 
+// @NOTE: the various caches below are all optional config keys so they may be undefined
+const exists = require('./exists-sync');
+
 /*
  * Paths to /
  */
@@ -21,7 +24,7 @@ const pathsToRoot = (startFrom = process.cwd()) => {
 const getBsLevel = (config, command) => {
   if (_.has(config, `tooling.${command}.level`)) return config.tooling[command].level;
   else if (_.find(config.tooling, {id: command}).level) return _.find(config.tooling, {id: command}).level;
-  else return (!fs.existsSync(config.composeCache)) ? 'app' : 'engine';
+  else return (!exists(config.composeCache)) ? 'app' : 'engine';
 };
 
 /*
@@ -99,12 +102,12 @@ const engineRunner = (config, command) => (argv, lando) => {
 
 module.exports = (config = {}, argv = {}, tasks = []) => {
   // merge in recipe cache config first
-  if (fs.existsSync(config.recipeCache) && _.has(config, 'recipe')) {
+  if (exists(config.recipeCache) && _.has(config, 'recipe')) {
     config = _.merge({}, JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(config.recipeCache, {encoding: 'utf-8'})), config);
   }
 
   // If we have a tooling router lets rebase on that
-  if (fs.existsSync(config.toolingRouter)) {
+  if (exists(config.toolingRouter)) {
     // Get the closest route
     const closestRoute = _(loadCacheFile(config.toolingRouter))
       .map(route => _.merge({}, route, {
@@ -153,7 +156,7 @@ module.exports = (config = {}, argv = {}, tasks = []) => {
   const coreTasks = _(loadCacheFile(process.landoTaskCacheFile)).map(t => ([t.command, t])).fromPairs().value();
 
   // mix in any relevant compose cache things
-  if (fs.existsSync(config.composeCache)) {
+  if (exists(config.composeCache)) {
     try {
       const composeCache = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(config.composeCache, {encoding: 'utf-8'}));
 
diff --git a/utils/load-config-files.js b/utils/load-config-files.js
index 923291de2..819172b39 100644
--- a/utils/load-config-files.js
+++ b/utils/load-config-files.js
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
 const yaml = require('../components/yaml');
 
+const exists = require('./exists-sync');
+
 /*
  * @TODO
  */
@@ -49,7 +51,7 @@ const normalizePlugins = (plugins = [], baseDir = __dirname) => _(plugins)
 
 module.exports = files => _(files)
   // Filter the source out if it doesn't exist
-  .filter(source => fs.existsSync(source) || fs.existsSync(source.file))
+  .filter(source => exists(source) || exists(source.file))
   // If the file is just a string lets map it to an object
   .map(source => {
     return _.isString(source) ? {file: source, data: yaml.load(fs.readFileSync(source)) || {}} : source;
diff --git a/utils/load-file.js b/utils/load-file.js
index 3d6a34614..69b9f50ef 100644
--- a/utils/load-file.js
+++ b/utils/load-file.js
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 'use strict';
 
-const fs = require('fs');
+const exists = require('./exists-sync');
 
 module.exports = file => {
   // if the file doesnt exist then return an empty object
-  if (!fs.existsSync(file)) return {};
+  if (!exists(file)) return {};
   // otherwise load the file and return it
   return require('./read-file')(file);
 };