diff --git a/kicad/kicad_cli.cpp b/kicad/kicad_cli.cpp
index b045438116..68d42d5ac4 100644
--- a/kicad/kicad_cli.cpp
+++ b/kicad/kicad_cli.cpp
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
 #include <systemdirsappend.h>
 #include <trace_helpers.h>
 
+#include <cctype>
+#include <set>
 #include <stdexcept>
 
 #include "pgm_kicad.h"
@@ -297,6 +299,74 @@ static void printHelp( argparse::ArgumentParser& argParser )
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * Check if a string looks like a numeric vector value that happens to start with a minus sign.
+ *
+ * This handles values like "-45,0,45" or "-3.5,0,1.2" which are valid vector arguments
+ * but get misinterpreted by argparse as unknown options because they start with '-'.
+ */
+static bool looksLikeNegativeVectorValue( const std::string& aValue )
+{
+    if( aValue.empty() || aValue[0] != '-' )
+        return false;
+
+    if( aValue.find( ',' ) == std::string::npos )
+        return false;
+
+    for( size_t i = 1; i < aValue.size(); ++i )
+    {
+        char c = aValue[i];
+
+        if( !std::isdigit( c ) && c != '.' && c != ',' && c != '-' && c != '+' )
+            return false;
+    }
+
+    return true;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * Pre-process command line arguments to handle negative numeric values.
+ *
+ * The argparse library interprets values starting with '-' as option flags.
+ * For arguments that accept vector values (like --rotate, --pan, --pivot),
+ * we wrap negative values in single quotes to prevent argparse from treating
+ * them as options. The parsing code in command_pcb_render.cpp already strips
+ * these quotes via getToVector3().
+ *
+ * Example: "--rotate -45,0,45" becomes "--rotate='-45,0,45'"
+ */
+static std::vector<std::string> preprocessArgs( int argc, char** argv )
+{
+    std::vector<std::string> result;
+
+    static const std::set<std::string> vectorArgs = {
+        "--rotate", "--pan", "--pivot"
+    };
+
+    for( int i = 0; i < argc; ++i )
+    {
+        std::string current( argv[i] );
+
+        if( vectorArgs.count( current ) && i + 1 < argc )
+        {
+            std::string next( argv[i + 1] );
+
+            if( looksLikeNegativeVectorValue( next ) )
+            {
+                result.push_back( current + "='" + next + "'" );
+                ++i;
+                continue;
+            }
+        }
+
+        result.push_back( current );
+    }
+
+    return result;
+}
+
+
 bool PGM_KICAD::OnPgmInit()
 {
     PGM_BASE::BuildArgvUtf8();
@@ -349,7 +419,11 @@ int PGM_KICAD::OnPgmRun()
         // Use the C locale to parse arguments
         // Otherwise the decimal separator for the locale will be applied
         LOCALE_IO dummy;
-        argParser.parse_args( m_argcUtf8, m_argvUtf8 );
+
+        // Pre-process arguments to handle negative vector values (e.g., --rotate -45,0,45)
+        // which argparse would otherwise interpret as unknown options
+        std::vector<std::string> args = preprocessArgs( m_argcUtf8, m_argvUtf8 );
+        argParser.parse_args( args );
     }
     // std::runtime_error doesn't seem to be enough for the scan<>()
     catch( const std::exception& err )