diff --git a/packages/cli/lib/commands/upgrade.ts b/packages/cli/lib/commands/upgrade.ts
index 873b96a2b..4683e2cde 100644
--- a/packages/cli/lib/commands/upgrade.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/lib/commands/upgrade.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,14 @@
-import { App, BaseTemplateManager, GoogleAnalytics, ProjectConfig, TEMPLATE_MANAGER, type ProjectTemplate, Util } from "@igniteui/cli-core";
+import { App, BaseTemplateManager, detectFrameworkFromPackageJson, GoogleAnalytics, ProjectConfig, TEMPLATE_MANAGER,
+	type ProjectTemplate, Util } from "@igniteui/cli-core";
 import { PositionalArgs, UpgradeCommandType } from "./types";
 import { ArgumentsCamelCase } from "yargs";
 
+const FRAMEWORK_PROJECT_TYPE_MAP: Record<string, string> = {
+	angular: "igx-ts",
+	react: "igr-ts",
+	webcomponents: "igc-ts"
+};
+
 const command: UpgradeCommandType = {
 	command: "upgrade-packages",
 	aliases: ["upgrade"],
@@ -25,8 +32,23 @@ const command: UpgradeCommandType = {
 	},
 	async upgrade(argv: ArgumentsCamelCase<PositionalArgs>) {
 		const config = ProjectConfig.getConfig();
-		const framework = config.project.framework;
-		const projectType = config.project.projectType;
+		let framework = config.project?.framework;
+		let projectType = config.project?.projectType;
+
+		if (!framework) {
+			const detected = detectFrameworkFromPackageJson();
+			if (!detected) {
+				Util.log("Unable to determine the project framework. " +
+					"Please ensure you are running this command in a project directory with a package.json file, " +
+					"or create an ignite-ui-cli.json configuration file.", "yellow");
+				return;
+			}
+			framework = detected;
+		}
+
+		if (!projectType) {
+			projectType = FRAMEWORK_PROJECT_TYPE_MAP[framework.toLowerCase()] || "";
+		}
 
 		switch (framework.toLowerCase()) {
 			case "jquery":
@@ -39,7 +61,7 @@ const command: UpgradeCommandType = {
 					const templateManager = App.container.get<BaseTemplateManager>(TEMPLATE_MANAGER);
 					const projectLibrary = templateManager.getProjectLibrary(framework, projectType);
 					let project: ProjectTemplate;
-					if (!config.project.projectTemplate || !projectLibrary.hasProject(config.project.projectTemplate)) {
+					if (!config.project?.projectTemplate || !projectLibrary.hasProject(config.project.projectTemplate)) {
 						// in case project template is missing from the config we provide backward.
 						project = projectLibrary.getProject(projectLibrary.projectIds[0]);
 					} else {
diff --git a/spec/unit/upgrade-spec.ts b/spec/unit/upgrade-spec.ts
index 051b7ee15..8b1cc4964 100644
--- a/spec/unit/upgrade-spec.ts
+++ b/spec/unit/upgrade-spec.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import {
 	App, BaseTemplate, BaseTemplateManager, Config, GoogleAnalytics, PackageManager, ProjectConfig,
 	ProjectLibrary, ProjectTemplate, Template, TEMPLATE_MANAGER, Util
 } from "@igniteui/cli-core";
+import * as detectFrameworkModule from "../../packages/core/util/detect-framework";
 
 import { default as upgradeCmd } from "../../packages/cli/lib/commands/upgrade";
 
@@ -144,4 +145,54 @@ describe("Unit - Upgrade command", () => {
 		await upgradeCmd.handler({ _: ["upgrade"], $0: "upgrade" });
 		expect(Util.log).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
 	});
+
+	it("Should auto-detect framework from package.json when config has no project", async () => {
+		const config = {} as Config;
+		spyOn(ProjectConfig, "getConfig").and.returnValue(config);
+		spyOn(detectFrameworkModule, "detectFrameworkFromPackageJson").and.returnValue("react");
+
+		const mockProjTemplate: ProjectTemplate = {
+			id: "mock",
+			name: "mock",
+			description: "mock",
+			delimiters: { content: { start: "{{", end: "}}" }, path: { start: "[[", end: "]]" } },
+			dependencies: [],
+			framework: "react",
+			projectType: "igr-ts",
+			hasExtraConfiguration: false,
+			isHidden: false,
+			templatePaths: [],
+			generateConfig: jasmine.createSpy().and.returnValue({}),
+			getExtraConfiguration: jasmine.createSpy().and.returnValue([]),
+			setExtraConfiguration: jasmine.createSpy(),
+			installModules: jasmine.createSpy(),
+			upgradeIgniteUIPackages: jasmine.createSpy().and.returnValue(Promise.resolve(true))
+		};
+
+		const mockProjLib: Partial<ProjectLibrary> = {
+			projectIds: ["default-project"],
+			getProject: jasmine.createSpy().and.returnValue(mockProjTemplate),
+			hasProject: jasmine.createSpy().and.returnValue(false)
+		};
+
+		const mockTemplateManager: Partial<BaseTemplateManager> = { getProjectLibrary: () => null };
+		App.container.set(TEMPLATE_MANAGER, mockTemplateManager);
+		spyOn(mockTemplateManager, "getProjectLibrary").and.returnValue(mockProjLib as ProjectLibrary);
+
+		await upgradeCmd.handler({ skipInstall: true, _: ["upgrade"], $0: "upgrade" });
+		expect(detectFrameworkModule.detectFrameworkFromPackageJson).toHaveBeenCalled();
+		expect(mockTemplateManager.getProjectLibrary).toHaveBeenCalledWith("react", "igr-ts");
+		expect(mockProjTemplate.upgradeIgniteUIPackages).toHaveBeenCalledWith(process.cwd(), "");
+	});
+
+	it("Should log a message when no framework can be detected", async () => {
+		const config = {} as Config;
+		spyOn(ProjectConfig, "getConfig").and.returnValue(config);
+		spyOn(detectFrameworkModule, "detectFrameworkFromPackageJson").and.returnValue(null);
+
+		await upgradeCmd.handler({ _: ["upgrade"], $0: "upgrade" });
+		expect(Util.log).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+			jasmine.stringMatching(/Unable to determine the project framework/), "yellow"
+		);
+	});
 });