diff --git a/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/api/operations.py b/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/api/operations.py
index 64424eff9c557..9c492022221bb 100644
--- a/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/api/operations.py
+++ b/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/api/operations.py
@@ -608,32 +608,33 @@ def list(
         dag_id: str | None = None,
     ) -> DAGRunCollectionResponse | ServerResponseError:
         """
-        List all dag runs.
+        List dag runs (at most `limit` results).
 
         Args:
             state: Filter dag runs by state
             start_date: Filter dag runs by start date (optional)
             end_date: Filter dag runs by end date (optional)
-            state: Filter dag runs by state
-            limit: Limit the number of results
+            limit: Limit the number of results returned
             dag_id: The DAG ID to filter by. If None, retrieves dag runs for all DAGs (using "~").
         """
         # Use "~" for all DAGs if dag_id is not specified
         if not dag_id:
             dag_id = "~"
 
-        params: dict[str, object] = {
-            "state": state,
+        params: dict[str, Any] = {
+            "state": str(state),
             "limit": limit,
         }
         if start_date is not None:
-            params["start_date"] = start_date
+            params["start_date"] = start_date.isoformat()
         if end_date is not None:
-            params["end_date"] = end_date
+            params["end_date"] = end_date.isoformat()
 
-        return super().execute_list(
-            path=f"/dags/{dag_id}/dagRuns", data_model=DAGRunCollectionResponse, params=params
-        )
+        try:
+            self.response = self.client.get(f"/dags/{dag_id}/dagRuns", params=params)
+            return DAGRunCollectionResponse.model_validate_json(self.response.content)
+        except ServerResponseError as e:
+            raise e
 
 
 class JobsOperations(BaseOperations):
diff --git a/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/api/test_operations.py b/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/api/test_operations.py
index f75a3c9678fd2..8254409863261 100644
--- a/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/api/test_operations.py
+++ b/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/api/test_operations.py
@@ -1064,44 +1064,63 @@ def handle_request(request: httpx.Request) -> httpx.Response:
         )
         assert response == self.dag_run_collection_response
 
-    def test_list_all_dags(self):
-        """Test listing dag runs for all DAGs using default dag_id='~'."""
-
-        def handle_request(request: httpx.Request) -> httpx.Response:
-            # When dag_id is "~", it should query all DAGs
-            assert request.url.path == "/api/v2/dags/~/dagRuns"
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        (
+            "dag_id_input",
+            "state",
+            "limit",
+            "start_date",
+            "end_date",
+            "expected_path_suffix",
+            "expected_params_subset",
+        ),
+        [
+            # Test --limit with various values and configurations (covers CLI --limit flag)
+            ("dag1", "queued", 5, None, None, "dag1", {"state": "queued", "limit": "5"}),
+            (None, "running", 1, None, None, "~", {"state": "running", "limit": "1"}),
+            (
+                "example_dag",
+                "success",
+                10,
+                None,
+                None,
+                "example_dag",
+                {"state": "success", "limit": "10"},
+            ),
+            ("dag2", "failed", 0, None, None, "dag2", {"state": "failed", "limit": "0"}),
+        ],
+        ids=["limit-5", "all-dags-limit-1", "string-state-limit-10", "limit-zero"],
+    )
+    def test_list_with_various_limits(
+        self,
+        dag_id_input: str | None,
+        state: str | DagRunState,
+        limit: int,
+        start_date: datetime.datetime | None,
+        end_date: datetime.datetime | None,
+        expected_path_suffix: str,
+        expected_params_subset: dict,
+    ) -> None:
+        """Test listing dag runs with various limit values (especially --limit flag)."""
+
+        def handle_request(request: httpx.Request) -> httpx.Response:
+            assert request.url.path.endswith(f"/dags/{expected_path_suffix}/dagRuns")
+            params = dict(request.url.params)
+            for key, value in expected_params_subset.items():
+                assert key in params
+                assert str(params[key]) == str(value)
             return httpx.Response(200, json=json.loads(self.dag_run_collection_response.model_dump_json()))
 
         client = make_api_client(transport=httpx.MockTransport(handle_request))
-        # Call without specifying dag_id - should use default "~"
         response = client.dag_runs.list(
-            start_date=datetime.datetime(2025, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0),
-            end_date=datetime.datetime(2025, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0),
-            state="running",
-            limit=1,
+            state=state,
+            limit=limit,
+            start_date=start_date,
+            end_date=end_date,
+            dag_id=dag_id_input,
         )
         assert response == self.dag_run_collection_response
 
-    def test_list_with_optional_parameters(self):
-        """Test listing dag runs with only some optional parameters."""
-
-        def handle_request(request: httpx.Request) -> httpx.Response:
-            assert request.url.path == "/api/v2/dags/dag1/dagRuns"
-            # Verify that only state and limit are in query params
-            params = dict(request.url.params)
-            assert "state" in params
-            assert params["state"] == "queued"
-            assert "limit" in params
-            assert params["limit"] == "5"
-            # start_date and end_date should not be present
-            assert "start_date" not in params
-            assert "end_date" not in params
-            return httpx.Response(200, json=json.loads(self.dag_run_collection_response.model_dump_json()))
-
-        client = make_api_client(transport=httpx.MockTransport(handle_request))
-        response = client.dag_runs.list(state="queued", limit=5, dag_id="dag1")
-        assert response == self.dag_run_collection_response
-
 
 class TestJobsOperations:
     job_response = JobResponse(
