diff --git a/packages/render/src/@types/config-minimal.ts b/packages/render/src/@types/config-minimal.ts
index 5d089ee2c..b334ecac5 100644
--- a/packages/render/src/@types/config-minimal.ts
+++ b/packages/render/src/@types/config-minimal.ts
@@ -2,9 +2,7 @@ import type { Renderer } from './astro';
 
 export interface AstroConfigMinimal {
   /** production website, needed for some RSS & Sitemap functions */
-  origin: string;
-  /** the web request (needed for dynamic routes) */
-  pathname?: string;
+  site: string;
   /** Renderers for SSR */
   renderers?: Renderer[];
 }
diff --git a/packages/render/src/config/index.ts b/packages/render/src/config/index.ts
index 9d63fcecb..73c9495dd 100644
--- a/packages/render/src/config/index.ts
+++ b/packages/render/src/config/index.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 import type { AstroConfigMinimal } from '../@types/config-minimal';
 
-export let config: AstroConfigMinimal | null = null;
+export let config: AstroConfigMinimal = {
+  site: 'https://example.com',
+  renderers: []
+};
 
-export function setConfig(options: AstroConfigMinimal): void {
-  validateConfig(options);
+export function configure(options: AstroConfigMinimal): void {
   if (!config) {
     config = {} as any;
   }
@@ -12,11 +14,3 @@ export function setConfig(options: AstroConfigMinimal): void {
   }
 }
 
-export function validateConfig(config: unknown) {
-  if (!config) {
-    throw new Error(`[Astro]: You must call \`setConfig(value)\` before rendering!`)
-  }
-  if (typeof config !== 'object') {
-    throw new Error(`[Astro]: \`config\` must be of type "object". Found typeof "${typeof config}"!`)
-  }
-}
diff --git a/packages/render/src/index.ts b/packages/render/src/index.ts
index 55dc67f68..3d8493860 100644
--- a/packages/render/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/render/src/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 export type { AstroConfigMinimal } from './@types/config-minimal';
 export type { RenderResult } from './render';
 
-export { setConfig } from './config/index.js';
+export { configure } from './config/index.js';
 export { render } from './render/index.js';
diff --git a/packages/render/src/render/index.ts b/packages/render/src/render/index.ts
index ef01a8a56..9772f3c08 100644
--- a/packages/render/src/render/index.ts
+++ b/packages/render/src/render/index.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import type { AstroComponentFactory } from '../internal'
 
 import { createResult, renderToString, AstroElement } from './utils.js';
-import { config, validateConfig } from '../config/index.js';
+import { config } from '../config/index.js';
 
 export interface RenderResult {
   html: { code: string };
@@ -9,9 +9,8 @@ export interface RenderResult {
   js: AstroElement[];
 }
 
-export async function render(Component: AstroComponentFactory, props: Record<string, any>): Promise<RenderResult> {
-  validateConfig(config);
-  const result = createResult(config!)
+export async function render(Component: AstroComponentFactory, props: Record<string, any>, req: { url: string }): Promise<RenderResult> {
+  const result = createResult(config!, req);
   const template = await renderToString(result, Component, props);
   const styles = Array.from(result.styles).map(({ props, children }: any) => new AstroElement('style', props, children));
   const scripts = Array.from(result.scripts).map(({ props, children }: any) => new AstroElement('script', props, children));
diff --git a/packages/render/src/render/utils.ts b/packages/render/src/render/utils.ts
index 35208c0bf..f43176551 100644
--- a/packages/render/src/render/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/render/src/render/utils.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import type { Renderer } from '../@types/astro';
 import type { AstroConfigMinimal } from '../@types/config-minimal'
 import type { AstroComponentFactory, AstroComponent } from '../internal';
 
-import { defineStyleVars, defineScriptVars, spreadAttributes } from '../internal';
+import { defineStyleVars, defineScriptVars, spreadAttributes } from '../internal/index.js';
 
 export interface CreateResultOptions {
   /** production website, needed for some RSS & Sitemap functions */
@@ -14,15 +14,15 @@ export interface CreateResultOptions {
   renderers?: Renderer[];
 }
 
-export function createResult({ origin, pathname = '/', renderers = [] }: AstroConfigMinimal): SSRResult {
+export function createResult({ site: origin, renderers = [] }: AstroConfigMinimal, req: { url: string }): SSRResult {
   const result: SSRResult = {
       styles: new Set(),
       scripts: new Set(),
       /** This function returns the `Astro` faux-global */
       createAstro(astroGlobal: TopLevelAstro, props: Record<string, any>, slots: Record<string, any> | null) {
         const site = new URL(origin);
-        const url = new URL('.' + pathname, site);
-        const canonicalURL = getCanonicalURL('.' + pathname, origin);
+        const url = new URL(req.url);
+        const canonicalURL = getCanonicalURL(url.pathname, origin);
 
         return {
           __proto__: astroGlobal,
@@ -94,6 +94,6 @@ export async function renderAstroComponent(component: InstanceType<typeof AstroC
 
 export async function renderToString(result: SSRResult, componentFactory: AstroComponentFactory, props: Record<string|number, any>, slots: Record<string, AstroComponentFactory>|null = null) {
   const Component = await componentFactory(result, props, slots);
-  let template = await renderAstroComponent(Component);
+  const template = await renderAstroComponent(Component);
   return template;
 }