diff --git a/.changeset/wild-geckos-rule.md b/.changeset/wild-geckos-rule.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7b89075e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/wild-geckos-rule.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'astro': patch
+---
+
+Fix: show correct stacktrace on dev server errors, instead of cryptic "package.json" error
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-astro-server/index.ts b/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-astro-server/index.ts
index a1d897609..485f16282 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-astro-server/index.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-astro-server/index.ts
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ async function handle500Response(
 	res: http.ServerResponse,
 	err: any
 ) {
-	const pathname = decodeURI(new URL(origin + req.url).pathname);
+	const pathname = decodeURI(new URL('./index.html', origin + req.url).pathname);
 	const html = serverErrorTemplate({
 		statusCode: 500,
 		title: 'Internal Error',
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ async function handle500Response(
 		url: err.url || undefined,
 		stack: stripAnsi(err.stack),
 	});
-	const transformedHtml = await viteServer.transformIndexHtml(pathname, html, pathname);
+	const transformedHtml = await viteServer.transformIndexHtml(pathname, html);
 	writeHtmlResponse(res, 500, transformedHtml);
 }