diff --git a/src/config.ts b/src/config.ts
index 5a8d4c2..35f6c6e 100644
--- a/src/config.ts
+++ b/src/config.ts
@@ -102,12 +102,17 @@ export async function loadConfig(options: {
   const path =
     options.explicitPath ?? findConfigFile(options.cwd ?? process.cwd());
   if (!path) return { config: DEFAULT_CONFIG };
-  const raw = await readFile(resolve(path), "utf8");
+  const absolute = resolve(path);
+  const raw = await readFile(absolute, "utf8");
   let parsed: unknown;
   try {
     parsed = JSON.parse(raw);
   } catch (err) {
-    throw new Error(`Failed to parse config file ${path}: ${(err as Error).message}`);
+    throw new Error(
+      `Failed to parse config file ${absolute}: ${
+        err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)
+      }`,
+    );
   }
   return { config: normalizeConfig(parsed), path };
 }
diff --git a/test/config.test.ts b/test/config.test.ts
index b1b20a2..8eb99bb 100644
--- a/test/config.test.ts
+++ b/test/config.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
 import { normalizeConfig, loadConfig, DEFAULT_CONFIG } from "../src/config.js";
-import { writeFile, rm } from "node:fs/promises";
-import { join } from "node:path";
+import { writeFile, rm, mkdir } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { join, resolve } from "node:path";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 
 describe("normalizeConfig", () => {
@@ -45,16 +45,22 @@ describe("normalizeConfig", () => {
 });
 
 describe("loadConfig", () => {
-  it("wraps JSON syntax errors with the file path", async () => {
-    const tmpFile = join(tmpdir(), `mcp-audit-test-${Math.random()}.json`);
-    await writeFile(tmpFile, "{ invalid json ", "utf8");
+  it("wraps JSON syntax errors with the resolved file path", async () => {
+    const dir = join(tmpdir(), `mcp-audit-test-${Math.random()}`);
+    await mkdir(dir);
+    const relativePath = "broken.json";
+    const absolutePath = resolve(dir, relativePath);
+    await writeFile(absolutePath, "{ invalid json ", "utf8");
+    const previousCwd = process.cwd();
     try {
-      await loadConfig({ explicitPath: tmpFile });
+      process.chdir(dir);
+      await loadConfig({ explicitPath: relativePath });
       expect.fail("Should have thrown");
     } catch (err) {
-      expect((err as Error).message).toContain(tmpFile);
+      expect((err as Error).message).toContain(absolutePath);
     } finally {
-      await rm(tmpFile, { force: true });
+      process.chdir(previousCwd);
+      await rm(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
     }
   });
 });