diff --git a/packages/mcp-server/src/utils/load-file-uploads.ts b/packages/mcp-server/src/utils/load-file-uploads.ts
index 97507f0db6..a902696438 100644
--- a/packages/mcp-server/src/utils/load-file-uploads.ts
+++ b/packages/mcp-server/src/utils/load-file-uploads.ts
@@ -36,9 +36,11 @@ export default async function loadFileUploads(
   } catch (error) {
     // "cannot find it" and "it ran and failed" send the operator to different places, and only the
     // first is about the path they configured.
+    // The quoted name, not the whole message: a module whose own dependency is missing reports
+    // MODULE_NOT_FOUND too, with the resolved path in the require stack rather than as the subject.
     const absent =
       (error as NodeJS.ErrnoException)?.code === 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND' &&
-      String((error as Error)?.message).includes(resolved);
+      String((error as Error)?.message).includes(`'${resolved}'`);
 
     throw withCause(
       absent
diff --git a/packages/mcp-server/test/utils/load-file-uploads.test.ts b/packages/mcp-server/test/utils/load-file-uploads.test.ts
index 59930c0503..8eec8107c2 100644
--- a/packages/mcp-server/test/utils/load-file-uploads.test.ts
+++ b/packages/mcp-server/test/utils/load-file-uploads.test.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,16 @@ describe('loadFileUploads', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it('blames the dependency, not the path, when the module requires something missing', async () => {
+    const file = writeModule(`require('@this/does-not-exist');`);
+
+    const error = (await loadFileUploads(file).catch((e: Error) => e)) as Error;
+
+    expect(error.message).toContain('failed while loading');
+    expect(error.message).toContain("Cannot find module '@this/does-not-exist'");
+    expect(error.message).not.toContain('was not found');
+  });
+
   it('names the module and the resolved path when it cannot be found', async () => {
     await expect(loadFileUploads('./does-not-exist.js')).rejects.toThrow(
       /"\.\/does-not-exist\.js" was not found \(resolved to .+\)/,