diff --git a/src/Util/JavaScriptDependencies.js b/src/Util/JavaScriptDependencies.js
index b03658963..7f6e80939 100644
--- a/src/Util/JavaScriptDependencies.js
+++ b/src/Util/JavaScriptDependencies.js
@@ -2,7 +2,13 @@ import dependencyTree from "@11ty/dependency-tree";
 import { find } from "@11ty/dependency-tree-esm";
 import { TemplatePath } from "@11ty/eleventy-utils";
 
+import EleventyBaseError from "../Errors/EleventyBaseError.js";
+
 class JavaScriptDependencies {
+	static getErrorMessage(file, type) {
+		return `A problem was encountered looking for JavaScript dependencies in ${type} file: ${file}. This only affects --watch and --serve behavior and does not affect your build.`;
+	}
+
 	static async getDependencies(inputFiles, isProjectUsingEsm) {
 		let depSet = new Set();
 
@@ -12,15 +18,19 @@ class JavaScriptDependencies {
 		);
 
 		for (let file of commonJsFiles) {
-			let modules = dependencyTree(file, {
-				nodeModuleNames: "exclude",
-				allowNotFound: true,
-			}).map((dependency) => {
-				return TemplatePath.addLeadingDotSlash(TemplatePath.relativePath(dependency));
-			});
-
-			for (let dep of modules) {
-				depSet.add(dep);
+			try {
+				let modules = dependencyTree(file, {
+					nodeModuleNames: "exclude",
+					allowNotFound: true,
+				}).map((dependency) => {
+					return TemplatePath.addLeadingDotSlash(TemplatePath.relativePath(dependency));
+				});
+
+				for (let dep of modules) {
+					depSet.add(dep);
+				}
+			} catch (e) {
+				throw new EleventyBaseError(this.getErrorMessage(file, "CommonJS"), e);
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -28,9 +38,13 @@ class JavaScriptDependencies {
 			(file) => (isProjectUsingEsm && file.endsWith(".js")) || file.endsWith(".mjs"),
 		);
 		for (let file of esmFiles) {
-			let modules = await find(file);
-			for (let dep of modules) {
-				depSet.add(dep);
+			try {
+				let modules = await find(file);
+				for (let dep of modules) {
+					depSet.add(dep);
+				}
+			} catch (e) {
+				throw new EleventyBaseError(this.getErrorMessage(file, "ESM"), e);
 			}
 		}