diff --git a/apps/cli/src/app-cli-entry.ts b/apps/cli/src/app-cli-entry.ts
index 54ade122c7..218df73530 100644
--- a/apps/cli/src/app-cli-entry.ts
+++ b/apps/cli/src/app-cli-entry.ts
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ export class AppCLIEntry {
     try {
       return require.resolve('@deepseek-ai/dsh-frontend/dist/index.html')
     } catch {
-      throw new Error('dsh: frontend dist not built; run pnpm --filter @deepseek-ai/dsh-frontend build first')
+      throw new Error('dsh: frontend dist not built; run pnpm run build from the repository root first')
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/apps/web/tests/support.ts b/apps/web/tests/support.ts
index 4ccc18de9f..e42628c15b 100644
--- a/apps/web/tests/support.ts
+++ b/apps/web/tests/support.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ export async function newEnglishPage(browser: Browser, height = 1000): Promise<P
 /** Fail loud on a stale checkout instead of testing yesterday's bundle. */
 export function requireDist(): void {
   if (!existsSync(DIST_INDEX)) {
-    throw new Error('web app dist not built — run `pnpm --filter @deepseek-ai/dsh-frontend build` (pnpm run test:web does this first)')
+    throw new Error('web app dist not built — run `pnpm run build` from the repository root (`pnpm run test:web` does this first)')
   }
 }