diff --git a/apps/server/src/review/ReviewService.test.ts b/apps/server/src/review/ReviewService.test.ts
index eb8758b1282..839eb73b2bb 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/review/ReviewService.test.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/review/ReviewService.test.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { assert, describe, it } from "@effect/vitest";
 import * as Effect from "effect/Effect";
 import * as FileSystem from "effect/FileSystem";
 import * as Layer from "effect/Layer";
+import * as PlatformError from "effect/PlatformError";
 
 import { ServerConfig } from "../config.ts";
 import * as GitVcsDriver from "../vcs/GitVcsDriver.ts";
@@ -73,4 +74,27 @@ describe("ReviewService", () => {
       assert.deepStrictEqual(detectCalls, [{ cwd: workspaceRoot }]);
     }).pipe(Effect.provide(NodeServices.layer)),
   );
+
+  it.effect("preserves unexpected path-resolution failures", () =>
+    Effect.gen(function* () {
+      const fs = yield* FileSystem.FileSystem;
+      const workspaceRoot = yield* fs.makeTempDirectoryScoped({ prefix: "t3-review-workspace-" });
+      const baseDir = yield* fs.makeTempDirectoryScoped({ prefix: "t3-review-base-" });
+      const invalidCwd = `${workspaceRoot}\0invalid`;
+      const detectCalls: Array<{ readonly cwd: string }> = [];
+
+      const error = yield* Effect.gen(function* () {
+        const review = yield* ReviewService.ReviewService;
+        return yield* review.getDiffPreview({ cwd: invalidCwd }).pipe(Effect.flip);
+      }).pipe(Effect.provide(makeLayer({ workspaceRoot, baseDir, detectCalls })));
+
+      assert.strictEqual(error._tag, "VcsRepositoryDetectionError");
+      if (error._tag !== "VcsRepositoryDetectionError") return;
+      assert.strictEqual(error.operation, "ReviewService.assertWorkspaceBoundCwd.canonicalizePath");
+      assert.strictEqual(error.cwd, invalidCwd);
+      assert.match(error.detail, /Failed to resolve a path/);
+      assert.instanceOf(error.cause, PlatformError.PlatformError);
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(detectCalls, []);
+    }).pipe(Effect.provide(NodeServices.layer)),
+  );
 });
diff --git a/apps/server/src/review/ReviewService.ts b/apps/server/src/review/ReviewService.ts
index 3f222bd520f..db1dc5bc8d2 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/review/ReviewService.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/review/ReviewService.ts
@@ -33,8 +33,24 @@ export const make = Effect.gen(function* () {
   const vcsRegistry = yield* VcsDriverRegistry.VcsDriverRegistry;
   const git = yield* GitVcsDriver.GitVcsDriver;
 
-  const canonicalizePath = (value: string) =>
-    fileSystem.realPath(path.resolve(value)).pipe(Effect.orElseSucceed(() => path.resolve(value)));
+  const canonicalizePath = (value: string) => {
+    const resolvedPath = path.resolve(value);
+    return fileSystem.realPath(resolvedPath).pipe(
+      Effect.catchTags({
+        PlatformError: (cause) =>
+          cause.reason._tag === "NotFound"
+            ? Effect.succeed(resolvedPath)
+            : Effect.fail(
+                new VcsRepositoryDetectionError({
+                  operation: "ReviewService.assertWorkspaceBoundCwd.canonicalizePath",
+                  cwd: resolvedPath,
+                  detail: "Failed to resolve a path while validating the review workspace.",
+                  cause,
+                }),
+              ),
+      }),
+    );
+  };
 
   const isWithinRoot = (candidate: string, root: string) => {
     const relative = path.relative(root, candidate);