diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
index 1fcde0b7..85b26f8f 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- Fixed SDK embedding in bundled Node apps failing with `ENOENT` when `package.json` is not present next to the bundle entrypoint. The package metadata reader now gracefully handles missing `package.json` by using defaults, enabling `createAgentSession()` without requiring package-adjacent files at runtime ([#5226](https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/issues/5226)).
 - Fixed HTTP timeout setting not being respected for non-Codex providers (e.g., llama.cpp via OpenAI-compatible API). The `httpIdleTimeoutMs` setting (set via `/settings` HTTP timeout) now applies as the default SDK request timeout for all providers that support it, not just OpenAI Codex Responses. Disabling the timeout (HTTP timeout = false) now correctly disables SDK timeouts for all supported providers by sending a maximum int32 value (effectively infinite) instead of 0, since SDKs treat timeout=0 as an immediate timeout ([#5294](https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/issues/5294)).
 - Fixed opening and listing very large JSONL session files by reading session entries line-by-line instead of materializing the full file as one string ([#5231](https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/issues/5231)).
 
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/config.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/config.ts
index 01ec8f8e..65fb220e 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/config.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/config.ts
@@ -452,7 +452,13 @@ interface PackageJson {
 	};
 }
 
-const pkg = JSON.parse(readFileSync(getPackageJsonPath(), "utf-8")) as PackageJson;
+let pkg: PackageJson = {};
+try {
+	pkg = JSON.parse(readFileSync(getPackageJsonPath(), "utf-8")) as PackageJson;
+} catch (e: unknown) {
+	const err = e as NodeJS.ErrnoException;
+	if (err.code !== "ENOENT") throw e;
+}
 
 const piConfigName: string | undefined = pkg.piConfig?.name;
 export const PACKAGE_NAME: string = pkg.name || "@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent";