diff --git a/lib/npm/node-install.ts b/lib/npm/node-install.ts
index c8840969cb5..4ed762c4648 100644
--- a/lib/npm/node-install.ts
+++ b/lib/npm/node-install.ts
@@ -234,8 +234,12 @@ async function checkAndPreparePackage(): Promise<void> {
   // path without modifying the code itself. Do not remove this because
   // external code relies on this (in addition to esbuild's own test suite).
   if (ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH) {
-    applyManualBinaryPathOverride(ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH);
-    return;
+    if (!fs.existsSync(ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH)) {
+      console.warn(`[esbuild] Ignoring bad configuration: ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH=${ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH}`)
+    } else {
+      applyManualBinaryPathOverride(ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH);
+      return;
+    }
   }
 
   const { pkg, subpath } = pkgAndSubpathForCurrentPlatform();
diff --git a/lib/npm/node-platform.ts b/lib/npm/node-platform.ts
index 02daa30915b..b2febfa8438 100644
--- a/lib/npm/node-platform.ts
+++ b/lib/npm/node-platform.ts
@@ -107,7 +107,11 @@ export function generateBinPath(): { binPath: string, isWASM: boolean } {
   // path without modifying the code itself. Do not remove this because
   // external code relies on this (in addition to esbuild's own test suite).
   if (ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH) {
-    return { binPath: ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH, isWASM: false };
+    if (!fs.existsSync(ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH)) {
+      console.warn(`[esbuild] Ignoring bad configuration: ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH=${ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH}`)
+    } else {
+      return { binPath: ESBUILD_BINARY_PATH, isWASM: false };
+    }
   }
 
   const { pkg, subpath, isWASM } = pkgAndSubpathForCurrentPlatform();