diff --git a/src/feature_flags.ts b/src/feature_flags.ts
index d0c07a446..e72193ef2 100644
--- a/src/feature_flags.ts
+++ b/src/feature_flags.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ export const defaultFlags = {
 
   // drops the "runtimeVersion" override field
   zisi_go_drop_runtime_override: false,
+
+  // fixes symlinks in included files
+  zisi_fix_symlinks: false,
 } as const
 
 export type FeatureFlags = Partial<Record<keyof typeof defaultFlags, boolean>>
diff --git a/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/esbuild/src_files.ts b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/esbuild/src_files.ts
index e5029ea57..1e64f0962 100644
--- a/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/esbuild/src_files.ts
+++ b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/esbuild/src_files.ts
@@ -4,10 +4,17 @@ import { getNewCache, TraversalCache } from '../../utils/traversal_cache.js'
 import type { GetSrcFilesFunction } from '../types.js'
 import { getDependencyPathsForDependency } from '../zisi/traverse.js'
 
-export const getSrcFiles: GetSrcFilesFunction = async ({ config, mainFile, pluginsModulesPath, srcDir }) => {
+export const getSrcFiles: GetSrcFilesFunction = async ({
+  config,
+  mainFile,
+  pluginsModulesPath,
+  srcDir,
+  featureFlags,
+}) => {
   const { externalNodeModules = [], includedFiles = [], includedFilesBasePath, nodeVersion } = config
   const { excludePatterns, paths: includedFilePaths } = await getPathsOfIncludedFiles(
     includedFiles,
+    featureFlags,
     includedFilesBasePath,
   )
   const dependencyPaths = await getSrcFilesForDependencies({
diff --git a/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/nft/index.ts b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/nft/index.ts
index f65ad3ed2..e4f6faf1e 100644
--- a/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/nft/index.ts
+++ b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/nft/index.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ const bundle: BundleFunction = async ({
 
   const { excludePatterns, paths: includedFilePaths } = await getPathsOfIncludedFiles(
     includedFiles,
+    featureFlags,
     includedFilesBasePath || basePath,
   )
   const {
@@ -238,10 +239,11 @@ const traceFilesAndTranspile = async function ({
   }
 }
 
-const getSrcFiles: GetSrcFilesFunction = async function ({ basePath, config, mainFile }) {
+const getSrcFiles: GetSrcFilesFunction = async function ({ basePath, config, mainFile, featureFlags }) {
   const { includedFiles = [], includedFilesBasePath } = config
   const { excludePatterns, paths: includedFilePaths } = await getPathsOfIncludedFiles(
     includedFiles,
+    featureFlags,
     includedFilesBasePath,
   )
   const { fileList: dependencyPaths } = await nodeFileTrace([mainFile], {
diff --git a/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/none/index.ts b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/none/index.ts
index 66153c672..12816da84 100644
--- a/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/none/index.ts
+++ b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/none/index.ts
@@ -37,10 +37,11 @@ const getModuleFormat = async function (mainFile: string): Promise<ModuleFormat>
   return MODULE_FORMAT.COMMONJS
 }
 
-export const getSrcFiles: GetSrcFilesFunction = async function ({ config, mainFile }) {
+export const getSrcFiles: GetSrcFilesFunction = async function ({ config, mainFile, featureFlags }) {
   const { includedFiles = [], includedFilesBasePath } = config
   const { excludePatterns, paths: includedFilePaths } = await getPathsOfIncludedFiles(
     includedFiles,
+    featureFlags,
     includedFilesBasePath,
   )
   const includedPaths = filterExcludedPaths(includedFilePaths, excludePatterns)
diff --git a/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/zisi/src_files.ts b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/zisi/src_files.ts
index fe3e3cd7b..46f30d537 100644
--- a/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/zisi/src_files.ts
+++ b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/zisi/src_files.ts
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ export const getSrcFiles: GetSrcFilesFunction = async function ({
   const { includedFiles = [], includedFilesBasePath, nodeVersion } = config
   const { excludePatterns, paths: includedFilePaths } = await getPathsOfIncludedFiles(
     includedFiles,
+    featureFlags,
     includedFilesBasePath,
   )
   const [treeFiles, depFiles] = await Promise.all([
diff --git a/src/runtimes/node/utils/included_files.ts b/src/runtimes/node/utils/included_files.ts
index 43d447fb2..dab51d1e4 100644
--- a/src/runtimes/node/utils/included_files.ts
+++ b/src/runtimes/node/utils/included_files.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { normalize, resolve } from 'path'
 
 import fastGlob from 'fast-glob'
 
+import { type FeatureFlags } from '../../../feature_flags.js'
 import { minimatch } from '../../../utils/matching.js'
 
 // Returns the subset of `paths` that don't match any of the glob expressions
@@ -18,6 +19,7 @@ export const filterExcludedPaths = (paths: string[], excludePattern: string[] =
 
 export const getPathsOfIncludedFiles = async (
   includedFiles: string[],
+  featureFlags: FeatureFlags,
   basePath?: string,
 ): Promise<{ excludePatterns: string[]; paths: string[] }> => {
   if (basePath === undefined) {
@@ -53,13 +55,24 @@ export const getPathsOfIncludedFiles = async (
     cwd: basePath,
     dot: true,
     ignore: excludePatterns,
-    onlyFiles: false,
-    // get directories as well to get symlinked directories,
-    // to filter the regular non symlinked directories out mark them with a slash at the end to filter them out.
-    markDirectories: true,
-    followSymbolicLinks: false,
+    ...(featureFlags.zisi_fix_symlinks
+      ? {
+          onlyFiles: false,
+          // get directories as well to get symlinked directories,
+          // to filter the regular non symlinked directories out mark them with a slash at the end to filter them out.
+          markDirectories: true,
+          followSymbolicLinks: false,
+        }
+      : {
+          followSymbolicLinks: true,
+          throwErrorOnBrokenSymbolicLink: true,
+        }),
   })
 
+  const paths = featureFlags.zisi_fix_symlinks
+    ? pathGroups.filter((path) => !path.endsWith('/')).map(normalize)
+    : pathGroups.map(normalize)
+
   // now filter the non symlinked directories out that got marked with a trailing slash
-  return { excludePatterns, paths: pathGroups.filter((path) => !path.endsWith('/')).map(normalize) }
+  return { excludePatterns, paths }
 }
diff --git a/tests/symlinked_included_files.test.ts b/tests/symlinked_included_files.test.ts
index 5616a7b2a..8bb7d93b4 100644
--- a/tests/symlinked_included_files.test.ts
+++ b/tests/symlinked_included_files.test.ts
@@ -46,7 +46,9 @@ test.skipIf(platform() === 'win32')('Symlinked directories from `includedFiles`
         includedFiles: ['**'],
       },
     },
-    featureFlags: {},
+    featureFlags: {
+      zisi_fix_symlinks: true,
+    },
     repositoryRoot: basePath,
     systemLog: console.log,
     debug: true,