diff --git a/cli/src/commands/run.ts b/cli/src/commands/run.ts
index 6d6ccae2..6e061b2e 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/run.ts
+++ b/cli/src/commands/run.ts
@@ -84,6 +84,15 @@ function isModuleNotFoundError(err: unknown): boolean {
   return err.message.includes("Cannot find module");
 }
 
+function getMissingModuleSpecifier(err: unknown): string | null {
+  if (!(err instanceof Error)) return null;
+  const packageMatch = err.message.match(/Cannot find package '([^']+)' imported from/);
+  if (packageMatch?.[1]) return packageMatch[1];
+  const moduleMatch = err.message.match(/Cannot find module '([^']+)'/);
+  if (moduleMatch?.[1]) return moduleMatch[1];
+  return null;
+}
+
 function maybeEnableUiDevMiddleware(entrypoint: string): void {
   if (process.env.PAPERCLIP_UI_DEV_MIDDLEWARE !== undefined) return;
   const normalized = entrypoint.replaceAll("\\", "/");
@@ -106,7 +115,9 @@ async function importServerEntry(): Promise<void> {
   try {
     await import("@paperclipai/server");
   } catch (err) {
-    if (isModuleNotFoundError(err)) {
+    const missingSpecifier = getMissingModuleSpecifier(err);
+    const missingServerEntrypoint = !missingSpecifier || missingSpecifier === "@paperclipai/server";
+    if (isModuleNotFoundError(err) && missingServerEntrypoint) {
       throw new Error(
         `Could not locate a Paperclip server entrypoint.\n` +
           `Tried: ${devEntry}, @paperclipai/server\n` +
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index 304bb691..f04df9b8 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ importers:
         specifier: workspace:*
         version: link:../packages/shared
       better-auth:
-        specifier: ^1.3.8
+        specifier: 1.4.18
         version: 1.4.18(drizzle-kit@0.31.9)(drizzle-orm@0.38.4(@electric-sql/pglite@0.3.15)(@types/react@19.2.14)(kysely@0.28.11)(pg@8.18.0)(postgres@3.4.8)(react@19.2.4))(pg@8.18.0)(react-dom@19.2.4(react@19.2.4))(react@19.2.4)(vitest@3.2.4(@types/debug@4.1.12)(@types/node@25.2.3)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.30.2)(tsx@4.21.0))
       detect-port:
         specifier: ^2.1.0
diff --git a/server/package.json b/server/package.json
index df87aca2..6e3bfd3c 100644
--- a/server/package.json
+++ b/server/package.json
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
     "@paperclipai/adapter-utils": "workspace:*",
     "@paperclipai/db": "workspace:*",
     "@paperclipai/shared": "workspace:*",
-    "better-auth": "^1.3.8",
+    "better-auth": "1.4.18",
     "detect-port": "^2.1.0",
     "dotenv": "^17.0.1",
     "drizzle-orm": "^0.38.4",