diff --git a/.changes/dev-cmd-config-arg.md b/.changes/dev-cmd-config-arg.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3e60674f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/dev-cmd-config-arg.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+"cli.rs": patch
+"cli.js": patch
+---
+
+**Breaking change:** The `dev` command now reads the custom config file from CWD instead of the Tauri folder.
diff --git a/tooling/cli/src/build.rs b/tooling/cli/src/build.rs
index 0ed4bfd68..81f0ec5e9 100644
--- a/tooling/cli/src/build.rs
+++ b/tooling/cli/src/build.rs
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ pub fn command(options: Options) -> Result<()> {
     Some(if config.starts_with('{') {
       config.to_string()
     } else {
-      std::fs::read_to_string(&config)?
+      std::fs::read_to_string(&config).with_context(|| "failed to read custom configuration")?
     })
   } else {
     None
diff --git a/tooling/cli/src/dev.rs b/tooling/cli/src/dev.rs
index 3f1ae1e6b..979d703ef 100644
--- a/tooling/cli/src/dev.rs
+++ b/tooling/cli/src/dev.rs
@@ -79,16 +79,18 @@ pub fn command(options: Options) -> Result<()> {
 
 fn command_internal(options: Options) -> Result<()> {
   let tauri_path = tauri_dir();
-  set_current_dir(&tauri_path).with_context(|| "failed to change current working directory")?;
   let merge_config = if let Some(config) = &options.config {
     Some(if config.starts_with('{') {
       config.to_string()
     } else {
-      std::fs::read_to_string(&config)?
+      std::fs::read_to_string(&config).with_context(|| "failed to read custom configuration")?
     })
   } else {
     None
   };
+
+  set_current_dir(&tauri_path).with_context(|| "failed to change current working directory")?;
+
   let config = get_config(merge_config.as_deref())?;
 
   if let Some(before_dev) = &config