diff --git a/src/__tests__/pages/api/validate.test.js b/src/__tests__/pages/api/validate.test.js
index 86c40e2e0..8a1eec21b 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/pages/api/validate.test.js
+++ b/src/__tests__/pages/api/validate.test.js
@@ -2,12 +2,15 @@ import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 
 import createMockRes from "test-utils/create-mock-res";
 
-const { checkAndCopyConfig } = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+const { checkAndCopyConfig, getSettings } = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   checkAndCopyConfig: vi.fn(),
+  getSettings: vi.fn(() => ({})),
 }));
 
 vi.mock("utils/config/config", () => ({
   default: checkAndCopyConfig,
+  getSettings,
+  CONF_DIR: "/tmp",
 }));
 
 import handler from "pages/api/validate";
@@ -18,13 +21,28 @@ describe("pages/api/validate", () => {
   });
 
   it("returns errors for any configs that don't validate", async () => {
-    checkAndCopyConfig.mockReturnValueOnce(true).mockReturnValueOnce("settings bad").mockReturnValue(true);
+    checkAndCopyConfig
+      .mockReturnValueOnce(true)
+      .mockReturnValueOnce({
+        name: "YAMLException",
+        config: "settings.yaml",
+        reason: "settings bad",
+        mark: { line: 1 },
+      })
+      .mockReturnValue(true);
 
     const req = {};
     const res = createMockRes();
 
     await handler(req, res);
 
-    expect(res.body).toEqual(["settings bad"]);
+    expect(res.body).toEqual([
+      {
+        name: "YAMLException",
+        config: "settings.yaml",
+        reason: "settings bad",
+        mark: { line: 1 },
+      },
+    ]);
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/__tests__/pages/index.test.jsx b/src/__tests__/pages/index.test.jsx
index 114689d94..1d8c03240 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/pages/index.test.jsx
+++ b/src/__tests__/pages/index.test.jsx
@@ -324,13 +324,12 @@ describe("pages/index Index routing + SWR branches", () => {
   });
 
   it("renders config errors when /api/validate returns a list of errors", async () => {
-    state.validateData = [{ config: "services.yaml", reason: "broken", mark: { snippet: "x: y" } }];
+    state.validateData = [{ config: "services.yaml", name: "Service 1", reason: "broken", mark: { line: 4 } }];
 
     await renderIndex({ initialSettings: { title: "Homepage", layout: {} }, settings: { layout: {} } });
 
-    expect(screen.getByText("services.yaml")).toBeInTheDocument();
-    expect(screen.getByText("broken")).toBeInTheDocument();
-    expect(screen.getByText("x: y")).toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.getByText(/services.yaml/)).toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.getByText(/line 4/)).toBeInTheDocument();
   });
 
   it("marks the UI stale when the hash changes and triggers a revalidate reload", async () => {
diff --git a/src/pages/api/validate.js b/src/pages/api/validate.js
index 803d22827..aa892072f 100644
--- a/src/pages/api/validate.js
+++ b/src/pages/api/validate.js
@@ -1,9 +1,19 @@
 import checkAndCopyConfig from "utils/config/config";
+import createLogger from "utils/logger";
 
 const configs = ["docker.yaml", "settings.yaml", "services.yaml", "bookmarks.yaml", "kubernetes.yaml", "proxmox.yaml"];
+const logger = createLogger("configValidationHandler");
 
 export default async function handler(req, res) {
-  const errors = configs.map((config) => checkAndCopyConfig(config)).filter((status) => status !== true);
-
+  let errors = configs.map((config) => checkAndCopyConfig(config)).filter((status) => status !== true);
+  if (errors.length > 0) {
+    logger.error("Configuration validation errors", errors);
+    errors = errors.map((error) => ({
+      name: error.name,
+      config: error.config,
+      reason: error.reason,
+      mark: { line: error.mark?.line },
+    }));
+  }
   res.send(errors);
 }
diff --git a/src/pages/index.jsx b/src/pages/index.jsx
index f0e8afae6..a51313e07 100644
--- a/src/pages/index.jsx
+++ b/src/pages/index.jsx
@@ -167,11 +167,13 @@ function Index({ initialSettings, fallback }) {
             >
               <div className="bg-amber-200 text-amber-800 dark:text-amber-200 dark:bg-amber-800 p-2 rounded-md font-bold">
                 <BiError className="float-right w-6 h-6" />
-                {error.config}
+                {error.name} - {error.config}
               </div>
               <div className="p-2 text-theme-100 dark:text-theme-200">
-                <pre className="opacity-50 font-bold pb-2">{error.reason}</pre>
-                <pre className="text-sm">{error.mark.snippet}</pre>
+                <pre className="opacity-50 font-bold pb-2">
+                  Reason: "{error.reason}" at line {error.mark?.line}
+                </pre>
+                <pre className="font-italic">Check logs for details.</pre>
               </div>
             </div>
           ))}