diff --git a/crates/vite_task/src/session/mod.rs b/crates/vite_task/src/session/mod.rs
index d3cbab86..420ac9a6 100644
--- a/crates/vite_task/src/session/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/vite_task/src/session/mod.rs
@@ -235,6 +235,8 @@ impl<'a> Session<'a> {
         // different schema versions don't share (and corrupt) one database.
         let cache_path = cache_root.join(cache::cache_schema_dir_name().as_str());
 
+        envs.insert(Arc::from(OsStr::new("INIT_CWD")), Arc::from(cwd.as_path().as_os_str()));
+
         // Prepend workspace's node_modules/.bin to PATH
         let workspace_node_modules_bin = workspace_root.path.join("node_modules").join(".bin");
         prepend_path_env(&mut envs, &workspace_node_modules_bin)?;
diff --git a/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/package.json b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3f244a50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+  "name": "init-cwd-test",
+  "private": true,
+  "workspaces": [
+    "packages/*"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/packages/app/package.json b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/packages/app/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0a2d4152
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/packages/app/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+  "name": "app",
+  "private": true
+}
diff --git a/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/packages/app/src/.gitkeep b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/packages/app/src/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8b137891
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/packages/app/src/.gitkeep
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+
diff --git a/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/packages/app/vite-task.json b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/packages/app/vite-task.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d7455fe1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/packages/app/vite-task.json
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{
+  "tasks": {
+    "print-init-cwd": {
+      "command": "vtt print-env INIT_CWD",
+      "cache": true
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/pnpm-workspace.yaml b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/pnpm-workspace.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..924b55f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/pnpm-workspace.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+packages:
+  - packages/*
diff --git a/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/snapshots.toml b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/snapshots.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fd78cca5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/snapshots.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[[e2e]]
+name = "init_cwd_points_to_invocation_cwd"
+comment = """
+Tasks run from their package directory, but INIT_CWD should point to the directory where vt was invoked.
+"""
+cwd = "packages/app/src"
+steps = [["vt", "run", "print-init-cwd"]]
diff --git a/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/snapshots/init_cwd_points_to_invocation_cwd.md b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/snapshots/init_cwd_points_to_invocation_cwd.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b1111093
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/vite_task_bin/tests/e2e_snapshots/fixtures/init_cwd/snapshots/init_cwd_points_to_invocation_cwd.md
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# init_cwd_points_to_invocation_cwd
+
+Tasks run from their package directory, but INIT_CWD should point to the directory where vt was invoked.
+
+## `vt run print-init-cwd`
+
+```
+~/packages/app$ vtt print-env INIT_CWD
+<workspace>/packages/app/src
+```
diff --git a/crates/vite_task_graph/src/config/mod.rs b/crates/vite_task_graph/src/config/mod.rs
index 61358ec5..a2a12bfa 100644
--- a/crates/vite_task_graph/src/config/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/vite_task_graph/src/config/mod.rs
@@ -411,6 +411,7 @@ pub const DEFAULT_UNTRACKED_ENV: &[&str] = &[
     // CI/CD environments
     "CI",
     // Node.js specific
+    "INIT_CWD",
     "NODE_OPTIONS",
     "COREPACK_*",
     "NPM_CONFIG_STORE_DIR",