diff --git a/src/codegen/extensions/tools/relace_edit.py b/src/codegen/extensions/tools/relace_edit.py
index 06522d67e..0895400b9 100644
--- a/src/codegen/extensions/tools/relace_edit.py
+++ b/src/codegen/extensions/tools/relace_edit.py
@@ -119,8 +119,8 @@ def relace_edit(codebase: Codebase, filepath: str, edit_snippet: str, api_key: O
     try:
         file = codebase.get_file(filepath)
     except ValueError:
-        msg = f"File not found: {filepath}"
-        raise FileNotFoundError(msg)
+        msg = f"File {filepath} does not exist. Make sure to specify the full filepath from the repo root, e.g. `a/b/c.tsx`."
+        return RelaceEditObservation(status="error", error=msg, filepath=filepath)
 
     # Get the original content
     original_content = file.content