diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 2dcb5d4..ab8ec85 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ enum Commands {
         #[arg(long)] // TODO: Read from environment variable?
         auth_file: Option<PathBuf>,
 
-        /// The path to 'pixi.toml' or 'pyproject.toml'
+        /// The path to `pixi.toml`, `pyproject.toml`, or the project directory
         #[arg(default_value = cwd().join("pixi.toml").into_os_string())]
         manifest_path: PathBuf,
 
diff --git a/src/pack.rs b/src/pack.rs
index 31433e6..9e3ac2d 100644
--- a/src/pack.rs
+++ b/src/pack.rs
@@ -44,21 +44,36 @@ pub struct PackOptions {
     pub create_executable: bool,
 }
 
-/// Pack a pixi environment.
-pub async fn pack(options: PackOptions) -> Result<()> {
-    let lockfile_path = options
-        .manifest_path
-        .parent()
-        .ok_or(anyhow!("could not get parent directory"))?
-        .join("pixi.lock");
+fn load_lockfile(manifest_path: &Path) -> Result<LockFile> {
+    if !manifest_path.exists() {
+        anyhow::bail!(
+            "manifest path does not exist at {}",
+            manifest_path.display()
+        );
+    }
+
+    let manifest_path = if !manifest_path.is_dir() {
+        manifest_path
+            .parent()
+            .ok_or(anyhow!("could not get parent directory"))?
+    } else {
+        manifest_path
+    };
 
-    let lockfile = LockFile::from_path(&lockfile_path).map_err(|e| {
+    let lockfile_path = manifest_path.join("pixi.lock");
+
+    LockFile::from_path(&lockfile_path).map_err(|e| {
         anyhow!(
             "could not read lockfile at {}: {}",
             lockfile_path.display(),
             e
         )
-    })?;
+    })
+}
+
+/// Pack a pixi environment.
+pub async fn pack(options: PackOptions) -> Result<()> {
+    let lockfile = load_lockfile(&options.manifest_path)?;
 
     let client = reqwest_client_from_auth_storage(options.auth_file)
         .map_err(|e| anyhow!("could not create reqwest client from auth storage: {e}"))?;
diff --git a/tests/integration_test.rs b/tests/integration_test.rs
index 54f9010..17f8ea8 100644
--- a/tests/integration_test.rs
+++ b/tests/integration_test.rs
@@ -557,3 +557,15 @@ async fn test_run_packed_executable(options: Options, required_fs_objects: Vec<&
     // Keep the temporary directory alive until the end of the test
     drop(temp_dir);
 }
+
+#[rstest]
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn test_manifest_path_dir(#[with(PathBuf::from("examples/simple-python"))] options: Options) {
+    let pack_options = options.pack_options;
+    let unpack_options = options.unpack_options;
+    let pack_file = unpack_options.pack_file.clone();
+
+    let pack_result = pixi_pack::pack(pack_options).await;
+    assert!(pack_result.is_ok(), "{:?}", pack_result);
+    assert!(pack_file.is_file());
+}