diff --git a/shiny/_app.py b/shiny/_app.py
index c2c187d5d..f78b0b180 100644
--- a/shiny/_app.py
+++ b/shiny/_app.py
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ def __init__(
                 raise ValueError(
                     f'static_assets must be an absolute path: "{static_asset_path}".'
                     " Consider using one of the following instead:\n"
-                    f'  os.path.join(__file__, "{static_asset_path}")  OR'
+                    f'  os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "{static_asset_path}")  OR'
                     f'  pathlib.Path(__file__).parent/"{static_asset_path}"'
                 )