diff --git a/src/build.ts b/src/build.ts
index de974f52f..37546c740 100644
--- a/src/build.ts
+++ b/src/build.ts
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ export async function build(
     effects.output.write(`${faint("parse")} ${sourcePath} `);
     const start = performance.now();
     const source = await readFile(sourcePath, "utf8");
-    const page = parseMarkdown(source, options);
+    const page = parseMarkdown(source, {...options, build: true});
     if (page.data.draft) {
       effects.logger.log(faint("(skipped)"));
       continue;
diff --git a/src/frontMatter.ts b/src/frontMatter.ts
index b79ab7b30..35f7f7de7 100644
--- a/src/frontMatter.ts
+++ b/src/frontMatter.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import matter from "gray-matter";
 import {normalizeTheme} from "./config.js";
 
 export interface FrontMatter {
@@ -12,6 +13,31 @@ export interface FrontMatter {
   sql?: {[key: string]: string};
 }
 
+interface FrontMatterException {
+  reason: string;
+  mark: {buffer: string};
+}
+
+export function readFrontMatter(input: string, build: boolean): {content: string; data: FrontMatter} {
+  try {
+    const {content, data} = matter(input, {});
+    return {content, data: normalizeFrontMatter(data)};
+  } catch (error) {
+    if (!build && "mark" in (error as any)) {
+      const {
+        reason,
+        mark: {buffer}
+      } = error as FrontMatterException;
+      return {
+        content: `<div class="observablehq--inspect observablehq--error">Invalid front matter\n${reason}</div>
+        <pre>${String(buffer).slice(0, -1)}</pre>\n\n${input.slice(buffer.length + 6)}`,
+        data: {}
+      };
+    }
+    throw error;
+  }
+}
+
 export function normalizeFrontMatter(spec: any = {}): FrontMatter {
   const frontMatter: FrontMatter = {};
   if (spec == null || typeof spec !== "object") return frontMatter;
diff --git a/src/markdown.ts b/src/markdown.ts
index 1800d85f2..e4304cbd1 100644
--- a/src/markdown.ts
+++ b/src/markdown.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 /* eslint-disable import/no-named-as-default-member */
 import {createHash} from "node:crypto";
 import {extname} from "node:path/posix";
-import matter from "gray-matter";
 import he from "he";
 import MarkdownIt from "markdown-it";
 import type {RuleCore} from "markdown-it/lib/parser_core.js";
@@ -11,7 +10,7 @@ import MarkdownItAnchor from "markdown-it-anchor";
 import type {Config} from "./config.js";
 import {mergeStyle} from "./config.js";
 import type {FrontMatter} from "./frontMatter.js";
-import {normalizeFrontMatter} from "./frontMatter.js";
+import {readFrontMatter} from "./frontMatter.js";
 import {rewriteHtmlPaths} from "./html.js";
 import {parseInfo} from "./info.js";
 import type {JavaScriptNode} from "./javascript/parse.js";
@@ -305,6 +304,7 @@ export interface ParseOptions {
   head?: Config["head"];
   header?: Config["header"];
   footer?: Config["footer"];
+  build?: boolean;
 }
 
 export function createMarkdownIt({
@@ -327,9 +327,8 @@ export function createMarkdownIt({
 }
 
 export function parseMarkdown(input: string, options: ParseOptions): MarkdownPage {
-  const {md, path} = options;
-  const {content, data: frontMatter} = matter(input, {});
-  const data = normalizeFrontMatter(frontMatter);
+  const {md, path, build} = options;
+  const {content, data} = readFrontMatter(input, build);
   const code: MarkdownCode[] = [];
   const context: ParseContext = {code, startLine: 0, currentLine: 0, path};
   const tokens = md.parse(content, context);