diff --git a/src/cli/commands/create/command.tsx b/src/cli/commands/create/command.tsx
index b5a934b50..db8191a5c 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/create/command.tsx
+++ b/src/cli/commands/create/command.tsx
@@ -136,7 +136,8 @@ function printCreateHarnessSummary(projectName: string, harnessName: string): vo
 
 /** Handle CLI mode for the harness path (preview mode) */
 async function handleCreateHarnessCLI(options: CreateOptions): Promise<void> {
-  const cwd = options.outputDir ?? getWorkingDirectory();
+  const commandCwd = getWorkingDirectory();
+  const cwd = options.outputDir ?? commandCwd;
   const name = options.name ?? options.projectName;
   const projectName = options.projectName ?? name;
 
@@ -203,6 +204,7 @@ async function handleCreateHarnessCLI(options: CreateOptions): Promise<void> {
         apiKeyArn: options.apiKeyArn,
         containerUri: containerOption.containerUri,
         dockerfilePath: containerOption.dockerfilePath,
+        dockerfileBaseDir: commandCwd,
         skipMemory: options.harnessMemory === false,
         maxIterations: options.maxIterations ? Number(options.maxIterations) : undefined,
         maxTokens: options.maxTokens ? Number(options.maxTokens) : undefined,
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/create/harness-action.ts b/src/cli/commands/create/harness-action.ts
index 86bdd1161..020203b85 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/create/harness-action.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/create/harness-action.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ export interface CreateHarnessProjectOptions {
   skipMemory?: boolean;
   containerUri?: string;
   dockerfilePath?: string;
+  dockerfileBaseDir?: string;
   maxIterations?: number;
   maxTokens?: number;
   timeoutSeconds?: number;
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ export async function createProjectWithHarness(options: CreateHarnessProjectOpti
       apiKeyArn: options.apiKeyArn,
       containerUri: options.containerUri,
       dockerfilePath: options.dockerfilePath,
+      dockerfileBaseDir: options.dockerfileBaseDir ?? options.cwd,
       skipMemory: options.skipMemory,
       maxIterations: options.maxIterations,
       maxTokens: options.maxTokens,
diff --git a/src/cli/primitives/HarnessPrimitive.ts b/src/cli/primitives/HarnessPrimitive.ts
index 5164d148e..b3a25080c 100644
--- a/src/cli/primitives/HarnessPrimitive.ts
+++ b/src/cli/primitives/HarnessPrimitive.ts
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ export interface AddHarnessOptions {
   efsAccessPoints?: { accessPointArn: string; mountPath: string }[];
   s3AccessPoints?: { accessPointArn: string; mountPath: string }[];
   withInvokeScript?: boolean;
+  dockerfileBaseDir?: string;
   selectedTools?: string[];
   mcpName?: string;
   mcpUrl?: string;
@@ -85,9 +86,10 @@ export class HarnessPrimitive extends BasePrimitive<AddHarnessOptions, Removable
       let dockerfile: string | undefined;
       if (options.dockerfilePath) {
         const projectRoot = dirname(configBaseDir);
+        const dockerfileBaseDir = options.dockerfileBaseDir ?? projectRoot;
         const srcPath = isAbsolute(options.dockerfilePath)
           ? options.dockerfilePath
-          : resolve(projectRoot, options.dockerfilePath);
+          : resolve(dockerfileBaseDir, options.dockerfilePath);
         try {
           await access(srcPath);
         } catch {
diff --git a/src/cli/primitives/__tests__/HarnessPrimitive.test.ts b/src/cli/primitives/__tests__/HarnessPrimitive.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..203225490
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cli/primitives/__tests__/HarnessPrimitive.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import { ConfigIO } from '../../../lib';
+import { createDefaultProjectSpec } from '../../project';
+import { HarnessPrimitive } from '../HarnessPrimitive';
+import { randomUUID } from 'node:crypto';
+import { mkdir, readFile, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+
+describe('HarnessPrimitive', () => {
+  const tempDirs: string[] = [];
+
+  afterEach(async () => {
+    await Promise.all(tempDirs.map(dir => rm(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })));
+    tempDirs.length = 0;
+  });
+
+  it('resolves create-flow Dockerfile paths from the command working directory', async () => {
+    const commandCwd = join(tmpdir(), `harness-dockerfile-${randomUUID()}`);
+    tempDirs.push(commandCwd);
+    const projectRoot = join(commandCwd, 'HarnessProject');
+    const configBaseDir = join(projectRoot, 'agentcore');
+    await mkdir(projectRoot, { recursive: true });
+
+    const configIO = new ConfigIO({ baseDir: configBaseDir });
+    await configIO.initializeBaseDir();
+    await configIO.writeAWSDeploymentTargets([]);
+    await configIO.writeDeployedState({ targets: {} });
+    await configIO.writeProjectSpec(createDefaultProjectSpec('HarnessProject'));
+
+    await writeFile(join(commandCwd, 'Dockerfile.custom'), 'FROM public.ecr.aws/docker/library/python:3.12\n');
+
+    const result = await new HarnessPrimitive().add({
+      name: 'MyHarness',
+      modelProvider: 'bedrock',
+      modelId: 'global.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-6',
+      skipMemory: true,
+      dockerfilePath: './Dockerfile.custom',
+      dockerfileBaseDir: commandCwd,
+      configBaseDir,
+    });
+
+    expect(result.success).toBe(true);
+    const harnessDir = join(projectRoot, 'app', 'MyHarness');
+    await expect(readFile(join(harnessDir, 'Dockerfile.custom'), 'utf-8')).resolves.toContain('python:3.12');
+
+    const harnessSpec = JSON.parse(await readFile(join(harnessDir, 'harness.json'), 'utf-8'));
+    expect(harnessSpec.dockerfile).toBe('Dockerfile.custom');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/cli/tui/screens/create/useCreateFlow.ts b/src/cli/tui/screens/create/useCreateFlow.ts
index 0beb8aa14..398a96a2d 100644
--- a/src/cli/tui/screens/create/useCreateFlow.ts
+++ b/src/cli/tui/screens/create/useCreateFlow.ts
@@ -654,6 +654,7 @@ export function useCreateFlow(cwd: string): CreateFlowState {
                 skipMemory: addHarnessConfig.skipMemory,
                 containerUri: addHarnessConfig.containerUri,
                 dockerfilePath: addHarnessConfig.dockerfilePath,
+                dockerfileBaseDir: cwd,
                 maxIterations: addHarnessConfig.maxIterations,
                 maxTokens: addHarnessConfig.maxTokens,
                 timeoutSeconds: addHarnessConfig.timeoutSeconds,