diff --git a/pkg/cmd/sourcepathcmd.go b/pkg/cmd/sourcepathcmd.go
index 3edc594594f..4ed13e35abb 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/sourcepathcmd.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/sourcepathcmd.go
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
-
-	"github.com/twpayne/chezmoi/v2/pkg/chezmoi"
 )
 
 func (c *Config) newSourcePathCmd() *cobra.Command {
@@ -16,17 +14,22 @@ func (c *Config) newSourcePathCmd() *cobra.Command {
 		Long:              mustLongHelp("source-path"),
 		Example:           example("source-path"),
 		ValidArgsFunction: c.targetValidArgs,
-		RunE:              c.makeRunEWithSourceState(c.runSourcePathCmd),
+		RunE:              c.runSourcePathCmd,
 	}
 
 	return sourcePathCmd
 }
 
-func (c *Config) runSourcePathCmd(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, sourceState *chezmoi.SourceState) error {
+func (c *Config) runSourcePathCmd(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	if len(args) == 0 {
 		return c.writeOutputString(c.SourceDirAbsPath.String() + "\n")
 	}
 
+	sourceState, err := c.newSourceState(cmd.Context())
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	sourceAbsPaths, err := c.sourceAbsPaths(sourceState, args)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/testdata/scripts/issue2354.txtar b/pkg/cmd/testdata/scripts/issue2354.txtar
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c9ae77c44d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/cmd/testdata/scripts/issue2354.txtar
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# test that chezmoi source-path does not read the source state if not needed
+exec chezmoi source-path
+stdout ${CHEZMOISOURCEDIR@R}
+
+-- home/user/.local/share/chezmoi/.chezmoiexternal.json --
+invalid JSON file