diff --git a/runtime/lua/nvim/dir.lua b/runtime/lua/nvim/dir.lua
index 0b60fe4d00..79145525d2 100644
--- a/runtime/lua/nvim/dir.lua
+++ b/runtime/lua/nvim/dir.lua
@@ -268,6 +268,10 @@ function load(buf, name, provider, restore_view, setup, select)
 
   local ok, call_err = pcall(provider.list, buf, name, on_list) ---@type boolean, any
   if not ok then
+    if done then
+      -- The handler already ran and would ignore this error: propagate it.
+      error(call_err, 0)
+    end
     -- Route provider exceptions through the list handler so failures share one cleanup path.
     on_list(tostring(call_err), nil)
   end
diff --git a/test/functional/plugin/dir_spec.lua b/test/functional/plugin/dir_spec.lua
index b71d43a604..1477cc6129 100644
--- a/test/functional/plugin/dir_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/plugin/dir_spec.lua
@@ -294,6 +294,24 @@ describe('nvim.dir', function()
     eq({ 'inside.txt' }, lines())
   end)
 
+  it('does not swallow errors raised after the list callback', function()
+    n.clear({ args = { '--clean' } })
+
+    local err = exec_lua(function()
+      local ok_open, e = pcall(require('nvim.dir').open, 0, 'custom://late-error', {
+        list = function(_, _, cb)
+          cb(nil, { { name = 'file.txt', dir = false } })
+          error('late provider error')
+        end,
+        open = function() end,
+        open_parent = function() end,
+      })
+      return not ok_open and tostring(e) or nil
+    end)
+    ok(err ~= nil and err:find('late provider error', 1, true) ~= nil)
+    eq({ 'file.txt' }, lines())
+  end)
+
   it('reloads custom listing providers', function()
     n.clear({ args = { '--clean' } })