diff --git a/packages/storage/src/config.ts b/packages/storage/src/config.ts
index 86d6de7..8b8ba25 100644
--- a/packages/storage/src/config.ts
+++ b/packages/storage/src/config.ts
@@ -85,9 +85,16 @@ export function resolveStorageConfig(env: Record<string, string | undefined>): S
   if (!authToken) {
     throw new Error(`Remote DB URL requires ${ENV.authToken}.`);
   }
+  let hostname: string;
+  try {
+    hostname = new URL(url).hostname;
+  } catch {
+    throw new Error(`${ENV.url} must be a valid remote libSQL/Turso URL or a local file path.`);
+  }
+
   // Managed Turso (*.turso.io) gets the cloud tier (managed backups); any other
   // remote libSQL the user runs themselves is self-hosted.
-  const tier: StorageTier = /\.turso\.io$/.test(new URL(url).hostname) ? 'cloud' : 'self-hosted';
+  const tier: StorageTier = /\.turso\.io$/.test(hostname) ? 'cloud' : 'self-hosted';
   return { driver: 'turso', tier, url, authToken };
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/storage/src/index.test.ts b/packages/storage/src/index.test.ts
index bca9994..03e501e 100644
--- a/packages/storage/src/index.test.ts
+++ b/packages/storage/src/index.test.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,15 @@ describe('@tronbrowser/storage config', () => {
     expect(() => resolveStorageConfig({ [ENV.url]: 'libsql://x.turso.io' })).toThrow(/AUTH_TOKEN/);
   });
 
+  it('reports invalid remote URLs as storage configuration errors', () => {
+    expect(() =>
+      resolveStorageConfig({
+        [ENV.url]: 'not a valid remote url',
+        [ENV.authToken]: 'tok',
+      }),
+    ).toThrow(/TRONBROWSER_DB_URL must be a valid remote libSQL\/Turso URL/);
+  });
+
   it('errors when nothing is configured', () => {
     expect(() => resolveStorageConfig({})).toThrow(/No storage configured/);
   });