diff --git a/src/utils/docs.ts b/src/utils/docs.ts
index 78eef1510..c71bfac87 100644
--- a/src/utils/docs.ts
+++ b/src/utils/docs.ts
@@ -15,17 +15,24 @@ import {
 } from './docs-redirects'
 import { removeLeadingSlash } from './utils'
 
-export const loadDocs = async ({
-  repo,
-  branch,
-  docsRoot,
-  docsPath,
-}: {
-  repo: string
-  branch: string
-  docsRoot: string
-  docsPath: string
-}) => {
+type FetchDocs = (
+  opts: Parameters<typeof fetchDocs>[0],
+) => ReturnType<typeof fetchDocs>
+
+export const loadDocs = async (
+  {
+    repo,
+    branch,
+    docsRoot,
+    docsPath,
+  }: {
+    repo: string
+    branch: string
+    docsRoot: string
+    docsPath: string
+  },
+  fetchDocsFn: FetchDocs = fetchDocs,
+) => {
   if (!branch || !docsRoot || !docsPath) {
     throw notFound({
       data: {
@@ -38,7 +45,7 @@ export const loadDocs = async ({
   let doc
 
   try {
-    doc = await fetchDocs({
+    doc = await fetchDocsFn({
       data: {
         repo,
         branch,
@@ -50,7 +57,7 @@ export const loadDocs = async ({
       throw error
     }
 
-    doc = await fetchDocs({
+    doc = await fetchDocsFn({
       data: {
         repo,
         branch,
diff --git a/tests/docs-route-index-fallback.test.ts b/tests/docs-route-index-fallback.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b44e412f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/docs-route-index-fallback.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict'
+import test from 'node:test'
+import { loadDocs } from '../src/utils/docs'
+
+type FetchDocs = NonNullable<Parameters<typeof loadDocs>[1]>
+type FetchedDoc = Awaited<ReturnType<FetchDocs>>
+
+const repoFiles: Record<string, string> = {
+  'docs/overview.md': 'Overview',
+  'docs/reference/index.md': 'Core API Reference',
+  'docs/framework/react/reference/index.md': 'React API Reference',
+}
+
+function createFetchDocs() {
+  const fetchedFilePaths: Array<string> = []
+
+  const fetchDocs: FetchDocs = async ({ data }) => {
+    fetchedFilePaths.push(data.filePath)
+    const content = repoFiles[data.filePath]
+
+    if (content === undefined) {
+      throw { isNotFound: true }
+    }
+
+    const doc: FetchedDoc = {
+      content,
+      title: content,
+      description: '',
+      keywords: undefined,
+      frameworks: [],
+      filePath: data.filePath,
+      frontmatter: { description: '' },
+    }
+
+    return doc
+  }
+
+  return { fetchDocs, fetchedFilePaths }
+}
+
+function load(docsPath: string, fetchDocs: FetchDocs) {
+  return loadDocs(
+    {
+      repo: 'TanStack/pacer',
+      branch: 'main',
+      docsRoot: 'docs',
+      docsPath,
+    },
+    fetchDocs,
+  )
+}
+
+test('canonical reference paths load their index files', async () => {
+  for (const [docsPath, expectedFilePath] of [
+    ['reference', 'docs/reference/index.md'],
+    ['framework/react/reference', 'docs/framework/react/reference/index.md'],
+  ]) {
+    const { fetchDocs, fetchedFilePaths } = createFetchDocs()
+    const doc = await load(docsPath, fetchDocs)
+
+    assert.equal(doc.filePath, expectedFilePath)
+    assert.deepEqual(fetchedFilePaths, [
+      `docs/${docsPath}.md`,
+      expectedFilePath,
+    ])
+  }
+})
+
+test('plain docs files load without an index fallback request', async () => {
+  const { fetchDocs, fetchedFilePaths } = createFetchDocs()
+  const doc = await load('overview', fetchDocs)
+
+  assert.equal(doc.filePath, 'docs/overview.md')
+  assert.deepEqual(fetchedFilePaths, ['docs/overview.md'])
+})
+
+test('non-404 index fetch failures propagate', async () => {
+  let fetchCount = 0
+  const fetchDocs: FetchDocs = async () => {
+    fetchCount += 1
+
+    if (fetchCount === 1) {
+      throw { isNotFound: true }
+    }
+
+    throw new Error('GitHub unavailable')
+  }
+
+  await assert.rejects(() => load('reference', fetchDocs), /GitHub unavailable/)
+  assert.equal(fetchCount, 2)
+})