diff --git a/quartz/plugins/emitters/contentPage.tsx b/quartz/plugins/emitters/contentPage.tsx
index 4542446b0..338bfae44 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/emitters/contentPage.tsx
+++ b/quartz/plugins/emitters/contentPage.tsx
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { FullPageLayout } from "../../cfg"
 import { FilePath, pathToRoot } from "../../util/path"
 import { defaultContentPageLayout, sharedPageComponents } from "../../../quartz.layout"
 import { Content } from "../../components"
+import chalk from "chalk"
 
 export const ContentPage: QuartzEmitterPlugin<Partial<FullPageLayout>> = (userOpts) => {
   const opts: FullPageLayout = {
@@ -29,8 +30,14 @@ export const ContentPage: QuartzEmitterPlugin<Partial<FullPageLayout>> = (userOp
       const cfg = ctx.cfg.configuration
       const fps: FilePath[] = []
       const allFiles = content.map((c) => c[1].data)
+
+      let containsIndex = false
       for (const [tree, file] of content) {
         const slug = file.data.slug!
+        if (slug === "index") {
+          containsIndex = true
+        }
+
         const externalResources = pageResources(pathToRoot(slug), resources)
         const componentData: QuartzComponentProps = {
           fileData: file.data,
@@ -50,6 +57,15 @@ export const ContentPage: QuartzEmitterPlugin<Partial<FullPageLayout>> = (userOp
 
         fps.push(fp)
       }
+
+      if (!containsIndex) {
+        console.log(
+          chalk.yellow(
+            `\nWarning: you seem to be missing an \`index.md\` home page file at the root of your \`${ctx.argv.directory}\` folder. This may cause errors when deploying.`,
+          ),
+        )
+      }
+
       return fps
     },
   }
diff --git a/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts b/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts
index 015c350a5..7deeefb0d 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts
+++ b/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import fs from "fs"
 import path from "path"
 import { Repository } from "@napi-rs/simple-git"
 import { QuartzTransformerPlugin } from "../types"
+import chalk from "chalk"
 
 export interface Options {
   priority: ("frontmatter" | "git" | "filesystem")[]
@@ -11,9 +12,18 @@ const defaultOptions: Options = {
   priority: ["frontmatter", "git", "filesystem"],
 }
 
-function coerceDate(d: any): Date {
+function coerceDate(fp: string, d: any): Date {
   const dt = new Date(d)
-  return isNaN(dt.getTime()) ? new Date() : dt
+  const invalidDate = isNaN(dt.getTime())
+  if (invalidDate && d !== undefined) {
+    console.log(
+      chalk.yellow(
+        `\nWarning: found invalid date "${d}" in \`${fp}\`. Supported formats: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date#date_time_string_format`,
+      ),
+    )
+  }
+
+  return invalidDate ? new Date() : dt
 }
 
 type MaybeDate = undefined | string | number
@@ -32,10 +42,11 @@ export const CreatedModifiedDate: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options> | und
             let modified: MaybeDate = undefined
             let published: MaybeDate = undefined
 
-            const fp = path.posix.join(file.cwd, file.data.filePath as string)
+            const fp = file.data.filePath!
+            const fullFp = path.posix.join(file.cwd, fp)
             for (const source of opts.priority) {
               if (source === "filesystem") {
-                const st = await fs.promises.stat(fp)
+                const st = await fs.promises.stat(fullFp)
                 created ||= st.birthtimeMs
                 modified ||= st.mtimeMs
               } else if (source === "frontmatter" && file.data.frontmatter) {
@@ -54,9 +65,9 @@ export const CreatedModifiedDate: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options> | und
             }
 
             file.data.dates = {
-              created: coerceDate(created),
-              modified: coerceDate(modified),
-              published: coerceDate(published),
+              created: coerceDate(fp, created),
+              modified: coerceDate(fp, modified),
+              published: coerceDate(fp, published),
             }
           }
         },