diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5456734..2da4c52 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@zenstackhq/proxy",
-  "version": "0.2.6",
+  "version": "0.2.7",
   "description": "A CLI tool to run an Express server that proxies CRUD requests to a ZenStack backend",
   "main": "index.js",
   "publishConfig": {
@@ -20,7 +20,12 @@
     "clean": "rimraf dist",
     "build": "pnpm clean && tsc && copyfiles -F \"bin/*\" dist && copyfiles ./README.md ./LICENSE ./package.json dist && pnpm pack dist --pack-destination ../build"
   },
-  "keywords": ["zenstack", "proxy", "express", "cli"],
+  "keywords": [
+    "zenstack",
+    "proxy",
+    "express",
+    "cli"
+  ],
   "author": "",
   "license": "MIT",
   "dependencies": {
@@ -53,4 +58,4 @@
       "require": "./index.js"
     }
   }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 93d4712..d9645ad 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ export function createProgram() {
 
   program
     .option('-z, --zenstack <path>', 'Path to ZenStack generated folder')
-    .option('-p, --port <number>', 'Port number for the server', '8008')
+    .option('-p, --port <number>', 'Port number for the server', '2311')
     .option('-s, --schema <path>', 'Path to ZModel schema file', 'schema.zmodel')
     .option('-d, --datasource-url <url>', 'Datasource URL (overrides schema configuration)')
     .option('-l, --log <level...>', 'Query log levels (e.g., query, info, warn, error)')
diff --git a/src/server.ts b/src/server.ts
index 74fcdc8..83b9dc3 100644
--- a/src/server.ts
+++ b/src/server.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import cors from 'cors'
 import { ZenStackMiddleware } from '@zenstackhq/server/express'
 import { ZModelConfig } from './zmodel-parser'
 import { getNodeModulesFolder, getPrismaVersion, getZenStackVersion } from './utils/version-utils'
-import { blue, grey } from 'colors'
+import { blue, grey, red } from 'colors'
 import semver from 'semver'
 import { CliError } from './cli-error'
 
@@ -168,23 +168,29 @@ async function loadZenStackModules(
     enums = prismaModule.$Enums || {}
   }
 
-  let zenstackAbsPath = zenstackPath
+  const zenstackAbsPath = zenstackPath
     ? path.isAbsolute(zenstackPath)
       ? zenstackPath
       : path.join(process.cwd(), zenstackPath)
     : undefined
 
-  if (zenstackAbsPath) {
-    const modelMetaPath = path.join(zenstackAbsPath, 'model-meta')
+  let modelMetaPath: string | undefined
+  try {
+    if (zenstackAbsPath) {
+      modelMetaPath = path.join(zenstackAbsPath, 'model-meta')
+    } else {
+      modelMetaPath = '@zenstackhq/runtime/model-meta'
+    }
     modelMeta = require(modelMetaPath).default
-  } else {
-    modelMeta = require('@zenstackhq/runtime/model-meta').default
+  } catch {
+    throw new CliError(
+      `Failed to load ZenStack generated model meta from: ${modelMetaPath}\n` +
+        `Please run \`zenstack generate\` first or specify the correct output directory of ZenStack generated modules using the \`-z\` option.`
+    )
   }
 
   if (!modelMeta.models) {
-    throw new CliError(
-      'ZenStack generated modules not found. Please make sure `zenstack generate` has been run or specify the correct path using the `-z` option.'
-    )
+    throw new CliError(`Generated model meta not found. Please run \`zenstack generate\` first.`)
   }
 
   const zenstackVersion = getZenStackVersion()
@@ -247,6 +253,19 @@ export async function startServer(options: ServerOptions) {
     console.log(`ZenStack Studio is running at: ${blue('https://studio.zenstack.dev')}`)
   })
 
+  server.on('error', (err: NodeJS.ErrnoException) => {
+    if (err.code === 'EADDRINUSE') {
+      console.error(
+        red(
+          `Port ${options.port} is already in use. Please choose a different port using -p option.`
+        )
+      )
+    } else {
+      throw new CliError(`Failed to start the server: ${err.message}`)
+    }
+    process.exit(1)
+  })
+
   // Graceful shutdown
   process.on('SIGTERM', async () => {
     server.close(() => {