diff --git a/packages/controller/controller.ts b/packages/controller/controller.ts
index 85b20875..7890c85c 100644
--- a/packages/controller/controller.ts
+++ b/packages/controller/controller.ts
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@ I           version of clusterio.  Expect things to break. I
 `
 	);
 	startup().catch(err => {
-		if (err instanceof lib.StartupError) {
+		if (err instanceof lib.StartupError || err.code === "InstallationError") {
 			logger.fatal(`
 +-------------------------------+
 | Unable to to start controller |
diff --git a/packages/controller/src/Controller.ts b/packages/controller/src/Controller.ts
index 7ad03e2c..a5671795 100644
--- a/packages/controller/src/Controller.ts
+++ b/packages/controller/src/Controller.ts
@@ -1068,6 +1068,9 @@ export default class Controller {
 				this.plugins.set(pluginInfo.name, controllerPlugin);
 
 			} catch (err: any) {
+				if (err.code === "InstallationError") {
+					throw err;
+				}
 				throw new lib.PluginError(pluginInfo.name, err);
 			}
 
diff --git a/packages/host/host.ts b/packages/host/host.ts
index 8b06fdf0..485f2926 100755
--- a/packages/host/host.ts
+++ b/packages/host/host.ts
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ I           version of clusterio.  Expect things to break. I
 		if (err instanceof lib.WebSocketError) {
 			// Already handled by connector.on("error") within Host
 
-		} else if (err instanceof lib.StartupError) {
+		} else if (err instanceof lib.StartupError || err.code === "InstallationError") {
 			logger.fatal(`
 +----------------------------------+
 | Unable to to start clusteriohost |
diff --git a/packages/host/src/Host.ts b/packages/host/src/Host.ts
index 63476061..7e778c32 100644
--- a/packages/host/src/Host.ts
+++ b/packages/host/src/Host.ts
@@ -440,6 +440,9 @@ export default class Host extends lib.Link {
 				this.plugins.set(pluginInfo.name, hostPlugin);
 
 			} catch (err: any) {
+				if (err.code === "InstallationError") {
+					throw err;
+				}
 				throw new lib.PluginError(pluginInfo.name, err);
 			}
 
diff --git a/packages/lib/browser.ts b/packages/lib/browser.ts
index 58c0debf..66b3d5c1 100644
--- a/packages/lib/browser.ts
+++ b/packages/lib/browser.ts
@@ -16,3 +16,6 @@ export * from "./src/subscriptions";
 export { default as ExponentialBackoff } from "./src/ExponentialBackoff";
 export { default as RateLimiter } from "./src/RateLimiter";
 export { default as ValueCache } from "./src/ValueCache";
+
+import { checkSingletonImport } from "./src/check_singleton_import";
+checkSingletonImport(import.meta.url);
diff --git a/packages/lib/index.ts b/packages/lib/index.ts
index 96a4da80..d8240ffe 100644
--- a/packages/lib/index.ts
+++ b/packages/lib/index.ts
@@ -38,3 +38,6 @@ export { default as ExponentialBackoff } from "./src/ExponentialBackoff";
 export { default as ModStore } from "./src/ModStore";
 export { default as RateLimiter } from "./src/RateLimiter";
 export { default as ValueCache } from "./src/ValueCache";
+
+import { checkSingletonImport } from "./src/check_singleton_import";
+checkSingletonImport(__filename);
diff --git a/packages/lib/src/check_singleton_import.ts b/packages/lib/src/check_singleton_import.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6a734128
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/lib/src/check_singleton_import.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+import { InstallationError } from "./errors";
+declare global {
+	// eslint-disable-next-line vars-on-top
+	var _clusterioLibImportedFrom: string;
+}
+
+export function checkSingletonImport(location: string) {
+	if (!global._clusterioLibImportedFrom) {
+		global._clusterioLibImportedFrom = location;
+	} else {
+		throw new InstallationError(`Attempt to import duplicate copy of @clusterio/lib
+
+Importing more than one copy of @clusterio/lib into the same runtime
+will break Clusterio. This typically happens when the package
+manager has installed two different versions of @clusterio/lib
+and assigned different ones to different components of Clusterio.
+
+Previously imported @clusterio/lib was located at ${_clusterioLibImportedFrom}
+This copy of @clusterio/lib is located at ${location}`);
+	}
+}
diff --git a/packages/lib/src/errors.ts b/packages/lib/src/errors.ts
index 00071895..e163ef60 100644
--- a/packages/lib/src/errors.ts
+++ b/packages/lib/src/errors.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,13 @@ export class CommandError extends Error {
 	code = "CommandError";
 }
 
+/**
+ * Thrown if the installation is broken, such as when multiple copies of lib is imported
+ */
+export class InstallationError extends Error {
+	code = "InstallationError";
+}
+
 /**
  * Thrown from requests sent when an error occured handling it
  */
diff --git a/packages/lib/src/plugin_loader.ts b/packages/lib/src/plugin_loader.ts
index 115aef46..37b48ca0 100644
--- a/packages/lib/src/plugin_loader.ts
+++ b/packages/lib/src/plugin_loader.ts
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ export async function loadPluginInfos(pluginList: Map<string, string>) {
 			pluginInfo = require(pluginPath).plugin;
 			pluginPackage = require(path.posix.join(pluginPath, "package.json"));
 		} catch (err: any) {
+			if (err.code === "InstallationError") {
+				throw err;
+			}
 			throw new libErrors.PluginError(pluginName, err);
 		}
 
diff --git a/packages/lib/tsconfig.browser.json b/packages/lib/tsconfig.browser.json
index 05554ac8..97bcd427 100644
--- a/packages/lib/tsconfig.browser.json
+++ b/packages/lib/tsconfig.browser.json
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 		"./src/config/*.ts",
 		"./src/data/*.ts",
 		"./src/external/*.ts",
+		"./src/check_singleton_import.ts",
 		"./src/datastore.ts",
 		"./src/errors.ts",
 		"./src/factorio/exchange_string.ts",
diff --git a/packages/lib/tsconfig.node.json b/packages/lib/tsconfig.node.json
index a963c8a0..ef6ccd30 100644
--- a/packages/lib/tsconfig.node.json
+++ b/packages/lib/tsconfig.node.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"extends": "../../tsconfig.node.json",
-	"include": ["index.ts", "browser.ts", "build_mod.js", "src/**/*.ts", "src/**/*.js"],
+	"include": ["index.ts", "build_mod.js", "src/**/*.ts", "src/**/*.js"],
 	"compilerOptions": {
 		"allowJs": true,
 	},
diff --git a/test/lib/check_singleton_import.test.js b/test/lib/check_singleton_import.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c4af4938
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/lib/check_singleton_import.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+const assert = require("assert").strict;
+const { checkSingletonImport } = require("@clusterio/lib/dist/node/src/check_singleton_import");
+// Import lib so it sets the global indicating lib has been imported.
+require("@clusterio/lib");
+
+describe("lib/check_singleton_import", function() {
+	it("Should throw an installation error if called twice", function() {
+		assert.throws(
+			() => checkSingletonImport(__filename),
+			{
+				message: /Attempt to import duplicate copy of @clusterio\/lib/,
+				code: "InstallationError",
+			}
+		);
+	});
+});