diff --git a/src/app_test.tsx b/src/app_test.tsx
index b77da4e5ef8..0528837e8c5 100644
--- a/src/app_test.tsx
+++ b/src/app_test.tsx
@@ -470,3 +470,19 @@ Deno.test("FreshApp - sets error on context", async () => {
   expect(thrown[0][0]).toEqual(thrown[0][1]);
   expect(thrown[1][0]).toEqual(thrown[1][1]);
 });
+
+Deno.test("FreshApp - support setting request init in ctx.render()", async () => {
+  const app = new App<{ text: string }>()
+    .get("/", (ctx) => {
+      return ctx.render(<div>ok</div>, {
+        status: 416,
+        headers: { "X-Foo": "foo" },
+      });
+    });
+
+  const server = new FakeServer(await app.handler());
+  const res = await server.get("/");
+  await res.body?.cancel();
+  expect(res.status).toEqual(416);
+  expect(res.headers.get("X-Foo")).toEqual("foo");
+});
diff --git a/src/context.ts b/src/context.ts
index b4cdc144b7a..4a54428fe13 100644
--- a/src/context.ts
+++ b/src/context.ts
@@ -170,7 +170,11 @@ export class FreshReqContext<State>
       : new Headers();
 
     headers.set("Content-Type", "text/html; charset=utf-8");
-    const responseInit: ResponseInit = { status: init.status ?? 200, headers };
+    const responseInit: ResponseInit = {
+      status: init.status ?? 200,
+      headers,
+      statusText: init.statusText,
+    };
 
     let partialId = "";
     if (this.url.searchParams.has("fresh-partial")) {
diff --git a/src/plugins/fs_routes/mod.ts b/src/plugins/fs_routes/mod.ts
index 7a28157f16a..f52f002a6a3 100644
--- a/src/plugins/fs_routes/mod.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/fs_routes/mod.ts
@@ -156,6 +156,8 @@ export async function fsRoutes<State>(
   const stack: InternalRoute<State>[] = [];
   let hasApp = false;
 
+  const specialPaths = new Set<string>();
+
   for (let i = 0; i < routeModules.length; i++) {
     const routeMod = routeModules[i];
     const normalized = routeMod.path;
@@ -246,10 +248,15 @@ export async function fsRoutes<State>(
         }
         let parent = mod.path.slice(0, -"_error".length);
         parent = parent === "/" ? "*" : parent + "*";
-        app.all(
-          parent,
-          errorMiddleware(errorComponents, handler),
-        );
+
+        // Add error route as it's own route
+        if (!specialPaths.has(mod.path)) {
+          specialPaths.add(mod.path);
+          app.all(
+            parent,
+            errorMiddleware(errorComponents, handler),
+          );
+        }
         middlewares.push(errorMiddleware(errorComponents, handler));
         continue;
       }
diff --git a/src/plugins/fs_routes/mod_test.tsx b/src/plugins/fs_routes/mod_test.tsx
index 262e377ba54..693b2aa6361 100644
--- a/src/plugins/fs_routes/mod_test.tsx
+++ b/src/plugins/fs_routes/mod_test.tsx
@@ -941,6 +941,74 @@ Deno.test("fsRoutes - async route components returning response", async () => {
   expect(text).toEqual("index");
 });
 
+Deno.test(
+  "fsRoutes - returns response code from error route",
+  async () => {
+    const server = await createServer<{ text: string }>({
+      "routes/_app.tsx": {
+        default: (ctx) => {
+          return (
+            <div>
+              _app/<ctx.Component />
+            </div>
+          );
+        },
+      },
+      "routes/_error.tsx": {
+        default: () => <div>fail</div>,
+      },
+      "routes/index.tsx": {
+        default: () => <div>index</div>,
+      },
+      "routes/bar.tsx": {
+        default: () => <div>index</div>,
+      },
+      "routes/foo/index.tsx": {
+        default: () => <div>foo/index</div>,
+      },
+      "routes/foo/_error.tsx": {
+        default: () => {
+          throw new Error("fail");
+        },
+      },
+      "routes/foo/bar.tsx": {
+        default: () => <div>foo/index</div>,
+      },
+    });
+
+    let res = await server.get("/fooa");
+    await res.body?.cancel();
+    expect(res.status).toEqual(404);
+
+    res = await server.get("/foo/asdf");
+    await res.body?.cancel();
+    expect(res.status).toEqual(500);
+  },
+);
+
+Deno.test(
+  "fsRoutes - set headers from handler",
+  async () => {
+    const server = await createServer<{ text: string }>({
+      "routes/index.tsx": {
+        handler: (ctx) => {
+          return ctx.render(<h1>hello</h1>, {
+            headers: { "X-Foo": "123" },
+            status: 418,
+            statusText: "I'm a fresh teapot",
+          });
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    const res = await server.get("/");
+    await res.body?.cancel();
+    expect(res.status).toEqual(418);
+    expect(res.statusText).toEqual("I'm a fresh teapot");
+    expect(res.headers.get("X-Foo")).toEqual("123");
+  },
+);
+
 Deno.test("fsRoutes - sortRoutePaths", () => {
   let routes = [
     "/foo/[id]",
diff --git a/src/plugins/fs_routes/render_middleware.ts b/src/plugins/fs_routes/render_middleware.ts
index d8fd7a1f945..1f5753895d8 100644
--- a/src/plugins/fs_routes/render_middleware.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/fs_routes/render_middleware.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { type AnyComponent, h, type RenderableProps, type VNode } from "preact";
 import type { MiddlewareFn } from "../../middlewares/mod.ts";
 import type { HandlerFn, PageResponse } from "../../handlers.ts";
 import type { FreshReqContext, PageProps } from "../../context.ts";
+import { HttpError } from "../../error.ts";
 
 export type AsyncAnyComponent<P> = {
   (
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ export function renderMiddleware<State>(
     | AsyncAnyComponent<PageProps<unknown, State>>
   >,
   handler: HandlerFn<unknown, State> | undefined,
+  init?: ResponseInit | undefined,
 ): MiddlewareFn<State> {
   return async (ctx) => {
     let result: PageResponse<unknown> | undefined;
@@ -63,6 +65,23 @@ export function renderMiddleware<State>(
       }
     }
 
-    return ctx.render(vnode!);
+    let status: number | undefined = init?.status;
+    if (
+      ctx.error !== null && ctx.error !== undefined
+    ) {
+      if (
+        ctx.error instanceof HttpError
+      ) {
+        status = ctx.error.status;
+      } else {
+        status = 500;
+      }
+    }
+
+    return ctx.render(vnode!, {
+      status,
+      statusText: init?.statusText,
+      headers: init?.headers,
+    });
   };
 }
diff --git a/src/runtime/server/preact_hooks.tsx b/src/runtime/server/preact_hooks.tsx
index 9f1ad994741..e7eaab888ee 100644
--- a/src/runtime/server/preact_hooks.tsx
+++ b/src/runtime/server/preact_hooks.tsx
@@ -26,12 +26,10 @@ import {
 import type { BuildCache } from "../../build_cache.ts";
 import { BUILD_ID } from "../build_id.ts";
 import { DEV_ERROR_OVERLAY_URL } from "../../constants.ts";
-import {
-  getCodeFrame,
-} from "../../dev/middlewares/error_overlay/code_frame.tsx";
 import * as colors from "@std/fmt/colors";
 import { escape as escapeHtml } from "@std/html";
 import { HttpError } from "../../error.ts";
+import { getCodeFrame } from "../../dev/middlewares/error_overlay/code_frame.tsx";
 
 const enum OptionsType {
   ATTR = "attr",