diff --git a/.changeset/fix-relative-container-fetch.md b/.changeset/fix-relative-container-fetch.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8b6253
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fix-relative-container-fetch.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@cloudflare/containers': patch
+---
+
+Support relative URL paths in `containerFetch`.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c220388..75493b9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -582,6 +582,12 @@ export class FetchStyleContainer extends Container {
 }
 ```
 
+Relative paths are resolved against an internal origin (`http://container`), so the container
+receives `Host: container` for these requests. Routing is unaffected — the request is always
+delivered to the selected port — but if your application validates the `Host` header (for example
+Django's `ALLOWED_HOSTS` or Vite's `allowedHosts`), either allow `container` or pass an absolute
+URL instead.
+
 ### Managing Container Idle Timeout
 
 The Container class includes an automatic idle timeout feature that will shut down the container after a period of inactivity. This helps save resources when containers are not in use.
diff --git a/src/lib/container.ts b/src/lib/container.ts
index 44c2f0d..67c8677 100644
--- a/src/lib/container.ts
+++ b/src/lib/container.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ const UNEXPECTED_EXIT_ERROR = 'container exited with unexpected exit code:';
 const NOT_LISTENING_ERROR = 'the container is not listening';
 const CONTAINER_STATE_KEY = '__CF_CONTAINER_STATE';
 const OUTBOUND_CONFIGURATION_KEY = 'OUTBOUND_CONFIGURATION';
+const CONTAINER_REQUEST_BASE_URL = 'http://container';
 
 // maxRetries before scheduling next alarm is purposely set to 3,
 // as according to DO docs at https://developers.cloudflare.com/durable-objects/api/alarms/
@@ -1662,7 +1663,7 @@ export class Container<Env = Cloudflare.Env> extends DurableObject<Env> {
       port = typeof portOrInit === 'number' ? portOrInit : undefined;
     } else {
       // URL-based: containerFetch(url, init?, port?)
-      const url = typeof requestOrUrl === 'string' ? requestOrUrl : requestOrUrl.toString();
+      const url = new URL(requestOrUrl, CONTAINER_REQUEST_BASE_URL);
       const init = typeof portOrInit === 'number' ? {} : portOrInit || {};
       port =
         typeof portOrInit === 'number'
diff --git a/src/tests/container.test.ts b/src/tests/container.test.ts
index 141017d..c2da5ff 100644
--- a/src/tests/container.test.ts
+++ b/src/tests/container.test.ts
@@ -312,6 +312,54 @@ describe('Container', () => {
     expect(tcpPort.fetch).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.any(String), expect.any(Object));
   });
 
+  test('containerFetch should accept a relative URL', async ({ mockCtx, container }) => {
+    mockCtx.container.running = true;
+    mockCtx.storage.get.mockResolvedValue({ status: 'healthy', lastChange: Date.now() });
+
+    await container.containerFetch('/api/data');
+
+    const tcpPort = mockCtx.container.getTcpPort.mock.results[0].value;
+    expect(tcpPort.fetch).toHaveBeenCalledWith('http://container/api/data', expect.any(Request));
+  });
+
+  test('containerFetch should accept a relative URL with init and an explicit port', async ({
+    mockCtx,
+    container,
+  }) => {
+    mockCtx.container.running = true;
+    mockCtx.storage.get.mockResolvedValue({ status: 'healthy', lastChange: Date.now() });
+
+    await container.containerFetch(
+      '/api/data?query=value',
+      { method: 'POST', body: JSON.stringify({ query: 'example' }) },
+      9090
+    );
+
+    expect(mockCtx.container.getTcpPort).toHaveBeenCalledWith(9090);
+
+    const tcpPort = mockCtx.container.getTcpPort.mock.results[0].value;
+    expect(tcpPort.fetch).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      'http://container/api/data?query=value',
+      expect.any(Request)
+    );
+
+    const forwarded = tcpPort.fetch.mock.calls[0][1] as Request;
+    expect(forwarded.method).toBe('POST');
+    await expect(forwarded.text()).resolves.toBe(JSON.stringify({ query: 'example' }));
+  });
+
+  test('containerFetch should leave absolute URLs untouched', async ({ mockCtx, container }) => {
+    mockCtx.container.running = true;
+    mockCtx.storage.get.mockResolvedValue({ status: 'healthy', lastChange: Date.now() });
+
+    await container.containerFetch(new URL('https://example.com/admin'), { method: 'GET' }, 3000);
+
+    expect(mockCtx.container.getTcpPort).toHaveBeenCalledWith(3000);
+
+    const tcpPort = mockCtx.container.getTcpPort.mock.results[0].value;
+    expect(tcpPort.fetch).toHaveBeenCalledWith('http://example.com/admin', expect.any(Request));
+  });
+
   test('containerFetch should return 429 when startup is rate limited', async ({ container }) => {
     const mockRequest = new Request('https://example.com/test', { method: 'GET' });
     using startSpy = vi