diff --git a/tools/empty_package_config.json b/tools/empty_package_config.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..78625d1ca08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/empty_package_config.json
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{
+    "copyright": [
+        "Copyright (c) 2024, the Dart project authors. Please see the AUTHORS ",
+        "file for details. All rights reserved. Use of this source code is ",
+        "governed by a BSD-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file."
+    ],
+    "comment": [
+        "Empty package configuration, used to bootstrap generate_package_config.dart"
+    ],
+    "configVersion": 2,
+    "packages": []
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tools/generate_package_config.py b/tools/generate_package_config.py
index b763b3d714c..35b18bb6647 100644
--- a/tools/generate_package_config.py
+++ b/tools/generate_package_config.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ def generate_package_config():
     tools_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
     process = subprocess.run([
         checked_in_sdk_executable(),
+        '--packages=%s' % os.path.join(tools_dir, 'empty_package_config.json'),
         os.path.join(tools_dir, 'generate_package_config.dart')
     ])
     return process.returncode