diff --git a/examples/cpp/xds/Dockerfile.server b/examples/cpp/xds/Dockerfile.server
index 03dbf132985..f5a6582f293 100644
--- a/examples/cpp/xds/Dockerfile.server
+++ b/examples/cpp/xds/Dockerfile.server
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ FROM python:3.9-slim-bookworm
 
 RUN apt-get update -y && apt-get upgrade -y && apt-get install -y build-essential clang curl
 
+WORKDIR /workdir
+
 RUN ln -s /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python
 RUN mkdir /artifacts