diff --git a/src/dev/build/tasks/create_package_json_task.ts b/src/dev/build/tasks/create_package_json_task.ts
index 32470bebaa36..2eea7874e668 100644
--- a/src/dev/build/tasks/create_package_json_task.ts
+++ b/src/dev/build/tasks/create_package_json_task.ts
@@ -39,14 +39,30 @@ export const CreatePackageJson: Task = {
   async run(config, log, build) {
     const pkg = config.getOpenSearchDashboardsPkg();
     /**
-     * OpenSearch server has a logic that if the pkg.branch is "main",
-     * set the docVersion to latest. So here we exclude main.
+     * OpenSearch server uses the `branch` property from `package.json` to
+     * build links to the documentation. If set to `main`, it would use `/latest`
+     * and if not, it would use the `version` to construct URLs.
      */
-    const semverResult = parse(config.getBuildVersion());
-    const shouldPatch = semverResult && pkg.branch !== 'main';
-    const branch = shouldPatch ? `${semverResult.major}.${semverResult.minor}` : pkg.branch;
-    if (shouldPatch) {
-      log.info(`Patch branch property: ${branch}`);
+    const buildVersion = config.getBuildVersion();
+    let branch;
+    if (pkg.branch === 'main') {
+      branch = pkg.branch;
+    } else {
+      const parsedBuildVersion = parse(buildVersion);
+      if (parsedBuildVersion) {
+        branch = `${parsedBuildVersion.major}.${parsedBuildVersion.minor}`;
+        log.info(`Updating package.branch to ${branch}`);
+      } else {
+        const validDocPathsPattern = /^\d+\.\d+$/;
+        if (validDocPathsPattern.test(pkg.branch)) {
+          branch = pkg.branch;
+        } else {
+          // package version was not parsable and branch is unusable
+          throw new Error(
+            `Failed to identify documentation path while generating package.json: encountered invalid build version (${buildVersion}) and branch property (${pkg.branch}).`
+          );
+        }
+      }
     }
 
     const newPkg = {
@@ -54,7 +70,7 @@ export const CreatePackageJson: Task = {
       private: true,
       description: pkg.description,
       keywords: pkg.keywords,
-      version: config.getBuildVersion(),
+      version: buildVersion,
       branch,
       build: {
         number: config.getBuildNumber(),