diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts
index 16842c0f5f..defc1037e3 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts
@@ -408,7 +408,10 @@ export async function loadNuxt (opts: LoadNuxtOptions): Promise<Nuxt> {
   options._modules.push(schemaModule)
   options.modulesDir.push(resolve(options.workspaceDir, 'node_modules'))
   options.modulesDir.push(resolve(pkgDir, 'node_modules'))
-  options.build.transpile.push('@nuxt/ui-templates')
+  options.build.transpile.push(
+    '@nuxt/ui-templates', // this exposes vue SFCs
+    'std-env' // we need to statically replace process.env when used in runtime code
+  )
   options.alias['vue-demi'] = resolve(options.appDir, 'compat/vue-demi')
   options.alias['@vue/composition-api'] = resolve(options.appDir, 'compat/capi')
   if (options.telemetry !== false && !process.env.NUXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED) {
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/client.ts b/packages/vite/src/client.ts
index 0cc57c6352..bcebae2c50 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/client.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/client.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ export async function buildClient (ctx: ViteBuildContext) {
       devSourcemap: ctx.nuxt.options.sourcemap.client
     },
     define: {
+      'process.env.NODE_ENV': JSON.stringify(ctx.config.mode),
       'process.server': false,
       'process.client': true,
       'module.hot': false