diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts
index 9c6345ee7..3d8dddab8 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts
@@ -112,6 +112,9 @@ async function initNuxt (nuxt: Nuxt) {
     })
   }
 
+  // Transpile #app if it is imported directly from subpath export
+  nuxt.options.build.transpile.push('nuxt/app')
+
   // Transpile layers within node_modules
   nuxt.options.build.transpile.push(
     ...nuxt.options._layers.filter(i => i.cwd.includes('node_modules')).map(i => i.cwd as string)