diff --git a/packages/vite/src/client.ts b/packages/vite/src/client.ts
index 7e92ce91a6..06fd9ea74b 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/client.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/client.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import { defineEventHandler } from 'h3'
 import { cacheDirPlugin } from './plugins/cache-dir'
 import type { ViteBuildContext, ViteOptions } from './vite'
 import { devStyleSSRPlugin } from './plugins/dev-ssr-css'
+import { runtimePathsPlugin } from './plugins/paths'
 import { viteNodePlugin } from './vite-node'
 
 export async function buildClient (ctx: ViteBuildContext) {
@@ -64,6 +65,9 @@ export async function buildClient (ctx: ViteBuildContext) {
         srcDir: ctx.nuxt.options.srcDir,
         buildAssetsURL: joinURL(ctx.nuxt.options.app.baseURL, ctx.nuxt.options.app.buildAssetsDir)
       }),
+      runtimePathsPlugin({
+        sourcemap: ctx.nuxt.options.sourcemap.client
+      }),
       viteNodePlugin(ctx)
     ],
     appType: 'custom',
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/plugins/paths.ts b/packages/vite/src/plugins/paths.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fe3d1f6476
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/vite/src/plugins/paths.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import MagicString from 'magic-string'
+import type { Plugin } from 'vite'
+
+export interface RuntimePathsOptions {
+  sourcemap?: boolean
+}
+
+export function runtimePathsPlugin (options: RuntimePathsOptions): Plugin {
+  return {
+    name: 'nuxt:runtime-paths-dep',
+    enforce: 'post',
+    transform (code, id) {
+      if (code.includes('__VITE_ASSET__') || code.includes('__VITE_PUBLIC_ASSET__')) {
+        const s = new MagicString(code)
+        // Register dependency on paths.mjs, which sets globalThis.__publicAssetsURL
+        s.prepend('import "#build/paths.mjs";')
+
+        return {
+          code: s.toString(),
+          map: options.sourcemap
+            ? s.generateMap({ source: id, includeContent: true })
+            : undefined
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}