Nuxt•3w ago

nuxt3 broken production vs working dev

Hello guys, i am using vuejs 3 with nuxt 3.. every thing works fine while "npm run dev" but when i try "npm run build / npm run preview" production simulation does not work i have a lot of error in console. it seems like a commun error in nuxt 3 but not clear response about it.

in production simulation i will have "no suche file directory" over -> .output/server/chunks/public/_nuxt/index.CMVaPzC1.css

which is normal since the "index.CMVaPzC1.css" is generated under :
.output/public/_nuxt/index.CMVaPzC1.css
and not under
.output/server/chunks/public/_nuxt/index.CMVaPzC1.css

clearly nuxt is searching in the wrong directory.. i tried to changed in nuxt.conf.js file directory but no results..

any tips about this issue guys ?

kapa.ai•12/5/25, 11:55 AM

Hi @Mazino. I'm kapa.ai, your friendly support bot. I will try to answer your question by searching through the knowledge base. :wave:

kapa.ai•12/5/25, 11:55 AM

----------------------
There’s not enough in the provided knowledge sources to explain exactly why your build is looking for CSS under .output/server/chunks/public/_nuxt/....output/server/chunks/public/_nuxt/... instead of .output/public/_nuxt/....output/public/_nuxt/..., so I can’t give a precise root cause for your project.

From the sources, we do know:

In a normal Nuxt 3 build, client assets (JS/CSS) end up under .nuxt/dist/client/_nuxt/....nuxt/dist/client/_nuxt/... and are then exposed from .output/public/_nuxt/....output/public/_nuxt/... when you run the Nitro server (
```
node .output/server/index.mjs
```
```
node .output/server/index.mjs
```
). [Nuxt .output]
The server bundle lives under .nuxt/dist/server.nuxt/dist/server and .output/server.output/server, and should reference assets via the public URL (/_nuxt/.../_nuxt/...), not by trying to load them from a server/chunks/public/...server/chunks/public/... path. [Nuxt .output]
When .output.output is wrong or empty, it’s usually due to a misconfiguration or project corruption; one user fixed a broken .output.output by creating a fresh Nuxt 3 project and carefully copying their code into it. [Empty .output]

Given that:

Your CSS file is correctly generated under .output/public/_nuxt/index.CMVaPzC1.css.output/public/_nuxt/index.CMVaPzC1.css.
The server is incorrectly looking under .output/server/chunks/public/_nuxt/....output/server/chunks/public/_nuxt/....

That strongly suggests some custom configuration (or plugin/module) is altering how asset paths are resolved in production, but the knowledge sources don’t show the exact setting that would cause this.

What you can try (based on what has worked for others):

Compare with a fresh Nuxt 3 project

kapa.ai•12/5/25, 11:55 AM

Run `npx nuxi init test-app`, install deps, and run `npm run build && npm run preview`.
- Confirm that in the fresh app:
  - CSS is under .output/public/_nuxt/....output/public/_nuxt/...
  - No references to .output/server/chunks/public/....output/server/chunks/public/... exist.
- Then, as in the referenced fix, copy your pages/pages/,
```
components/
```
```
components/
```
  , etc. into the fresh project step by step until you see the problem appear. [Empty .output]
**Temporarily remove custom build / Vite / Nitro config**
- Comment out anything in nuxt.confignuxt.config related to:
  - build
    build
    ,
    vite
    vite
    , nitronitro, app.baseURLapp.baseURL, or custom rollupOptionsrollupOptions.
- Rebuild and preview. If the paths are now correct, re‑enable options one by one to find the culprit.
**Check for dev‑only assumptions**The GitHub issue on proxies highlights that dev uses Vite directly, while production uses Nitro, so anything wired only for dev can break in production. [[Nuxt proxy build](<https://github.com/nuxt/nuxt/issues/33657>)] If you have code or config that assumes Vite’s dev server paths, it may be rewriting URLs incorrectly in production.

Because the sources don’t document a known Nuxt bug that exactly matches “CSS looked up under .output/server/chunks/public/_nuxt.output/server/chunks/public/_nuxt”, I can’t point to a specific Nuxt option to flip. If you can, try the “fresh project + gradual copy” approach from the .output.output issue; that’s the only concrete, source‑backed way we have here to isolate a broken build configuration. [Empty .output]
----------------------
Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon:
----------------------

kapa.ai•12/5/25, 11:55 AM

@244172399157706752 Kapa.ai is still learning and improving, please let me know how I did by reacting below.

nuxt3 broken production vs working dev

Similar Threads

Similar Threads

Similar Threads