diff --git a/demo/src/entrypoints/background.ts b/demo/src/entrypoints/background.ts
index 8a2a5b81..cfe9d9dd 100644
--- a/demo/src/entrypoints/background.ts
+++ b/demo/src/entrypoints/background.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import messages from 'public/_locales/en/messages.json';
+import messages from '~/public/_locales/en/messages.json';
 
 export default defineBackground({
   // type: 'module',
diff --git a/demo/wxt.config.ts b/demo/wxt.config.ts
index 93e78f24..b8406b12 100644
--- a/demo/wxt.config.ts
+++ b/demo/wxt.config.ts
@@ -12,9 +12,6 @@ export default defineConfig({
       },
     ],
   },
-  alias: {
-    public: 'src/public',
-  },
   zip: {
     downloadPackages: ['sass'],
   },
diff --git a/src/core/builders/vite/index.ts b/src/core/builders/vite/index.ts
index 101596bc..179f1517 100644
--- a/src/core/builders/vite/index.ts
+++ b/src/core/builders/vite/index.ts
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ export async function createViteBuilder(
     config.mode = wxtConfig.mode;
 
     config.build ??= {};
+    config.publicDir = wxtConfig.publicDir;
+    config.build.copyPublicDir = false;
     config.build.outDir = wxtConfig.outDir;
     config.build.emptyOutDir = false;
     // Disable minification for the dev command