diff --git a/src/node/plugin.ts b/src/node/plugin.ts
index f9c38be1..300a67a7 100644
--- a/src/node/plugin.ts
+++ b/src/node/plugin.ts
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ export async function createVitePressPlugin(
         optimizeDeps: {
           // force include vue to avoid duplicated copies when linked + optimized
           include: ['vue'],
-          exclude: ['@docsearch/js']
+          exclude: ['@docsearch/js', 'vitepress']
         },
         server: {
           fs: {