diff --git a/packages/vite/hmr/server/ns-rt-bridge.spec.ts b/packages/vite/hmr/server/ns-rt-bridge.spec.ts
index 3d1f834b31..e25c642dfd 100644
--- a/packages/vite/hmr/server/ns-rt-bridge.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/hmr/server/ns-rt-bridge.spec.ts
@@ -212,4 +212,20 @@ describe('/ns/rt bridge builder', () => {
 		const names = discoverNsvBridgeExports('/tmp/__no_such_project__');
 		expect(names.size).toBe(0);
 	});
+
+	it('does not cache a registry miss in __ensure() and warns once', () => {
+		// The bridge can be evaluated before the vendor module is registered
+		// (a served module importing /ns/rt); caching `{}` then leaves every
+		// binding undefined for the life of the session.
+		const code = buildNsRtBridgeModule({ rtVer: '1', requireGuardSnippet: '', vendorExports: ['defineComponent'] });
+		const ensure = code.slice(code.indexOf('function __ensure(){'), code.indexOf('export const __realm'));
+		expect(ensure).toContain('if (!vm) {');
+		expect(ensure).toMatch(/if \(!vm\) \{[^\n]*return \{\};/);
+		expect(ensure).toContain('__NS_RT_MISS_WARNED__');
+		expect(ensure).toContain("console.warn('[ns-rt] nativescript-vue is not registered");
+		const missIndex = ensure.indexOf('if (!vm) {');
+		const cacheIndex = ensure.indexOf('__cached_rt = rt;');
+		expect(missIndex).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+		expect(cacheIndex).toBeGreaterThan(missIndex);
+	});
 });
diff --git a/packages/vite/hmr/server/ns-rt-bridge.ts b/packages/vite/hmr/server/ns-rt-bridge.ts
index 0383d42272..ad77b064c2 100644
--- a/packages/vite/hmr/server/ns-rt-bridge.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/hmr/server/ns-rt-bridge.ts
@@ -91,7 +91,9 @@ export function buildNsRtBridgeModule(options: NsRtBridgeOptions): string {
 		`  let vm = null;\n` +
 		`  try { vm = reg && reg.has && reg.has('nativescript-vue') ? reg.get('nativescript-vue') : (typeof req==='function' ? req('nativescript-vue') : null); } catch {}\n` +
 		`  if (!vm) { try { vm = reg && reg.has && reg.has('vue') ? reg.get('vue') : (typeof req==='function' ? req('vue') : null); } catch {} }\n` +
-		`  const rt = (vm && (vm.default ?? vm)) || {};\n` +
+		// A miss is not cached so a later call can pick up the registration
+		`  if (!vm) { if (!g.__NS_RT_MISS_WARNED__) { g.__NS_RT_MISS_WARNED__ = true; console.warn('[ns-rt] nativescript-vue is not registered in the vendor registry yet; bindings read from /ns/rt now are undefined'); } return {}; }\n` +
+		`  const rt = vm.default ?? vm;\n` +
 		`  __cached_vm = vm;\n` +
 		`  __cached_rt = rt;\n` +
 		`  return rt;\n` +
diff --git a/packages/vite/hmr/server/websocket-ns-m.ts b/packages/vite/hmr/server/websocket-ns-m.ts
index 704cd7e3f9..016938bdaa 100644
--- a/packages/vite/hmr/server/websocket-ns-m.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/hmr/server/websocket-ns-m.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import { collapseLegacyNsMTags } from './websocket-ns-m-paths.js';
 import { createNsMRequestContext, resolveNsMTransformedModule } from './websocket-ns-m-request.js';
 import { setDeviceModuleHeaders } from './route-helpers.js';
 import { CSS_MODULE_RE, buildCssRegisterSnippetFromVar, normalizeCssForDevice } from './css-device-module.js';
-import { assertNoOptimizedArtifacts, buildBootProgressSnippet, canonicalizeRtImports, classifyServedModule, dedupeRtNamedImportsAgainstDestructures, deduplicateLinkerImports, ensureDestructureCoreImports, ensureGuardPlainDynamicImports, ensureVariableDynamicImportHelper, expandStarExports, hoistTopLevelStaticImports, MODULE_IMPORT_ANALYSIS_PLUGINS, wrapCommonJsModuleForDevice, ensureWorkerEntryGlobalsImport } from './websocket-served-module-helpers.js';
+import { assertNoOptimizedArtifacts, buildBootProgressSnippet, canonicalizeRtImports, dedupeRtNamedImportsAgainstDestructures, deduplicateLinkerImports, ensureDestructureCoreImports, ensureGuardPlainDynamicImports, ensureVariableDynamicImportHelper, expandStarExports, hoistTopLevelStaticImports, MODULE_IMPORT_ANALYSIS_PLUGINS, wrapCommonJsModuleForDevice, ensureWorkerEntryGlobalsImport, classifyServedRequest } from './websocket-served-module-helpers.js';
 import { cleanCode, collectImportDependencies, isWorkerEntryModuleId, processCodeForDevice, rewriteImports } from './websocket-device-transform.js';
 import { REQUIRE_GUARD_SNIPPET } from './require-guard.js';
 import { getServerOrigin } from './server-origin.js';
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ export function registerNsModuleServerRoute(server: ViteDevServer, options: Regi
 			// must skip the app-source passes inside processCodeForDevice (AST
 			// normalization, /ns/rt helper-alias injection). One classification
 			// point — see classifyServedModule for the full case list.
-			const isNodeMod = classifyServedModule(resolvedCandidate || spec) === 'library';
+			const isNodeMod = classifyServedRequest(spec, resolvedCandidate) === 'library';
 			code = processCodeForDevice(code, false, true, isNodeMod, resolvedCandidate || spec, isWorkerRealmRequest ? { workerRealm: true } : undefined);
 			// import.meta.hot is JS-owned: cleanCode() strips Vite's browser
 			// __vite__createHotContext assignment and processCodeForDevice
diff --git a/packages/vite/hmr/server/websocket-served-module-helpers.spec.ts b/packages/vite/hmr/server/websocket-served-module-helpers.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5820956b9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/vite/hmr/server/websocket-served-module-helpers.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+
+import { classifyServedModule, classifyServedRequest } from './websocket-served-module-helpers.js';
+
+describe('classifyServedRequest', () => {
+	it('treats a package request as library code when its resolved id is a symlink target outside node_modules', () => {
+		// `file:` / `npm link` packages resolve to their real path, which has no
+		// node_modules segment; the request spec still identifies a vendor package.
+		expect(classifyServedRequest('/node_modules/nativescript-vue', '/Users/dev/nativescript-vue/dist/index.js')).toBe('library');
+		expect(classifyServedRequest('/node_modules/nativescript-vue/dist/renderer/index.js', '/Users/dev/nativescript-vue/dist/renderer/index.js')).toBe('library');
+	});
+
+	it('keeps library classification when only the resolved id is under node_modules', () => {
+		expect(classifyServedRequest('/src/app.ts', '/proj/node_modules/some-pkg/index.js')).toBe('library');
+	});
+
+	it('classifies app sources as app', () => {
+		expect(classifyServedRequest('/src/components/Home.vue', '/proj/src/components/Home.vue')).toBe('app');
+		expect(classifyServedRequest('/src/app.ts', null)).toBe('app');
+	});
+
+	it('falls back to the spec when nothing resolved', () => {
+		expect(classifyServedRequest('/node_modules/pkg/index.js', null)).toBe('library');
+		expect(classifyServedModule('/node_modules/pkg/index.js')).toBe('library');
+	});
+});
diff --git a/packages/vite/hmr/server/websocket-served-module-helpers.ts b/packages/vite/hmr/server/websocket-served-module-helpers.ts
index 6665968444..36e10e2c89 100644
--- a/packages/vite/hmr/server/websocket-served-module-helpers.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/hmr/server/websocket-served-module-helpers.ts
@@ -93,6 +93,17 @@ export function classifyServedModule(p: string | undefined | null): ServedModule
 	return 'app';
 }
 
+/**
+ * Classifies a served request from both its spec and its resolved id.
+ * @param spec Request spec, such as `/node_modules/pkg`.
+ * @param resolvedId Resolved module id, if any.
+ */
+export function classifyServedRequest(spec: string | undefined | null, resolvedId: string | undefined | null): ServedModuleKind {
+	// A symlinked package resolves to a real path outside node_modules
+	if (classifyServedModule(resolvedId) === 'library') return 'library';
+	return classifyServedModule(spec);
+}
+
 export const MODULE_IMPORT_ANALYSIS_PLUGINS = ['typescript', 'jsx', 'importMeta', 'topLevelAwait', 'classProperties', 'classPrivateProperties', 'classPrivateMethods', 'decorators-legacy'] as any;
 
 export type TopLevelImportRecord = {