vite: prerendering silently emits no HTML when the SSR entry is outside the auto-detected directories

Environment

• Nitro: 3.0.260903-beta
• Vite: 8.2.2
• React: 19.2.0, Node.js: v24.20.0
• macOS: 26.6.2, arm64
• Minimal React SSR app using nitro/vite with prerender.routes: ["/"]. No Nuxt or other framework.
• Also inspected Nitro main at c5177e9218cdd113c6c6a6a74b2924b2354af120; the detection logic below is unchanged there. The reproduction was executed against the published beta listed above.

Reproduction

Ready-to-run repository: https://github.com/cprecioso/nitro-prerender-entry-repro

git clone https://github.com/cprecioso/nitro-prerender-entry-repro.git
cd nitro-prerender-entry-repro
npm ci
npm run repro

The check builds the same app three times, changing only the Vite config, and exits with code 1 while the behaviour reproduces.

The app is a trivial React SSR setup. The SSR entry is still named entry-server.tsx; the only variable is that it sits at src/ssr/ rather than src/.

Describe the bug

Nitro auto-detects the Vite SSR entry by probing for ./entry-server in <rootDir|scanDirs>/{app,src,}/. When the entry is anywhere else, no ssr service is registered and no renderer is wired up, but the build still exits 0. The prerenderer resolves every route to [404], emits no HTML at all, and prints no warning that the app has no renderer.

.output/public/ ends up containing only the client JS chunk, with no HTML entry point, while the build reports success and suggests npx vite preview. Moving the file up one directory, with no other change, prerenders correctly.

Expected: one of

1. Nitro warns or errors when there is no renderer and no ssr service, rather than emitting a successful build with zero HTML.
2. Every prerendered route resolving to [404] is treated as a build failure.
3. There is a discoverable, documented way to point at an SSR entry in a non-standard location.

Workaround. Declaring the entry as the ssr environment input works:

environments: {
  ssr: {
    build: { rollupOptions: { input: "src/ssr/entry-server.tsx" } },
  },
  client: {
    build: { rollupOptions: { input: "src/entry-client.tsx" } },
  },
},

setupNitroContext skips auto-detection when userConfig.environments.ssr is defined and resolves the env's input as the ssr service instead, after which configResolved still auto-wires renderer.handler to the internal ssr-renderer.

This was hard to arrive at. environments.ssr does appear in the Solid and Vue Router examples, but always pointing at a file named entry-server, and it is introduced there as a framework requirement ("SolidJS requires explicit ssr and client environment configuration") rather than as the way to relocate the SSR entry. docs/1.docs/61.vite.md documents the auto-detection rule and environments.client.build.rollupOptions.input for the client entry, with no ssr counterpart mentioned.

Additional context

Secondary, and possibly the more useful fix: renderer.handler looks like the right option and fails confusingly.

The renderer docs describe renderer.handler as "Path to a custom renderer handler module", so it is the natural thing to reach for when the handler is not auto-detected. Setting renderer: { handler: "src/ssr/entry-server.tsx" } routes the file into Nitro's own rolldown bundle, which has no Vite plugins, so the ?assets= virtual modules (and JSX, and CSS imports) cannot be resolved. It fails identically regardless of where the file lives, including the auto-detected location. Logs below.

It would help if renderer.handler rejected a path belonging to a Vite environment with an explanatory error, or if the docs noted that under the Vite plugin the SSR entry is configured via environments.ssr and never via renderer.handler.

Relevant source:

• Entry auto-detection: src/build/vite/plugin.ts#L427-L440
• Renderer auto-wiring, which requires ctx.services.ssr?.entry: src/build/vite/plugin.ts#L198-L206

Happy to open a PR for whichever direction you prefer.

Prepared with AI assistance; the reproduction was executed locally.

Logs

# npx vite build   (entry at src/ssr/entry-server.tsx, no environments.ssr)

[nitro] ◐ Building [Nitro] (preset: node-server, compatibility: 2026-09-07)
[nitro] ✔ Generated public .output/public
[nitro] ℹ Initializing prerenderer
[nitro] ℹ Prerendering 1 routes
[nitro]   ├─ / (109ms)
  │ └── [404]
[nitro] ℹ Prerendered 0 routes in 0.123 seconds

[nitro] ✔ You can preview this build using npx vite preview

$ echo $?
0
$ find .output/public -type f
.output/public/assets/entry-client-Ba_RLnZH.js


# npx vite build --config vite.config.renderer-handler.ts

error during build:
Error: Build failed with 2 errors:

[UNLOADABLE_DEPENDENCY] Could not load src/ssr/entry-server.tsx?assets=ssr
   ╭─[ src/ssr/entry-server.tsx:7:26 ]
   │
 7 │ import serverAssets from "./entry-server?assets=ssr";
   │                          ────────────┬────────────
   │                                      ╰──────────── No such file or directory (os error 2)
───╯

[UNLOADABLE_DEPENDENCY] Could not load src/entry-client.tsx?assets=client
   ╭─[ src/ssr/entry-server.tsx:6:26 ]
   │
 6 │ import clientAssets from "../entry-client?assets=client";
   │                          ───────────────┬───────────────
   │                                         ╰─────────────── No such file or directory (os error 2)
───╯

    at aggregateBindingErrorsIntoJsError (node_modules/rolldown/dist/shared/error-BP8lJHle.mjs:48:18)
    at async prerender (node_modules/nitro/dist/_chunks/nitro.mjs:743:2)
    at async buildEnvironments (node_modules/nitro/dist/vite.mjs:121:2)

Start with src/build/vite/plugin.ts lines 427-440 and 198-206, then run npm ci && npm run repro in the linked reproduction. Trace how a missing SSR entry leaves ctx.services.ssr unset and how prerendering handles [404]. Done means the chosen behavior is covered for a non-standard entry and the documentation or diagnostic matches the decision.