.env contents not replaced during dev in chrome

Describe the bug

Hey there! I appreciate all the work you've done on WXT.

I have a slightly unique issue, but it's due to what I assume is an overlooked case.

I use a custom profile for chrome, so it may have to do with that.

The issue I'm facing has to do with the fact that if you change a .env file, it does not get reloaded:

1. During hot reload (that's fine, to be expected)
2. After restarting the project (that's what's surprising to me).

After doing some research, what I've found is that the .env file contents are directly replaced and embedded statically in code, which is why this is surprising, since I assume the changes should be detected as the string itself changes.

Another idea that I could be totally wrong about is how you actually diff the contents of what's in chrome versus development files. I checked, and saw that the uploaded files (console logged) do not change their contents unless removing the chrome extension manually, or starting in a new profile.

This leads me to believe this has nothing to do with how vite handles replacing the code, but how the changes are detected and uploaded in the extension itself.

I'll include a minimally reproducible example.

Some current workarounds I've found is just manually removing the extension from the profile, and then running dev again.

Reproduction

https://github.com/WTPieh/wxt-env-test

Steps to reproduce

How To Test

1. npm install.

2. In order to test the effect I'm running into, you must first run the project with the default url I have in the .env.
   npm run dev

3. In the popup, click on the button. You should get something like delectus etc.

4. Change the .env value to the one I have in a comment. I chose two different JSON placeholders to ensure they have the same value to show how the caching happens.

5. Ctrl + C to end the project.

6. Then run the project again, and click on the button. You'll see that the message is the same.

Look at the console logs to see that output is the same, showing the old .env file is not being replaced.

System Info

Need to install the following packages:
envinfo@7.14.0
Ok to proceed? (y) y


  System:
    OS: macOS 26.0
    CPU: (14) arm64 Apple M4 Pro
    Memory: 585.64 MB / 48.00 GB
    Shell: 5.9 - /bin/zsh
  Binaries:
    Node: 24.2.0 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v24.2.0/bin/node
    npm: 11.3.0 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v24.2.0/bin/npm
    pnpm: 10.12.1 - /opt/homebrew/bin/pnpm
  Browsers:
    Chrome: 138.0.7204.101
    Safari: 26.0
  npmPackages:
    wxt: ^0.20.6 => 0.20.7

Used Package Manager

npm

Validations

• Read the Contributing Guidelines.
• Read the docs.
• Check that there isn't already an issue that reports the same bug to avoid creating a duplicate.
• Check that this is a concrete bug. For Q&A open a GitHub Discussion or join our Discord Chat Server.
• The provided reproduction is a minimal reproducible example of the bug.

Start with the linked minimal reproduction, run npm install and npm run dev, then repeat the .env change and restart steps while comparing the generated output and Chrome extension contents. Trace the development reload, change-detection, and upload path; done means a changed .env value is reflected after restarting without manually removing the extension.