diff --git a/docs/config/index.md b/docs/config/index.md
index 1c61f2bef5b7ac..bd039951081581 100644
--- a/docs/config/index.md
+++ b/docs/config/index.md
@@ -880,6 +880,12 @@ export default defineConfig({
 
   Set to `false` to disable minification, or specify the minifier to use. The default is [esbuild](https://github.com/evanw/esbuild) which is 20 ~ 40x faster than terser and only 1 ~ 2% worse compression. [Benchmarks](https://github.com/privatenumber/minification-benchmarks)
 
+  terser must be installed when it is set to `'terser'`.
+
+  ```sh
+  npm add -D terser
+  ```
+
   Note the `build.minify` option is not available when using the `'es'` format in lib mode.
 
 ### build.terserOptions
diff --git a/packages/plugin-legacy/README.md b/packages/plugin-legacy/README.md
index fc4167f4f1010f..bbfd3ac154b1ea 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-legacy/README.md
+++ b/packages/plugin-legacy/README.md
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ export default {
 }
 ```
 
+terser must be installed because plugin-legacy uses terser for minification.
+
+```sh
+npm add -D terser
+```
+
 ## Options
 
 ### `targets`
diff --git a/packages/vite/package.json b/packages/vite/package.json
index 7fa8f652b56729..cdecabe1ce0690 100644
--- a/packages/vite/package.json
+++ b/packages/vite/package.json
@@ -99,7 +99,6 @@
     "source-map-support": "^0.5.21",
     "strip-ansi": "^6.0.1",
     "strip-literal": "^0.3.0",
-    "terser": "^5.13.1",
     "tsconfck": "^2.0.0",
     "tslib": "^2.4.0",
     "types": "link:./types",
@@ -109,7 +108,8 @@
   "peerDependencies": {
     "less": "*",
     "sass": "*",
-    "stylus": "*"
+    "stylus": "*",
+    "terser": "^5.13.1"
   },
   "peerDependenciesMeta": {
     "sass": {
@@ -120,6 +120,9 @@
     },
     "less": {
       "optional": true
+    },
+    "terser": {
+      "optional": true
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/vite/rollup.config.js b/packages/vite/rollup.config.js
index 93f4f33bdec398..62e0167477914d 100644
--- a/packages/vite/rollup.config.js
+++ b/packages/vite/rollup.config.js
@@ -149,10 +149,6 @@ const createNodeConfig = (isProduction) => {
       // Shim them with eval() so rollup can skip these calls.
       isProduction &&
         shimDepsPlugin({
-          'plugins/terser.ts': {
-            src: `require.resolve('terser'`,
-            replacement: `require.resolve('vite/dist/node/terser'`
-          },
           // chokidar -> fsevents
           'fsevents-handler.js': {
             src: `require('fsevents')`,
@@ -192,26 +188,6 @@ const createNodeConfig = (isProduction) => {
   return nodeConfig
 }
 
-/**
- * Terser needs to be run inside a worker, so it cannot be part of the main
- * bundle. We produce a separate bundle for it and shims plugin/terser.ts to
- * use the production path during build.
- *
- * @type { import('rollup').RollupOptions }
- */
-const terserConfig = {
-  ...sharedNodeOptions,
-  output: {
-    ...sharedNodeOptions.output,
-    exports: 'default',
-    sourcemap: false
-  },
-  input: {
-    terser: require.resolve('terser')
-  },
-  plugins: [nodeResolve(), commonjs()]
-}
-
 /**
  * @type { (deps: Record<string, { src?: string, replacement: string, pattern?: RegExp }>) => import('rollup').Plugin }
  */
@@ -388,10 +364,5 @@ export default (commandLineArgs) => {
   const isDev = commandLineArgs.watch
   const isProduction = !isDev
 
-  return [
-    envConfig,
-    clientConfig,
-    createNodeConfig(isProduction),
-    ...(isProduction ? [terserConfig] : [])
-  ]
+  return [envConfig, clientConfig, createNodeConfig(isProduction)]
 }
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
index 1f58de158fdea3..207f0466a96c99 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ import {
   isObject,
   normalizePath,
   parseRequest,
-  processSrcSet
+  processSrcSet,
+  requireResolveFromRootWithFallback
 } from '../utils'
 import { emptyCssComments } from '../utils'
 import { addToHTMLProxyTransformResult } from './html'
@@ -1237,10 +1238,7 @@ function loadPreprocessor(lang: PreprocessLang, root: string): any {
     return loadedPreprocessors[lang]
   }
   try {
-    // Search for the preprocessor in the root directory first, and fall back
-    // to the default require paths.
-    const fallbackPaths = require.resolve.paths?.(lang) || []
-    const resolved = require.resolve(lang, { paths: [root, ...fallbackPaths] })
+    const resolved = requireResolveFromRootWithFallback(root, lang)
     return (loadedPreprocessors[lang] = require(resolved))
   } catch (e) {
     if (e.code === 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND') {
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/terser.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/terser.ts
index 9dc546191d14f7..e022862a5dd87a 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/terser.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/terser.ts
@@ -2,18 +2,29 @@ import { Worker } from 'okie'
 import type { Terser } from 'types/terser'
 import type { Plugin } from '../plugin'
 import type { ResolvedConfig } from '..'
+import { requireResolveFromRootWithFallback } from '../utils'
+
+let terserPath: string | undefined
+const loadTerserPath = (root: string) => {
+  if (terserPath) return terserPath
+  try {
+    terserPath = requireResolveFromRootWithFallback(root, 'terser')
+  } catch (e) {
+    if (e.code === 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND') {
+      throw new Error(`terser not found. Did you install it?`)
+    } else {
+      const message = new Error(`terser failed to load:\n${e.message}`)
+      message.stack = e.stack + '\n' + message.stack
+      throw message
+    }
+  }
+  return terserPath
+}
 
 export function terserPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
   const makeWorker = () =>
     new Worker(
-      async (basedir: string, code: string, options: Terser.MinifyOptions) => {
-        // when vite is linked, the worker thread won't share the same resolve
-        // root with vite itself, so we have to pass in the basedir and resolve
-        // terser first.
-        // eslint-disable-next-line node/no-restricted-require
-        const terserPath = require.resolve('terser', {
-          paths: [basedir]
-        })
+      (terserPath: string, code: string, options: Terser.MinifyOptions) => {
         return require(terserPath).minify(code, options) as Terser.MinifyOutput
       }
     )
@@ -44,7 +55,8 @@ export function terserPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
       // Lazy load worker.
       worker ||= makeWorker()
 
-      const res = await worker.run(__dirname, code, {
+      const terserPath = loadTerserPath(config.root)
+      const res = await worker.run(terserPath, code, {
         safari10: true,
         ...config.build.terserOptions,
         sourceMap: !!outputOptions.sourcemap,
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/utils.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/utils.ts
index 3748aa3b465b2c..6c0887d959dd9a 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/utils.ts
@@ -774,6 +774,19 @@ export function getHash(text: Buffer | string): string {
   return createHash('sha256').update(text).digest('hex').substring(0, 8)
 }
 
+export const requireResolveFromRootWithFallback = (
+  root: string,
+  id: string
+) => {
+  // Search in the root directory first, and fallback to the default require paths.
+  const fallbackPaths = require.resolve.paths?.(id) || []
+  // eslint-disable-next-line node/no-missing-require
+  const path = require.resolve(id, {
+    paths: [root, ...fallbackPaths]
+  })
+  return path
+}
+
 // Based on node-graceful-fs
 
 // The ISC License
diff --git a/playground/legacy/package.json b/playground/legacy/package.json
index 4f11c234573f40..347e410e2bf4d6 100644
--- a/playground/legacy/package.json
+++ b/playground/legacy/package.json
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@vitejs/plugin-legacy": "workspace:*",
-    "express": "^4.18.1"
+    "express": "^4.18.1",
+    "terser": "^5.13.1"
   }
 }
diff --git a/playground/preload/package.json b/playground/preload/package.json
index f38267b0b8f8d7..617fdc04336b3f 100644
--- a/playground/preload/package.json
+++ b/playground/preload/package.json
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
     "vue-router": "^4.0.15"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
-    "@vitejs/plugin-vue": "workspace:*"
+    "@vitejs/plugin-vue": "workspace:*",
+    "terser": "^5.13.1"
   }
 }
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index 00d6847a132bf4..81fa4ea8b34bbd 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -261,7 +261,6 @@ importers:
       source-map-support: ^0.5.21
       strip-ansi: ^6.0.1
       strip-literal: ^0.3.0
-      terser: ^5.13.1
       tsconfck: ^2.0.0
       tslib: ^2.4.0
       types: link:./types
@@ -323,7 +322,6 @@ importers:
       source-map-support: 0.5.21
       strip-ansi: 6.0.1
       strip-literal: 0.3.0
-      terser: 5.13.1
       tsconfck: 2.0.0
       tslib: 2.4.0
       types: link:types
@@ -491,9 +489,11 @@ importers:
     specifiers:
       '@vitejs/plugin-legacy': workspace:*
       express: ^4.18.1
+      terser: ^5.13.1
     devDependencies:
       '@vitejs/plugin-legacy': link:../../packages/plugin-legacy
       express: 4.18.1
+      terser: 5.13.1
 
   playground/lib:
     specifiers: {}
@@ -660,6 +660,7 @@ importers:
   playground/preload:
     specifiers:
       '@vitejs/plugin-vue': workspace:*
+      terser: ^5.13.1
       vue: ^3.2.33
       vue-router: ^4.0.15
     dependencies:
@@ -667,6 +668,7 @@ importers:
       vue-router: 4.0.15_vue@3.2.33
     devDependencies:
       '@vitejs/plugin-vue': link:../../packages/plugin-vue
+      terser: 5.13.1
 
   playground/preserve-symlinks:
     specifiers: