diff --git a/bootstrap.sh b/bootstrap.sh
index ba8ac5e2959..a82b2b84b71 100755
--- a/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/bootstrap.sh
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ function start_txes {
   for i in $(seq 0 $((NUM_TXES-1))); do
     port=$((txe_base_port + i))
     kill_port $port
-    dump_fail "LOG_LEVEL=info TXE_PORT=$port retry 'node --no-warnings ./yarn-project/txe/dest/bin/index.js'" &
+    dump_fail "LOG_LEVEL=info TXE_PORT=$port retry 'node --no-warnings ./yarn-project/txe/dest/bin/index.bundle.js'" &
     txe_pids+="$! "
   done
 
diff --git a/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/ecdsa_k/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/ecdsa_k/lazy.ts
index 27618dcb67d..9d849dade05 100644
--- a/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/ecdsa_k/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/ecdsa_k/lazy.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import { EcdsaKBaseAccountContract } from './account_contract.js';
  * @returns The contract artifact for the ecdsa K account contract
  */
 export async function getEcdsaKAccountContractArtifact() {
-  // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+  // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
   // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
   // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
   // "text/javascript"
diff --git a/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/ecdsa_r/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/ecdsa_r/lazy.ts
index 7347c400850..f6d99374a8c 100644
--- a/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/ecdsa_r/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/ecdsa_r/lazy.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import { EcdsaRBaseAccountContract } from './account_contract.js';
  * @returns The contract artifact for the ecdsa K account contract
  */
 export async function getEcdsaRAccountContractArtifact() {
-  // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+  // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
   // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
   // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
   // "text/javascript"
diff --git a/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/stub/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/stub/lazy.ts
index ed4187817e7..880b92311ae 100644
--- a/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/stub/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/accounts/src/ecdsa/stub/lazy.ts
@@ -9,8 +9,11 @@ import { StubBaseAccountContract } from '../../defaults/stub_account_contract.js
  * Lazily loads the ECDSA stub contract artifact (browser-compatible).
  */
 export async function getStubEcdsaAccountContractArtifact() {
-  // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+  // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
   // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
+  // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
+  // "text/javascript"
+  // In the meantime, this lazy import is INCOMPATIBLE WITH NODEJS
   const { default: json } = await import('../../../artifacts/SimulatedEcdsaAccount.json');
   return loadContractArtifact(json);
 }
diff --git a/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/initializerless/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/initializerless/lazy.ts
index 2476b672748..ac8f1428759 100644
--- a/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/initializerless/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/initializerless/lazy.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import { SchnorrBaseAccountContract } from '../account_contract.js';
  * @returns The contract artifact for the schnorr account contract
  */
 export async function getSchnorrInitializerlessAccountContractArtifact() {
-  // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+  // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
   // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
   // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
   // "text/javascript"
diff --git a/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/private_immutable/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/private_immutable/lazy.ts
index 077762d213a..a6105fd039d 100644
--- a/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/private_immutable/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/private_immutable/lazy.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import { SchnorrBaseAccountContract } from '../account_contract.js';
  * @returns The contract artifact for the schnorr account contract
  */
 export async function getSchnorrAccountContractArtifact() {
-  // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+  // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
   // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
   // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
   // "text/javascript"
diff --git a/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/stub/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/stub/lazy.ts
index f7382bf6fb3..371f8c9d395 100644
--- a/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/stub/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/accounts/src/schnorr/stub/lazy.ts
@@ -9,8 +9,11 @@ import { StubBaseAccountContract } from '../../defaults/stub_account_contract.js
  * Lazily loads the Schnorr stub contract artifact (browser-compatible).
  */
 export async function getStubSchnorrAccountContractArtifact() {
-  // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+  // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
   // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
+  // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
+  // "text/javascript"
+  // In the meantime, this lazy import is INCOMPATIBLE WITH NODEJS
   const { default: json } = await import('../../../artifacts/SimulatedSchnorrAccount.json');
   return loadContractArtifact(json);
 }
diff --git a/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/class-registry/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/class-registry/lazy.ts
index 17ea9781d3c..0502a9d9938 100644
--- a/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/class-registry/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/class-registry/lazy.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ let protocolContractArtifact: ContractArtifact;
 
 export async function getContractClassRegistryArtifact(): Promise<ContractArtifact> {
   if (!protocolContractArtifact) {
-    // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+    // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
     // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
     // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
     // "text/javascript"
diff --git a/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/fee-juice/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/fee-juice/lazy.ts
index 04651ddfb5a..3a819d07d6a 100644
--- a/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/fee-juice/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/fee-juice/lazy.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ let protocolContractArtifact: ContractArtifact;
 
 export async function getFeeJuiceArtifact(): Promise<ContractArtifact> {
   if (!protocolContractArtifact) {
-    // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+    // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
     // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
     // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
     // "text/javascript"
diff --git a/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/instance-registry/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/instance-registry/lazy.ts
index bb3bc7aa3cb..fc239aefc0b 100644
--- a/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/instance-registry/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/protocol-contracts/src/instance-registry/lazy.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ let protocolContractArtifact: ContractArtifact;
 
 export async function getContractInstanceRegistryArtifact(): Promise<ContractArtifact> {
   if (!protocolContractArtifact) {
-    // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+    // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
     // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
     // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
     // "text/javascript"
diff --git a/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/auth-registry/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/auth-registry/lazy.ts
index 21392ff81b8..35f8c9efbcd 100644
--- a/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/auth-registry/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/auth-registry/lazy.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ let standardContractArtifact: ContractArtifact;
 
 export async function getAuthRegistryArtifact(): Promise<ContractArtifact> {
   if (!standardContractArtifact) {
-    // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+    // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
     // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
     // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
     // "text/javascript"
diff --git a/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/handshake-registry/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/handshake-registry/lazy.ts
index 36032dc3c59..04da2f9852f 100644
--- a/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/handshake-registry/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/handshake-registry/lazy.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ let standardContractArtifact: ContractArtifact;
 
 export async function getHandshakeRegistryArtifact(): Promise<ContractArtifact> {
   if (!standardContractArtifact) {
-    // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+    // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
     // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
     // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
     // "text/javascript"
diff --git a/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/multi-call-entrypoint/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/multi-call-entrypoint/lazy.ts
index 6ef1e5a4507..fd97b53ff08 100644
--- a/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/multi-call-entrypoint/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/multi-call-entrypoint/lazy.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ let standardContractArtifact: ContractArtifact;
 
 export async function getMultiCallEntrypointArtifact(): Promise<ContractArtifact> {
   if (!standardContractArtifact) {
-    // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+    // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
     // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
     // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
     // "text/javascript"
diff --git a/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/public-checks/lazy.ts b/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/public-checks/lazy.ts
index 9ac05a467d1..f5a86933769 100644
--- a/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/public-checks/lazy.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/standard-contracts/src/public-checks/lazy.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ let standardContractArtifact: ContractArtifact;
 
 export async function getPublicChecksArtifact(): Promise<ContractArtifact> {
   if (!standardContractArtifact) {
-    // Cannot assert this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
+    // Cannot add `with { type: 'json' }` to this import as it's incompatible with bundlers like vite
     // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/19095#issuecomment-2566074352
     // Even if now supported by all major browsers, the MIME type is replaced with
     // "text/javascript"
diff --git a/yarn-project/txe/esbuild.config.mjs b/yarn-project/txe/esbuild.config.mjs
index 46be5f76588..5c1eaf23775 100644
--- a/yarn-project/txe/esbuild.config.mjs
+++ b/yarn-project/txe/esbuild.config.mjs
@@ -108,8 +108,12 @@ const redirects = [
 ];
 
 const entryPoints = {
-  // src/bin/index.ts → dest/bin/index.js (overwrites the tsc-emitted file).
-  'bin/index': 'src/bin/index.ts',
+  // src/bin/index.ts → dest/bin/index.bundle.js. The `.bundle` suffix (like worker/server below)
+  // keeps the output at a path tsc never emits: a tsc-only rebuild (e.g. `yarn build` at the
+  // yarn-project root) must not be able to replace a bundle with unbundled output, because the
+  // unbundled tree reaches dynamic JSON imports that Node's ESM loader rejects
+  // (ERR_IMPORT_ATTRIBUTE_MISSING) — TXE only runs correctly from the bundles.
+  'bin/index.bundle': 'src/bin/index.ts',
   // src/worker.ts → dest/worker.bundle.js (the file the pool spawns).
   'worker.bundle': 'src/worker.ts',
   // src/rpc_server.ts → dest/server.bundle.js (the entry the parent `@aztec/aztec`
diff --git a/yarn-project/txe/esbuild/plugins/size_guard.mjs b/yarn-project/txe/esbuild/plugins/size_guard.mjs
index f32971432bf..b9a036f6f1b 100644
--- a/yarn-project/txe/esbuild/plugins/size_guard.mjs
+++ b/yarn-project/txe/esbuild/plugins/size_guard.mjs
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ export const sizeLimits = [
   { pattern: /^dest\/[A-Z][A-Za-z]+-[A-Z0-9]+\.js$/, maxKB: 800, description: 'contract artifact chunk' },
   // Tiny entry stubs that just re-export from the shared chunks.
   { pattern: /^dest\/(worker|server)\.bundle\.js$/, maxKB: 8, description: 'entrypoint stub' },
-  { pattern: /^dest\/bin\/index\.js$/, maxKB: 8, description: 'CLI entrypoint stub' },
+  { pattern: /^dest\/bin\/index\.bundle\.js$/, maxKB: 8, description: 'CLI entrypoint stub' },
 ];
 
 export const totalLimitMiB = 14.5;
diff --git a/yarn-project/txe/package.json b/yarn-project/txe/package.json
index dcd9deb7f1c..2549a42e09a 100644
--- a/yarn-project/txe/package.json
+++ b/yarn-project/txe/package.json
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
       "import": "./dest/server.bundle.js"
     }
   },
-  "bin": "./dest/bin/index.js",
+  "bin": "./dest/bin/index.bundle.js",
   "typedocOptions": {
     "entryPoints": [
       "./src/index.ts"
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@
     "build:dev": "../scripts/tsc.sh --watch",
     "clean": "rm -rf ./dest .tsbuildinfo",
     "test": "NODE_NO_WARNINGS=1 node --experimental-vm-modules ../node_modules/.bin/jest --passWithNoTests --maxWorkers=${JEST_MAX_WORKERS:-8}",
-    "dev": "LOG_LEVEL=\"debug; trace: simulator:state_manager; info: json-rpc:proxy\" node ./dest/bin/index.js",
-    "start": "node --no-warnings ./dest/bin/index.js",
+    "dev": "node ./esbuild.config.mjs && LOG_LEVEL=\"debug; trace: simulator:state_manager; info: json-rpc:proxy\" node ./dest/bin/index.bundle.js",
+    "start": "node ./esbuild.config.mjs && node --no-warnings ./dest/bin/index.bundle.js",
     "start:oracle-test-resolver": "node --no-warnings ./dest/bin/oracle_test_server.js",
     "check_txe_oracle_version": "node ./dest/bin/check_txe_oracle_version.js"
   },
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@
     "typescript": "^5.3.3"
   },
   "files": [
-    "dest/bin/index.js",
+    "dest/bin/index.bundle.js",
     "dest/worker.bundle.js",
     "dest/server.bundle.js",
     "dest/chunk-*.js",
diff --git a/yarn-project/txe/src/dispatcher_pool.ts b/yarn-project/txe/src/dispatcher_pool.ts
index bac1a07e9c7..e40d7491d7a 100644
--- a/yarn-project/txe/src/dispatcher_pool.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/txe/src/dispatcher_pool.ts
@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ export async function buildSharedContractStore(): Promise<{ dataDir: string; sch
 
 /**
  * Resolves `worker.bundle.js` whether this code is running unbundled (next to dispatcher_pool.js
- * inside `dest/`) or bundled into `dest/bin/index.js` (one directory deeper). `import.meta.url`
- * refers to whichever module the calling code actually lives in; we try both relative locations
- * and use whichever exists.
+ * inside `dest/`) or bundled into `dest/bin/index.bundle.js` (one directory deeper).
+ * `import.meta.url` refers to whichever module the calling code actually lives in; we try both
+ * relative locations and use whichever exists.
  */
 // worker.bundle.js is esbuild's bundling of src/worker.ts (see esbuild.config.mjs).
 // @dependency ./worker.ts