diff --git a/.changeset/young-wolves-sing.md b/.changeset/young-wolves-sing.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1abfbd3e2ea8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/young-wolves-sing.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@sveltejs/kit': patch
+---
+
+fix: only remove Vite manifest when copying files
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/builder.js b/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/builder.js
index eae0bd8b7ecf..c7e57bd9ab29 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/builder.js
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/builder.js
@@ -181,7 +181,10 @@ export function create_builder({
 		},
 
 		writeClient(dest) {
-			return copy(`${config.kit.outDir}/output/client`, dest);
+			return copy(`${config.kit.outDir}/output/client`, dest, {
+				// avoid making vite build artefacts public
+				filter: (basename) => basename !== '.vite'
+			});
 		},
 
 		writePrerendered(dest) {
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/builder.spec.js b/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/builder.spec.js
index 0b69433d8951..d61fe4c70860 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/builder.spec.js
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/builder.spec.js
@@ -47,7 +47,9 @@ test('copy files', () => {
 	rmSync(dest, { recursive: true, force: true });
 
 	expect(builder.writeClient(dest)).toEqual(list_files(dest).map(posixify));
-	expect(list_files(`${outDir}/output/client`)).toEqual(list_files(dest));
+	expect(
+		list_files(`${outDir}/output/client`).filter((file) => !file.startsWith('.vite/'))
+	).toEqual(list_files(dest));
 
 	rmSync(dest, { recursive: true, force: true });
 
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/exports/vite/index.js b/packages/kit/src/exports/vite/index.js
index 94f242a1e468..e1a5053f9719 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/exports/vite/index.js
+++ b/packages/kit/src/exports/vite/index.js
@@ -555,7 +555,7 @@ function kit({ svelte_config }) {
 						cssCodeSplit: true,
 						cssMinify: initial_config.build?.minify == null ? true : !!initial_config.build.minify,
 						// don't use the default name to avoid collisions with 'static/manifest.json'
-						manifest: 'vite-manifest.json',
+						manifest: '.vite/manifest.json', // TODO: remove this after bumping peer dep to vite 5
 						outDir: `${out}/${ssr ? 'server' : 'client'}`,
 						rollupOptions: {
 							input,
@@ -805,10 +805,6 @@ function kit({ svelte_config }) {
 							.cyan('npm run preview')} to preview your production build locally.`
 					);
 
-					// avoid making the manifest available to users
-					fs.unlinkSync(`${out}/client/${vite_config.build.manifest}`);
-					fs.unlinkSync(`${out}/server/${vite_config.build.manifest}`);
-
 					if (kit.adapter) {
 						const { adapt } = await import('../../core/adapt/index.js');
 						await adapt(svelte_config, build_data, metadata, prerendered, prerender_map, log);