diff --git a/docs/3.api/2.components/3.nuxt-layout.md b/docs/3.api/2.components/3.nuxt-layout.md
index f168f1048d91..607d272408a3 100644
--- a/docs/3.api/2.components/3.nuxt-layout.md
+++ b/docs/3.api/2.components/3.nuxt-layout.md
@@ -61,5 +61,22 @@ Please note the layout name is normalized to kebab-case, so if your layout file
 </template>
 ```
 
+## Accessing a layout's component ref
+
+To get the ref of a layout component, access it through `ref.value.layoutRef`
+
+````html
+<template>
+    <NuxtLayout ref="layout" />
+</template>
+
+<script setup lang="ts">
+const layout = ref()
+function logFoo () {
+  layout.value.layoutRef.foo()
+}
+</script>
+````
+
 ::ReadMore{link="/docs/guide/directory-structure/layouts"}
 ::
diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/layout.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/layout.ts
index 5e468875e4ae..a44892639aa7 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/layout.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/layout.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-import type { Ref, VNode } from 'vue'
-import { Transition, computed, defineComponent, h, inject, nextTick, onMounted, unref } from 'vue'
+import type { Ref, VNode, VNodeRef } from 'vue'
+import { Transition, computed, defineComponent, h, inject, mergeProps, nextTick, onMounted, ref, unref } from 'vue'
 import type { RouteLocationNormalizedLoaded } from 'vue-router'
 import { _wrapIf } from './utils'
 import { useRoute } from '#app/composables/router'
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ const LayoutLoader = defineComponent({
   inheritAttrs: false,
   props: {
     name: String,
+    layoutRef: Object as () => VNodeRef,
     ...process.dev ? { hasTransition: Boolean } : {}
   },
   async setup (props, context) {
@@ -35,13 +36,14 @@ const LayoutLoader = defineComponent({
 
     return () => {
       if (process.dev && process.client && props.hasTransition) {
-        vnode = h(LayoutComponent, context.attrs, context.slots)
+        vnode = h(LayoutComponent, mergeProps(context.attrs, { ref: props.layoutRef }), context.slots)
         return vnode
       }
-      return h(LayoutComponent, context.attrs, context.slots)
+      return h(LayoutComponent, mergeProps(context.attrs, { ref: props.layoutRef }), context.slots)
     }
   }
 })
+
 export default defineComponent({
   name: 'NuxtLayout',
   inheritAttrs: false,
@@ -57,6 +59,9 @@ export default defineComponent({
     const route = injectedRoute === useRoute() ? useVueRouterRoute() : injectedRoute
     const layout = computed(() => unref(props.name) ?? route.meta.layout as string ?? 'default')
 
+    const layoutRef = ref()
+    context.expose({ layoutRef })
+
     let vnode: VNode
     let _layout: string | false
     if (process.dev && process.client) {
@@ -79,12 +84,17 @@ export default defineComponent({
 
       // We avoid rendering layout transition if there is no layout to render
       return _wrapIf(Transition, hasLayout && transitionProps, {
-        default: () => _wrapIf(LayoutLoader, hasLayout && {
-          key: layout.value,
-          name: layout.value,
-          ...(process.dev ? { hasTransition: !!transitionProps } : {}),
-          ...context.attrs
-        }, context.slots).default()
+        default: () => {
+          const layoutNode = _wrapIf(LayoutLoader, hasLayout && {
+            key: layout.value,
+            name: layout.value,
+            ...(process.dev ? { hasTransition: !!transitionProps } : {}),
+            ...context.attrs,
+            layoutRef
+          }, context.slots).default()
+
+          return layoutNode
+        }
       }).default()
     }
   }
diff --git a/test/basic.test.ts b/test/basic.test.ts
index 01a320ada1b2..bbb40d164c19 100644
--- a/test/basic.test.ts
+++ b/test/basic.test.ts
@@ -315,6 +315,41 @@ describe('pages', () => {
     await page.close()
   })
 
+  it('/wrapper-expose/layout', async () => {
+    await expectNoClientErrors('/wrapper-expose/layout')
+
+    let lastLog: string|undefined
+    const page = await createPage('/wrapper-expose/layout')
+    page.on('console', (log) => {
+      lastLog = log.text()
+    })
+    page.on('pageerror', (log) => {
+      lastLog = log.message
+    })
+    await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle')
+    await page.locator('.log-foo').first().click()
+    expect(lastLog).toContain('.logFoo is not a function')
+    await page.locator('.log-hello').first().click()
+    expect(lastLog).toContain('world')
+    await page.locator('.add-count').first().click()
+    expect(await page.locator('.count').first().innerText()).toContain('1')
+
+    // change layout
+    await page.locator('.swap-layout').click()
+    await page.waitForTimeout(25)
+    expect(await page.locator('.count').first().innerText()).toContain('0')
+    await page.locator('.log-foo').first().click()
+    expect(lastLog).toContain('bar')
+    await page.locator('.log-hello').first().click()
+    expect(lastLog).toContain('.logHello is not a function')
+    await page.locator('.add-count').first().click()
+    expect(await page.locator('.count').first().innerText()).toContain('1')
+    // change layout
+    await page.locator('.swap-layout').click()
+    await page.waitForTimeout(25)
+    expect(await page.locator('.count').first().innerText()).toContain('0')
+  })
+
   it('/client-only-explicit-import', async () => {
     const html = await $fetch('/client-only-explicit-import')
 
diff --git a/test/bundle.test.ts b/test/bundle.test.ts
index 427b1aa80e26..f60169103887 100644
--- a/test/bundle.test.ts
+++ b/test/bundle.test.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ describe.skipIf(process.env.SKIP_BUNDLE_SIZE === 'true' || process.env.ECOSYSTEM
 
   it('default server bundle size', async () => {
     stats.server = await analyzeSizes(['**/*.mjs', '!node_modules'], serverDir)
-    expect(roundToKilobytes(stats.server.totalBytes)).toMatchInlineSnapshot('"61.9k"')
+    expect(roundToKilobytes(stats.server.totalBytes)).toMatchInlineSnapshot('"61.8k"')
 
     const modules = await analyzeSizes('node_modules/**/*', serverDir)
     expect(roundToKilobytes(modules.totalBytes)).toMatchInlineSnapshot('"2286k"')
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/custom.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/custom.vue
index e7938d8f69d6..7321cc97a740 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/custom.vue
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/custom.vue
@@ -2,5 +2,24 @@
   <div>
     Custom Layout:
     <slot />
+
+    <div class="count">
+      {{ count }}
+    </div>
+    <button class="add-count" @click="count++">
+      add count
+    </button>
   </div>
 </template>
+
+<script setup lang="ts">
+const count = ref(0)
+
+function logHello () {
+  console.log('world')
+}
+
+defineExpose({
+  logHello
+})
+</script>
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/custom2.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/custom2.vue
index 35236542c813..9abe74108ac9 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/custom2.vue
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/custom2.vue
@@ -2,5 +2,24 @@
   <div>
     Custom2 Layout:
     <slot />
+
+    <div class="count">
+      {{ count }}
+    </div>
+    <button class="add-count" @click="count++">
+      add count
+    </button>
   </div>
 </template>
+
+<script setup lang="ts">
+const count = ref(0)
+
+function logFoo () {
+  console.log('bar')
+}
+
+defineExpose({
+  logFoo
+})
+</script>
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/with-props.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/with-props.vue
index 1d87ad7b544f..5f2a714f7a63 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/with-props.vue
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/with-props.vue
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 <template>
-  <p>{{ someProp }}</p>
-  <slot />
+  <div>
+    <p>{{ someProp }}</p>
+    <slot />
+  </div>
 </template>
 
 <script lang="ts" setup>
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/pages/wrapper-expose/layout.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/wrapper-expose/layout.vue
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..04edce5bf3be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/wrapper-expose/layout.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+<template>
+  <div>
+    <button class="swap-layout" @click="swapLayout">
+      swap layout
+    </button>
+    <button class="log-foo" @click="logFoo">
+      log foo
+    </button>
+    <button class="log-hello" @click="logHello">
+      log hello
+    </button>
+    <NuxtLayout ref="layout" />
+  </div>
+</template>
+
+<script setup lang="ts">
+const layout = ref()
+const currentLayout = useState('current-layout', () => 'custom')
+
+definePageMeta({
+  layout: 'custom'
+})
+
+function logFoo () {
+  layout.value.layoutRef.logFoo()
+}
+function logHello () {
+  layout.value.layoutRef.logHello()
+}
+
+function swapLayout () {
+  currentLayout.value = currentLayout.value === 'custom2' ? 'custom' : 'custom2'
+  setPageLayout(currentLayout.value)
+}
+</script>