diff --git a/news/changelog-1.8.md b/news/changelog-1.8.md
index 25a2f738b6a..9b0fb66634f 100644
--- a/news/changelog-1.8.md
+++ b/news/changelog-1.8.md
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
-All changes included in 1.8:
+# v1.9 backports
+
+## In this release
+
+- ([#13396](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/13396)): Fix `quarto publish connect` regression.
+
+# v1.8 changes
 
 ## Regression fixes
 
diff --git a/src/deno_ral/tar.ts b/src/deno_ral/tar.ts
index f9065c3a445..522d9577c7c 100644
--- a/src/deno_ral/tar.ts
+++ b/src/deno_ral/tar.ts
@@ -6,36 +6,47 @@
  * Abstraction layer over Deno's `tar` utilities.
  */
 
-import { TarStream, type TarStreamInput } from "jsr:@std/tar/tar-stream";
+import { TarStream, type TarStreamInput } from "tar/tar-stream";
+import { join } from "../deno_ral/path.ts";
+import { pathWithForwardSlashes } from "../core/path.ts";
 
 /**
  * Creates a tar archive from the specified files and directories.
  * @param outputPath The path where the tar archive will be created.
- * @param filePaths An array of file and directory paths to include in the tar archive. Paths are relative to outputPath.
+ * @param filePaths An array of file and directory paths to include in the tar archive.
+ * @param options Optional configuration for tar creation.
+ * @param options.baseDir Base directory for resolving relative paths in the archive.
  * @returns A promise that resolves when the tar archive is created.
  */
 export async function createTarFromFiles(
   outputPath: string,
   filePaths: string[],
+  options?: { baseDir?: string },
 ) {
+  const baseDir = options?.baseDir;
+
   // Create array of TarStreamInput objects from file paths
   const inputs: TarStreamInput[] = await Promise.all(
     filePaths.map(async (path) => {
-      const stat = await Deno.stat(path);
+      const fullPath = baseDir ? join(baseDir, path) : path;
+      const stat = await Deno.stat(fullPath);
+
+      // Use original path for archive, full path for reading
+      const archivePath = pathWithForwardSlashes(path);
 
       if (stat.isDirectory) {
         // Handle directory
         return {
           type: "directory",
-          path: path + (path.endsWith("/") ? "" : "/"),
+          path: archivePath + (archivePath.endsWith("/") ? "" : "/"),
         };
       } else {
         // Handle file
         return {
           type: "file",
-          path: path,
+          path: archivePath,
           size: stat.size,
-          readable: (await Deno.open(path)).readable,
+          readable: (await Deno.open(fullPath)).readable,
         };
       }
     }),
diff --git a/src/publish/common/bundle.ts b/src/publish/common/bundle.ts
index b3d2f70c80e..5d8c7c20a7a 100644
--- a/src/publish/common/bundle.ts
+++ b/src/publish/common/bundle.ts
@@ -10,10 +10,7 @@ import { ensureDirSync } from "../../deno_ral/fs.ts";
 import { PublishFiles } from "../provider-types.ts";
 import { TempContext } from "../../core/temp-types.ts";
 import { md5HashBytes } from "../../core/hash.ts";
-import { pathWithForwardSlashes } from "../../core/path.ts";
 
-import { copy } from "io/copy";
-import { TarStream, type TarStreamInput } from "tar/tar-stream";
 import { createTarFromFiles } from "../../deno_ral/tar.ts";
 
 interface ManifestMetadata {
@@ -110,7 +107,7 @@ export async function createBundle(
   // await copy(tar.getReader(), writer);
   // writer.close();
 
-  await createTarFromFiles(tarFile, tarFiles);
+  await createTarFromFiles(tarFile, tarFiles, { baseDir: stageDir });
 
   // compress to tar.gz
   const targzFile = `${tarFile}.gz`;