diff --git a/src/client/theme-default/components/VPLocalSearchBox.vue b/src/client/theme-default/components/VPLocalSearchBox.vue
index 2f49250cae6b..965ab1df985f 100644
--- a/src/client/theme-default/components/VPLocalSearchBox.vue
+++ b/src/client/theme-default/components/VPLocalSearchBox.vue
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import {
 } from 'vue'
 import type { ModalTranslations } from '../../../../types/local-search'
 import { pathToFile } from '../../app/utils'
+import { escapeRegExp } from '../../shared'
 import { useData } from '../composables/data'
 import { LRUCache } from '../support/lru'
 import { createSearchTranslate } from '../support/translation'
@@ -146,8 +147,8 @@ const cache = new LRUCache<string, Map<string, string>>(16) // 16 files
 debouncedWatch(
   () => [searchIndex.value, filterText.value, showDetailedList.value] as const,
   async ([index, filterTextValue, showDetailedListValue], old, onCleanup) => {
-
-    if (old?.[0] !== index) { // in case of hmr
+    if (old?.[0] !== index) {
+      // in case of hmr
       cache.clear()
     }
 
@@ -396,11 +397,7 @@ function formMarkRegex(terms: Set<string>) {
   return new RegExp(
     [...terms]
       .sort((a, b) => b.length - a.length)
-      .map((term) => {
-        return `(${term
-          .replace(/[|\\{}()[\]^$+*?.]/g, '\\$&')
-          .replace(/-/g, '\\x2d')})`
-      })
+      .map((term) => `(${escapeRegExp(term)})`)
       .join('|'),
     'gi'
   )
diff --git a/src/client/theme-default/without-fonts.ts b/src/client/theme-default/without-fonts.ts
index f53fb679dff1..35532c38b7aa 100644
--- a/src/client/theme-default/without-fonts.ts
+++ b/src/client/theme-default/without-fonts.ts
@@ -11,9 +11,6 @@ import type { Theme } from 'vitepress'
 import VPBadge from './components/VPBadge.vue'
 import Layout from './Layout.vue'
 
-// Note: if we add more optional components here, i.e. components that are not
-// used in the theme by default unless the user imports them, make sure to update
-// the `lazyDefaultThemeComponentsRE` regex in src/node/build/bundle.ts.
 export { default as VPImage } from './components/VPImage.vue'
 export { default as VPButton } from './components/VPButton.vue'
 export { default as VPHomeHero } from './components/VPHomeHero.vue'
diff --git a/src/node/build/bundle.ts b/src/node/build/bundle.ts
index 159bb43ce874..6eee911dedbc 100644
--- a/src/node/build/bundle.ts
+++ b/src/node/build/bundle.ts
@@ -11,18 +11,29 @@ import {
 import { APP_PATH } from '../alias'
 import type { SiteConfig } from '../config'
 import { createVitePressPlugin } from '../plugin'
-import { sanitizeFileName, slash } from '../shared'
+import { escapeRegExp, sanitizeFileName, slash } from '../shared'
 import { task } from '../utils/task'
 import { buildMPAClient } from './buildMPAClient'
 
-// A list of default theme components that should only be loaded on demand.
-const lazyDefaultThemeComponentsRE =
-  /VP(HomeSponsors|DocAsideSponsors|TeamPage|TeamMembers|LocalSearchBox|AlgoliaSearchBox|CarbonAds|DocAsideCarbonAds|Sponsors)/
+// https://github.com/vitejs/vite/blob/d2aa0969ee316000d3b957d7e879f001e85e369e/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/splitVendorChunk.ts#L14
+const CSS_LANGS_RE =
+  /\.(css|less|sass|scss|styl|stylus|pcss|postcss|sss)(?:$|\?)/
 
 const clientDir = normalizePath(
   path.resolve(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '../client')
 )
 
+// these deps are also being used in the client code (outside of the theme)
+// exclude them from the theme chunk so there is no circular dependency
+const excludedModules = [
+  '/@siteData',
+  'node_modules/@vueuse/core/',
+  'node_modules/@vueuse/shared/',
+  'node_modules/vue/',
+  'node_modules/vue-demi/',
+  clientDir
+]
+
 // bundles the VitePress app for both client AND server.
 export async function bundle(
   config: SiteConfig,
@@ -47,6 +58,12 @@ export async function bundle(
     input[slash(alias).replace(/\//g, '_')] = path.resolve(config.srcDir, file)
   })
 
+  const themeEntryRE = new RegExp(
+    `^${escapeRegExp(
+      path.resolve(config.themeDir, 'index.js').replace(/\\/g, '/')
+    ).slice(0, -2)}m?(j|t)s`
+  )
+
   // resolve options to pass to vite
   const { rollupOptions } = options
 
@@ -109,12 +126,6 @@ export async function bundle(
                     : `${config.assetsDir}/chunks/[name].[hash].js`
                 },
                 manualChunks(id, ctx) {
-                  if (lazyDefaultThemeComponentsRE.test(id)) {
-                    return
-                  }
-                  if (id.startsWith(`${clientDir}/theme-default`)) {
-                    return 'theme'
-                  }
                   // move known framework code into a stable chunk so that
                   // custom theme changes do not invalidate hash for all pages
                   if (id.startsWith('\0vite')) {
@@ -135,6 +146,19 @@ export async function bundle(
                   ) {
                     return 'framework'
                   }
+
+                  if (
+                    (id.startsWith(`${clientDir}/theme-default`) ||
+                      !excludedModules.some((i) => id.includes(i))) &&
+                    staticImportedByEntry(
+                      id,
+                      ctx.getModuleInfo,
+                      cacheTheme,
+                      themeEntryRE
+                    )
+                  ) {
+                    return 'theme'
+                  }
                 }
               })
         }
@@ -182,6 +206,7 @@ export async function bundle(
 }
 
 const cache = new Map<string, boolean>()
+const cacheTheme = new Map<string, boolean>()
 
 /**
  * Check if a module is statically imported by at least one entry.
@@ -189,7 +214,7 @@ const cache = new Map<string, boolean>()
 function isEagerChunk(id: string, getModuleInfo: Rollup.GetModuleInfo) {
   if (
     id.includes('node_modules') &&
-    !/\.css($|\\?)/.test(id) &&
+    !CSS_LANGS_RE.test(id) &&
     staticImportedByEntry(id, getModuleInfo, cache)
   ) {
     return true
@@ -200,6 +225,7 @@ function staticImportedByEntry(
   id: string,
   getModuleInfo: Rollup.GetModuleInfo,
   cache: Map<string, boolean>,
+  entryRE: RegExp | null = null,
   importStack: string[] = []
 ): boolean {
   if (cache.has(id)) {
@@ -216,7 +242,7 @@ function staticImportedByEntry(
     return false
   }
 
-  if (mod.isEntry) {
+  if (entryRE ? entryRE.test(id) : mod.isEntry) {
     cache.set(id, true)
     return true
   }
@@ -225,6 +251,7 @@ function staticImportedByEntry(
       importer,
       getModuleInfo,
       cache,
+      entryRE,
       importStack.concat(id)
     )
   )
diff --git a/src/shared/shared.ts b/src/shared/shared.ts
index 44f562a97c3f..8c8e48848c7c 100644
--- a/src/shared/shared.ts
+++ b/src/shared/shared.ts
@@ -195,3 +195,8 @@ export function treatAsHtml(filename: string): boolean {
 
   return ext == null || !KNOWN_EXTENSIONS.has(ext.toLowerCase())
 }
+
+// https://github.com/sindresorhus/escape-string-regexp/blob/ba9a4473850cb367936417e97f1f2191b7cc67dd/index.js
+export function escapeRegExp(str: string) {
+  return str.replace(/[|\\{}()[\]^$+*?.]/g, '\\$&').replace(/-/g, '\\x2d')
+}