diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5d65119..e9b833b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 ### Fixed
 
 - Write the virtual HTML/style/script loader modules at the package's resolved on-disk root instead of a path relative to the webpack compiler context, so the bare `@studiometa/playground/<name>-loader.js` imports resolve. These specifiers go through the package's `"./*": "./*"` exports entry, and since enhanced-resolve >= 5.21 (webpack/enhanced-resolve#399) a matched exports target that is missing on disk is a hard error instead of falling back to legacy resolution — so consumer builds on webpack 5.109+ failed with `Package path ./html-loader.js is exported from package ... but no valid target file was found` ([#77](https://github.com/studiometa/playground/pull/77), [d0c924a](https://github.com/studiometa/playground/commit/d0c924a))
+- Load `esbuild-wasm` from esm.sh at runtime (mirroring `modern-monaco`) instead of bundling it through webpack. The bare-specifier `new URL('esbuild-wasm/esbuild.wasm', import.meta.url)` is no longer resolved to a real asset URL by webpack 5.109+, so the `wasmURL` became `.../[object Object]` (404), esbuild failed to initialize with a cryptic `g[e] is not a function`, and the preview never ran the compiled script. This also removes the ~11 MB wasm and the esbuild chunk from consumer bundles ([#78](https://github.com/studiometa/playground/pull/78), [89b55ae](https://github.com/studiometa/playground/commit/89b55ae))
 
 ## v0.3.13 - 2026.08.06
 
diff --git a/packages/playground/scripts/shared.js b/packages/playground/scripts/shared.js
index 12c1a75..aa3299c 100644
--- a/packages/playground/scripts/shared.js
+++ b/packages/playground/scripts/shared.js
@@ -17,6 +17,13 @@ function getOptions() {
   const modernMonacoPkg = JSON.parse(readFileSync(modernMonacoPkgPath, 'utf-8'));
   const modernMonacoVersion = modernMonacoPkg.version;
 
+  // Read the installed esbuild-wasm version to inline it at build time.
+  // The front-end loads esbuild-wasm from esm.sh at runtime (like modern-monaco).
+  const esbuildWasmEntry = new URL(import.meta.resolve('esbuild-wasm'));
+  const esbuildWasmPkgPath = resolve(esbuildWasmEntry.pathname, '../../package.json');
+  const esbuildWasmPkg = JSON.parse(readFileSync(esbuildWasmPkgPath, 'utf-8'));
+  const esbuildWasmVersion = esbuildWasmPkg.version;
+
   return {
     entryPoints: glob.globSync(
       ['src/**/*.ts', 'src/**/*.twig', 'src/**/*.json', '!src/**/*.test.ts'],
@@ -31,6 +38,7 @@ function getOptions() {
     sourcemap: true,
     define: {
       __MODERN_MONACO_VERSION__: JSON.stringify(modernMonacoVersion),
+      __ESBUILD_WASM_VERSION__: JSON.stringify(esbuildWasmVersion),
     },
     loader: {
       '.twig': 'copy',
diff --git a/packages/playground/src/front/js/components/Iframe.ts b/packages/playground/src/front/js/components/Iframe.ts
index dbe7579..2293983 100644
--- a/packages/playground/src/front/js/components/Iframe.ts
+++ b/packages/playground/src/front/js/components/Iframe.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,13 @@ import { createPatchedUrl } from '../utils/patch-iframe-url.js';
 
 type esbuildType = typeof import('esbuild-wasm');
 
+/**
+ * Installed esbuild-wasm version, inlined at build time by esbuild.
+ * Used to load the dependency from esm.sh at runtime (like modern-monaco),
+ * instead of bundling it through webpack.
+ */
+declare const __ESBUILD_WASM_VERSION__: string;
+
 export interface IframeProps extends BaseProps {
   $refs: {
     iframe: HTMLIFrameElement;
@@ -139,9 +146,17 @@ ${html}
 
     Iframe.esbuildPromise = Promise.withResolvers();
 
-    const esbuild = await import('esbuild-wasm');
+    // Load esbuild-wasm from esm.sh at runtime rather than bundling it through
+    // webpack. `new URL('esbuild-wasm/esbuild.wasm', import.meta.url)` (a bare
+    // specifier) is not resolved to a real asset URL by webpack 5.109+, so the
+    // wasmURL became `.../[object Object]` and esbuild failed to initialize. This
+    // mirrors how modern-monaco is loaded, and keeps the ~11 MB wasm out of the
+    // consumer bundle. esm.sh serves the CJS default export, so unwrap `.default`.
+    const esbuildUrl = `https://esm.sh/esbuild-wasm@${__ESBUILD_WASM_VERSION__}`;
+    const mod = await import(/* webpackIgnore: true */ esbuildUrl);
+    const esbuild: esbuildType = mod.default ?? mod;
     await esbuild.initialize({
-      wasmURL: new URL('esbuild-wasm/esbuild.wasm', import.meta.url),
+      wasmURL: `https://esm.sh/esbuild-wasm@${__ESBUILD_WASM_VERSION__}/esbuild.wasm`,
     });
 
     Iframe.esbuild = esbuild;