diff --git a/scripts/sdk/base-manifest.json b/scripts/sdk/base-manifest.json
index bc8919fb..666cc2b9 100644
--- a/scripts/sdk/base-manifest.json
+++ b/scripts/sdk/base-manifest.json
@@ -2,14 +2,7 @@
     "name": "hydrogen-view-sdk",
     "description": "Embeddable matrix client library, including view components",
     "version": "0.0.2",
-    "main": "./hydrogen.cjs.js",
-    "exports": {
-        ".": {
-            "import": "./hydrogen.es.js",
-            "require": "./hydrogen.cjs.js"
-        },
-        "./paths/vite": "./paths/vite.js",
-        "./style.css": "./style.css"
-    },
     "types": "types/lib.d.ts"
+    "main": "./hydrogen.es.js",
+    "type": "module"
 }
diff --git a/scripts/sdk/create-manifest.js b/scripts/sdk/create-manifest.js
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
index 7a01de0a..cf2e360c
--- a/scripts/sdk/create-manifest.js
+++ b/scripts/sdk/create-manifest.js
@@ -1,7 +1,22 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 const fs = require("fs");
-const appManifest = require("../../package.json")
-const baseSDKManifest = require("./base-manifest.json")
+const appManifest = require("../../package.json");
+const baseSDKManifest = require("./base-manifest.json");
+/*
+    need to leave exports out of base-manifest.json because of #vite-bug,
+    with the downside that we can't support environments that support
+    both esm and commonjs modules, so we pick just esm.
+    ```
+    "exports": {
+        ".": {
+            "import": "./hydrogen.es.js",
+            "require": "./hydrogen.cjs.js"
+        },
+        "./paths/vite": "./paths/vite.js",
+        "./style.css": "./style.css"
+    },
+    ```
+*/
 const mergeOptions = require('merge-options');
 
 const manifestExtension = {