diff --git a/.changeset/heavy-dragons-tie.md b/.changeset/heavy-dragons-tie.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7a29c5b0d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/heavy-dragons-tie.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+'houdini-react': patch
+'houdini': patch
+---
+
+Fix bug when generating fresh project files with a local schema
diff --git a/e2e/react/package.json b/e2e/react/package.json
index 33be5d0483..f501d116f3 100644
--- a/e2e/react/package.json
+++ b/e2e/react/package.json
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 		"build:build": "pnpm build: && pnpm build",
 		"dev": "vite dev",
 		"build": "vite build",
-		"tests": "playwright test",
+		"tests": "npm run build && playwright test",
 		"test": "npm run tests",
 		"tw": "npx tailwindcss -i ./src/styles.css -o ./public/assets/output.css --watch",
 		"preview": "vite dev"
diff --git a/e2e/react/tsconfig.json b/e2e/react/tsconfig.json
index 0dd61e17a0..fd3238fb29 100644
--- a/e2e/react/tsconfig.json
+++ b/e2e/react/tsconfig.json
@@ -1,35 +1,3 @@
 {
-	"compilerOptions": {
-		"baseUrl": ".",
-		"paths": {
-			"$houdini": ["./$houdini"],
-			"$houdini/*": ["./$houdini/*"],
-			"~": ["./src"],
-			"~/*": ["./src/*"]
-		},
-		"rootDirs": [".", "./$houdini/types"],
-		"target": "ESNext",
-		"useDefineForClassFields": true,
-		"lib": ["DOM", "DOM.Iterable", "ESNext"],
-		"allowJs": false,
-		"skipLibCheck": true,
-		"esModuleInterop": false,
-		"allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,
-		"strict": true,
-		"forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
-		"module": "ESNext",
-		"moduleResolution": "Node",
-		"resolveJsonModule": true,
-		"isolatedModules": true,
-		"noEmit": true,
-		"jsx": "react-jsx"
-	},
-	"include": [
-		"ambient.d.ts",
-		"./types/**/$types.d.ts",
-		"./vite.config.ts",
-		"./src/**/*.ts",
-		"./src/**/*.tsx"
-	],
-	"exclude": ["../node_modules/**", "./[!ambient.d.ts]**"]
+	"extends": "./$houdini/tsconfig.json"
 }
diff --git a/packages/houdini-react/src/plugin/codegen/typeRoot.ts b/packages/houdini-react/src/plugin/codegen/typeRoot.ts
index e78d129575..7e78714ab8 100644
--- a/packages/houdini-react/src/plugin/codegen/typeRoot.ts
+++ b/packages/houdini-react/src/plugin/codegen/typeRoot.ts
@@ -121,53 +121,6 @@ ${
 	])
 }
 
-export async function writeTsconfig(config: Config) {
-	await fs.writeFile(
-		path.join(config.rootDir, 'tsconfig.json'),
-		JSON.stringify(
-			{
-				compilerOptions: {
-					paths: {
-						$houdini: ['.'],
-						'$houdini/*': ['./*'],
-						'~': ['../src'],
-						'~/*': ['../src/*'],
-					},
-					rootDirs: ['..', './types'],
-					target: 'ESNext',
-					useDefineForClassFields: true,
-					lib: ['DOM', 'DOM.Iterable', 'ESNext'],
-					allowJs: false,
-					skipLibCheck: true,
-					esModuleInterop: false,
-					allowSyntheticDefaultImports: true,
-					strict: true,
-					forceConsistentCasingInFileNames: true,
-					module: 'ESNext',
-					moduleResolution: 'Node',
-					resolveJsonModule: true,
-					isolatedModules: true,
-					noEmit: true,
-					jsx: 'react-jsx',
-				},
-				include: [
-					'ambient.d.ts',
-					'./types/**/$types.d.ts',
-					'../vite.config.ts',
-					'../src/**/*.js',
-					'../src/**/*.ts',
-					'../src/**/*.jsx',
-					'../src/**/*.tsx',
-					'../src/+app.d.ts',
-				],
-				exclude: ['../node_modules/**', './[!ambient.d.ts]**'],
-			},
-			null,
-			4
-		)
-	)
-}
-
 function paramsType(config: Config, params?: PageManifest['params']): string {
 	return `{
 		${Object.entries(params ?? {})
diff --git a/packages/houdini-react/src/plugin/vite.tsx b/packages/houdini-react/src/plugin/vite.tsx
index 6a50660111..3d041cefa0 100644
--- a/packages/houdini-react/src/plugin/vite.tsx
+++ b/packages/houdini-react/src/plugin/vite.tsx
@@ -9,11 +9,9 @@ import {
 	routerConventions,
 } from 'houdini'
 import React from 'react'
-import ReactDOM from 'react-dom/server'
 import { build, ConfigEnv, type BuildOptions, type Connect } from 'vite'
 
 import { manifest, setManifest } from '.'
-import { writeTsconfig } from './codegen/typeRoot'
 
 let viteEnv: ConfigEnv
 let devServer = false
@@ -115,10 +113,6 @@ export default {
 		return id.substring(id.indexOf('virtual:houdini'))
 	},
 
-	async buildStart({ houdiniConfig }) {
-		await writeTsconfig(houdiniConfig)
-	},
-
 	async closeBundle(config) {
 		// skip close bundles during dev mode
 		if (isSecondaryBuild() || viteEnv.mode !== 'production' || devServer) {
@@ -363,7 +357,6 @@ root.render(React.createElement(App, {
 	// capture the request before vite's dev server processes it.
 	async configureServer(server) {
 		devServer = true
-		await writeTsconfig(server.houdiniConfig)
 
 		server.middlewares.use(async (req, res, next) => {
 			if (!req.url) {
diff --git a/packages/houdini/src/lib/typescript.ts b/packages/houdini/src/lib/typescript.ts
index a1ad8fdf04..dd76d49f76 100644
--- a/packages/houdini/src/lib/typescript.ts
+++ b/packages/houdini/src/lib/typescript.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import type { StatementKind, TSTypeKind } from 'ast-types/lib/gen/kinds'
 import * as graphql from 'graphql'
 import * as recast from 'recast'
 
-import { ensureImports, type Config, path } from '.'
+import { ensureImports, type Config, path, fs } from '.'
 import { unwrapType, TypeWrapper } from './graphql'
 
 const AST = recast.types.builders
@@ -222,3 +222,52 @@ export function scalarPropertyValue(
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+export async function writeTsConfig(config: Config) {
+	await fs.mkdirp(config.rootDir)
+	await fs.writeFile(
+		path.join(config.rootDir, 'tsconfig.json'),
+		JSON.stringify(
+			{
+				compilerOptions: {
+					baseUrl: '.',
+					paths: {
+						$houdini: ['.'],
+						'$houdini/*': ['./*'],
+						'~': ['../src'],
+						'~/*': ['../src/*'],
+					},
+					rootDirs: ['..', './types'],
+					target: 'ESNext',
+					useDefineForClassFields: true,
+					lib: ['DOM', 'DOM.Iterable', 'ESNext'],
+					allowJs: false,
+					skipLibCheck: true,
+					esModuleInterop: false,
+					allowSyntheticDefaultImports: true,
+					strict: true,
+					forceConsistentCasingInFileNames: true,
+					module: 'ESNext',
+					moduleResolution: 'Node',
+					resolveJsonModule: true,
+					isolatedModules: true,
+					noEmit: true,
+					jsx: 'react-jsx',
+				},
+				include: [
+					'ambient.d.ts',
+					'./types/**/$types.d.ts',
+					'../vite.config.ts',
+					'../src/**/*.js',
+					'../src/**/*.ts',
+					'../src/**/*.jsx',
+					'../src/**/*.tsx',
+					'../src/+app.d.ts',
+				],
+				exclude: ['../node_modules/**', './[!ambient.d.ts]**'],
+			},
+			null,
+			4
+		)
+	)
+}
diff --git a/packages/houdini/src/vite/houdini.ts b/packages/houdini/src/vite/houdini.ts
index e37ad7798e..67b43430a0 100644
--- a/packages/houdini/src/vite/houdini.ts
+++ b/packages/houdini/src/vite/houdini.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import {
 	load_manifest,
 	loadLocalSchema,
 	isSecondaryBuild,
+	writeTsConfig,
 } from '../lib'
 
 let config: Config
@@ -152,6 +153,8 @@ export default function Plugin(opts: PluginConfig = {}): VitePlugin {
 
 		// when the build starts, we need to make sure to generate
 		async buildStart(args) {
+			await writeTsConfig(config)
+
 			// check if the adapter has a pre hook
 			if (config.adapter?.pre && viteEnv.command === 'build' && !isSecondaryBuild()) {
 				await config.adapter.pre({
@@ -213,6 +216,8 @@ export default function Plugin(opts: PluginConfig = {}): VitePlugin {
 		async configureServer(server) {
 			devServer = true
 
+			await writeTsConfig(config)
+
 			// if there is a local schema we need to use that when generating
 			if (config.localSchema) {
 				config.schema = (await server.ssrLoadModule(config.localSchemaPath))