diff --git a/lib/discourse_js_processor.rb b/lib/discourse_js_processor.rb
index 26d142fa4d..6040aba6f4 100644
--- a/lib/discourse_js_processor.rb
+++ b/lib/discourse_js_processor.rb
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class DiscourseJsProcessor
     TRANSPILER_PATH =
       (
         if Rails.env.production?
-          "tmp/theme-transpiler.js"
+          "app/assets/javascripts/theme-transpiler.js"
         else
           "tmp/theme-transpiler/#{Process.pid}.js"
         end
@@ -87,6 +87,6 @@ class DiscourseJsProcessor
         "node",
         "app/assets/javascripts/theme-transpiler/build.js",
         TRANSPILER_PATH,
-      )
+      ) if !Rails.env.production? or !File.file?(TRANSPILER_PATH)
       TRANSPILER_PATH
     end