diff --git a/docs/guide/api-environment-frameworks.md b/docs/guide/api-environment-frameworks.md
index 96eeece23a7582..74800306fb842f 100644
--- a/docs/guide/api-environment-frameworks.md
+++ b/docs/guide/api-environment-frameworks.md
@@ -329,6 +329,8 @@ export default {
 }
 ```
 
+Plugins can also define a `buildApp` hook. Order `'pre'` and `null'` are executed before the configured `builder.buildApp`, and order `'post'` hooks are executed after it. `environment.isBuilt` can be used to check if an environment has already being build.
+
 ## Environment Agnostic Code
 
 Most of the time, the current `environment` instance will be available as part of the context of the code being run so the need to access them through `server.environments` should be rare. For example, inside plugin hooks the environment is exposed as part of the `PluginContext`, so it can be accessed using `this.environment`. See [Environment API for Plugins](./api-environment-plugins.md) to learn about how to build environment aware plugins.
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
index fef2dbaa70bbf5..6c1699c1b496e3 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
@@ -1494,6 +1494,7 @@ function areSeparateFolders(a: string, b: string) {
 export class BuildEnvironment extends BaseEnvironment {
   mode = 'build' as const
 
+  isBuilt = false
   constructor(
     name: string,
     config: ResolvedConfig,
@@ -1548,12 +1549,6 @@ export interface BuilderOptions {
   buildApp?: (builder: ViteBuilder) => Promise<void>
 }
 
-async function defaultBuildApp(builder: ViteBuilder): Promise<void> {
-  for (const environment of Object.values(builder.environments)) {
-    await builder.build(environment)
-  }
-}
-
 export const builderOptionsDefaults = Object.freeze({
   sharedConfigBuild: false,
   sharedPlugins: false,
@@ -1565,7 +1560,7 @@ export function resolveBuilderOptions(
 ): ResolvedBuilderOptions | undefined {
   if (!options) return
   return mergeWithDefaults(
-    { ...builderOptionsDefaults, buildApp: defaultBuildApp },
+    { ...builderOptionsDefaults, buildApp: async () => {} },
     options,
   )
 }
@@ -1602,10 +1597,41 @@ export async function createBuilder(
     environments,
     config,
     async buildApp() {
-      return configBuilder.buildApp(builder)
+      // order 'pre' and 'normal' hooks are run first, then config.builder.buildApp, then 'post' hooks
+      let configBuilderBuildAppCalled = false
+      for (const p of config.getSortedPlugins('buildApp')) {
+        const hook = p.buildApp
+        if (
+          !configBuilderBuildAppCalled &&
+          typeof hook === 'object' &&
+          hook.order === 'post'
+        ) {
+          configBuilderBuildAppCalled = true
+          await configBuilder.buildApp(builder)
+        }
+        const handler = getHookHandler(hook)
+        await handler(builder)
+      }
+      if (!configBuilderBuildAppCalled) {
+        await configBuilder.buildApp(builder)
+      }
+      // fallback to building all environments if no environments have been built
+      if (
+        Object.values(builder.environments).every(
+          (environment) => !environment.isBuilt,
+        )
+      ) {
+        for (const environment of Object.values(builder.environments)) {
+          await builder.build(environment)
+        }
+      }
     },
-    async build(environment: BuildEnvironment) {
-      return buildEnvironment(environment)
+    async build(
+      environment: BuildEnvironment,
+    ): Promise<RollupOutput | RollupOutput[] | RollupWatcher> {
+      const output = await buildEnvironment(environment)
+      environment.isBuilt = true
+      return output
     },
   }
 
@@ -1667,3 +1693,5 @@ export async function createBuilder(
 
   return builder
 }
+
+export type BuildAppHook = (this: void, builder: ViteBuilder) => Promise<void>
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/index.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/index.ts
index d549053874bd2d..3c64cffdeb96a8 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/index.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/index.ts
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ export type {
 } from './server'
 export type {
   ViteBuilder,
+  BuildAppHook,
   BuilderOptions,
   BuildOptions,
   BuildEnvironmentOptions,
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugin.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugin.ts
index b1fab8c9f598bf..8c88befd069e81 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugin.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugin.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import type {
   UserConfig,
 } from './config'
 import type { ServerHook } from './server'
+import type { BuildAppHook } from './build'
 import type { IndexHtmlTransform } from './plugins/html'
 import type { EnvironmentModuleNode } from './server/moduleGraph'
 import type { ModuleNode } from './server/mixedModuleGraph'
@@ -291,7 +292,12 @@ export interface Plugin<A = any> extends RollupPlugin<A> {
    * `{ order: 'pre', handler: hook }`
    */
   transformIndexHtml?: IndexHtmlTransform
-
+  /**
+   * Build Environments
+   *
+   * @experimental
+   */
+  buildApp?: ObjectHook<BuildAppHook>
   /**
    * Perform custom handling of HMR updates.
    * The handler receives a context containing changed filename, timestamp, a
diff --git a/playground/environment-react-ssr/vite.config.ts b/playground/environment-react-ssr/vite.config.ts
index 7518f47bf06dc7..c2aa0734d85c3e 100644
--- a/playground/environment-react-ssr/vite.config.ts
+++ b/playground/environment-react-ssr/vite.config.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ export default defineConfig((env) => ({
         Object.assign(globalThis, { __globalServer: server })
       },
     },
+    {
+      name: 'build-client',
+      async buildApp(builder) {
+        await builder.build(builder.environments.client)
+      },
+    },
   ],
   resolve: {
     noExternal: true,
@@ -54,7 +60,9 @@ export default defineConfig((env) => ({
 
   builder: {
     async buildApp(builder) {
-      await builder.build(builder.environments.client)
+      if (!builder.environments.client.isBuilt) {
+        throw new Error('Client environment should be built first')
+      }
       await builder.build(builder.environments.ssr)
     },
   },