diff --git a/lib/tool_shed/webapp/fast_app.py b/lib/tool_shed/webapp/fast_app.py
index 18af5dcb770..d4429255017 100644
--- a/lib/tool_shed/webapp/fast_app.py
+++ b/lib/tool_shed/webapp/fast_app.py
@@ -64,9 +64,26 @@ api_tags_metadata = [
 # Start tool shed with:
 #   TOOL_SHED_VITE_PORT=4040 TOOL_SHED_API_VERSION=v2 ./run_tool_shed.sh
 TOOL_SHED_VITE_PORT: Optional[str] = os.environ.get("TOOL_SHED_VITE_PORT", None)
+TOOL_SHED_FRONTEND_TARGET: str = os.environ.get("TOOL_SHED_FRONTEND_TARGET") or "auto"  # auto, src, or node
 TOOL_SHED_USE_HMR: bool = TOOL_SHED_VITE_PORT is not None
-FRONTEND = Path(__file__).parent.resolve() / "frontend"
+WEBAPP_DIR = Path(__file__).parent.resolve()
+FRONTEND = WEBAPP_DIR / "frontend"
 FRONTEND_DIST = FRONTEND / "dist"
+INSTALLED_FRONTEND = WEBAPP_DIR / "node_modules" / "@galaxyproject" / "tool-shed-frontend" / "dist"
+INDEX_FILENAME = "index.html"
+
+
+def find_frontend_target() -> Path:
+    src_target = FRONTEND_DIST
+    node_target = INSTALLED_FRONTEND
+    if TOOL_SHED_FRONTEND_TARGET == "src":
+        return src_target
+    elif TOOL_SHED_FRONTEND_TARGET == "node":
+        return node_target
+    elif src_target.exists():
+        return src_target
+    else:
+        return node_target
 
 
 def frontend_controller(app):
@@ -75,14 +92,16 @@ def frontend_controller(app):
 
     def index(trans=Depends(get_trans)):
         if TOOL_SHED_USE_HMR:
-            index = FRONTEND / "index.html"
+            if TOOL_SHED_FRONTEND_TARGET != "auto":
+                raise Exception("Cannot configure HMR and with this frontend target.")
+            index = FRONTEND / INDEX_FILENAME
             index_html = index.read_text()
             index_html = index_html.replace(
                 f"""<script type="module" src="/src/{shed_entry_point}"></script>""",
                 f"""<script type="module" src="http://localhost:{TOOL_SHED_VITE_PORT}/{vite_runtime}"></script><script type="module" src="http://localhost:{TOOL_SHED_VITE_PORT}/src/{shed_entry_point}"></script>""",
             )
         else:
-            index = FRONTEND_DIST / "index.html"
+            index = find_frontend_target() / INDEX_FILENAME
             index_html = index.read_text()
         ensure_valid_session(trans)
         cookie = trans.session_csrf_token
@@ -168,7 +187,7 @@ def initialize_fast_app(gx_webapp, tool_shed_app):
         if TOOL_SHED_USE_HMR:
             mount_static(FRONTEND / "node_modules")
         else:
-            mount_static(FRONTEND_DIST / "assets")
+            mount_static(find_frontend_target() / "assets")
 
     routes_package = "tool_shed.webapp.api" if SHED_API_VERSION == "v1" else "tool_shed.webapp.api2"
     include_all_package_routers(app, routes_package)
diff --git a/lib/tool_shed/webapp/frontend/package.json b/lib/tool_shed/webapp/frontend/package.json
index ab8b86cc6b2..0050777dadb 100644
--- a/lib/tool_shed/webapp/frontend/package.json
+++ b/lib/tool_shed/webapp/frontend/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 {
-  "name": "galaxy-tool-shed",
+  "name": "@galaxyproject/tool-shed-frontend",
   "license": "MIT",
-  "version": "0.2.0",
+  "version": "0.2.1",
+  "files": [
+    "dist"
+  ],
   "scripts": {
     "dev": "vite --port 4040 --strict-port",
     "build": "vue-tsc --noEmit && vite build",
diff --git a/lib/tool_shed/webapp/package.json b/lib/tool_shed/webapp/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e131b43e9ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tool_shed/webapp/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+{
+  "name": "@galaxyproject/tool-shed",
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "description": ".. figure:: https://galaxyproject.org/images/galaxy-logos/galaxy_project_logo.jpg    :alt: Galaxy Logo",
+  "main": "index.js",
+  "repository": {
+    "type": "git",
+    "url": "git+https://github.com/galaxyproject/galaxy.git"
+  },
+  "author": "Galaxy Contributors",
+  "license": "MIT",
+  "bugs": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/galaxyproject/galaxy/issues"
+  },
+  "homepage": "https://github.com/galaxyproject/galaxy#readme",
+  "dependencies": {
+    "@galaxyproject/tool-shed-frontend": "^0.2.1"
+  }
+}