diff --git a/.vscode/launch.json b/.vscode/launch.json
index 5a42d86e8..83186a621 100644
--- a/.vscode/launch.json
+++ b/.vscode/launch.json
@@ -55,6 +55,28 @@
         "lifeart.vscode-glimmer-syntax",
         "${workspaceFolder}/test-packages"
       ]
+    },
+    {
+      "name": "Debug Extension (TS Plugin Only, no Glint)",
+      "type": "extensionHost",
+      "request": "launch",
+      "preLaunchTask": "npm: build",
+      "autoAttachChildProcesses": true,
+      "runtimeExecutable": "${execPath}",
+      "outFiles": [
+        "${workspaceFolder}/**/*.js",
+        "!**/node_modules/**"
+      ],
+      "args": [
+        "--extensionDevelopmentPath=${workspaceFolder}/packages/vscode",
+        // "--disable-extension",
+        // "vscode.typescript-language-features",
+        "--disable-extension",
+        "lifeart.vscode-glimmer-syntax",
+        "--disable-extension",
+        "typed-ember.glint-vscode",
+        "${workspaceFolder}/test-packages"
+      ]
     }
   ]
 }
diff --git a/packages/core/src/index.ts b/packages/core/src/index.ts
index 3f339a653..1707e3bf1 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/index.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-import { GlintConfig, loadConfig } from './config/index.js';
+import { GlintConfig, loadConfig, findConfig } from './config/index.js';
 import * as utils from './language-server/util/index.js';
+import { createEmberLanguagePlugin } from './volar/ember-language-plugin.js';
 
 /** @internal */
 export const pathUtils = utils;
 
-export { loadConfig };
+export { loadConfig, findConfig, createEmberLanguagePlugin };
 
 export type { GlintConfig };
diff --git a/packages/typescript-plugin/package.json b/packages/typescript-plugin/package.json
index 1eb976115..5753e290e 100644
--- a/packages/typescript-plugin/package.json
+++ b/packages/typescript-plugin/package.json
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 {
   "name": "@glint/typescript-plugin",
   "version": "1.4.0",
-  "type": "module",
+  "type": "commonjs",
   "repository": "typed-ember/glint",
   "description": "TypeScript Server Plugin for Glint",
   "license": "MIT",
+  "main": "lib/typescript-server-plugin.js",
   "authors": [
     "Alex Matchneer (https://github.com/machty)"
   ],
diff --git a/packages/typescript-plugin/src/typescript-server-plugin.ts b/packages/typescript-plugin/src/typescript-server-plugin.ts
index 9e6ac8476..84cd9c772 100644
--- a/packages/typescript-plugin/src/typescript-server-plugin.ts
+++ b/packages/typescript-plugin/src/typescript-server-plugin.ts
@@ -1,26 +1,34 @@
-import { createLanguageServicePlugin } from '@volar/typescript/lib/quickstart/createLanguageServicePlugin.js';
-import { findConfig } from '../../core/src/config/index.js';
-import { createEmberLanguagePlugin } from '../../core/src/volar/ember-language-plugin.js';
+import type ts from 'typescript';
 
-const plugin = createLanguageServicePlugin((ts, info) => {
-  const cwd = info.languageServiceHost.getCurrentDirectory();
-  const glintConfig = findConfig(cwd);
+// Top level "imports" need to be CJS requires because TS Plugins must be CJS;
+// we dynamically import() the ESM modules we need below within the async fn.
+const {
+  createAsyncLanguageServicePlugin,
+} = require('@volar/typescript/lib/quickstart/createAsyncLanguageServicePlugin.js');
 
-  // NOTE: this code used to assert in the failure of finding Glint config; I'm
-  // not sure whether it's better to be lenient, but we were getting test failures
-  // on environment-ember-loose's `yarn run test`.
-  if (glintConfig) {
-    const gtsLanguagePlugin = createEmberLanguagePlugin(glintConfig);
-    return {
-      languagePlugins: [gtsLanguagePlugin],
-    };
-  } else {
-    return {
-      languagePlugins: [],
-    };
-  }
-});
+const plugin = createAsyncLanguageServicePlugin(
+  ['.ts', '.js', '.gts', '.gjs', '.hbs'],
+  7 satisfies ts.ScriptKind.Deferred,
+  async (_ts: any, info: any) => {
+    const { findConfig, createEmberLanguagePlugin } = await import('@glint/core');
+
+    const cwd = info.languageServiceHost.getCurrentDirectory();
+    const glintConfig = findConfig(cwd);
+
+    // NOTE: this code used to assert in the failure of finding Glint config; I'm
+    // not sure whether it's better to be lenient, but we were getting test failures
+    // on environment-ember-loose's `yarn run test`.
+    if (glintConfig) {
+      const gtsLanguagePlugin = createEmberLanguagePlugin(glintConfig);
+      return {
+        languagePlugins: [gtsLanguagePlugin],
+      };
+    } else {
+      return {
+        languagePlugins: [],
+      };
+    }
+  },
+);
 
-// @ts-expect-error TypeScript Plugin needs to be exported with `export =`
-// eslint-disable-next-line no-restricted-syntax
 export = plugin;
diff --git a/packages/typescript-plugin/tsconfig.json b/packages/typescript-plugin/tsconfig.json
index 329193ea7..639801484 100644
--- a/packages/typescript-plugin/tsconfig.json
+++ b/packages/typescript-plugin/tsconfig.json
@@ -2,7 +2,11 @@
   "extends": "../../tsconfig.compileroptions.json",
   "compilerOptions": {
     "rootDir": "src",
-    "outDir": "lib"
+    "outDir": "lib",
+
+    // ts server plugins need to be cjs
+    "module": "CommonJS",
+    "moduleResolution": "node"
   },
   "include": ["src"],
   "references": [{ "path": "../core" }]
diff --git a/packages/vscode/package.json b/packages/vscode/package.json
index b71827e61..72ef010bd 100644
--- a/packages/vscode/package.json
+++ b/packages/vscode/package.json
@@ -162,10 +162,6 @@
       {
         "name": "typescript-hbs-plugin",
         "enableForWorkspaceTypeScriptVersions": true
-      },
-      {
-        "name": "@glint/typescript-plugin",
-        "enableForWorkspaceTypeScriptVersions": true
       }
     ],
     "jsonValidation": [
diff --git a/test-packages/ts-template-imports-app/package.json b/test-packages/ts-template-imports-app/package.json
index 27ef44865..a64aac7f7 100644
--- a/test-packages/ts-template-imports-app/package.json
+++ b/test-packages/ts-template-imports-app/package.json
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
     "test:typecheck": "glint",
     "test:tsc": "echo 'no standalone tsc within this project'"
   },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "@glint/typescript-plugin": "*"
+  },
   "volta": {
     "extends": "../../package.json"
   }
diff --git a/test-packages/ts-template-imports-app/tsconfig.json b/test-packages/ts-template-imports-app/tsconfig.json
index cbbfc8311..9c4caf689 100644
--- a/test-packages/ts-template-imports-app/tsconfig.json
+++ b/test-packages/ts-template-imports-app/tsconfig.json
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 {
   "extends": "../../tsconfig.compileroptions.json",
   "compilerOptions": {
-    "baseUrl": "."
+    "baseUrl": ".",
+    "plugins": [{ "name": "@glint/typescript-plugin" }]
   },
   "include": ["src", "types"],
   "glint": {