diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 0d15bdbbb805..6ff1fb7ed744 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -608,6 +608,23 @@ jobs:
                   IN_STORYBOOK_SANDBOX: true
                   STORYBOOK_INIT_EMPTY_TYPE: << parameters.template >>
                   STORYBOOK_DISABLE_TELEMETRY: true
+      - when:
+          condition:
+            equal: ["react-vite-ts", << parameters.template >>]
+          steps:
+            - run:
+                name: Storybook init from empty directory (--skip-install)
+                command: |
+                  cd code
+                  yarn local-registry --open &
+                  cd ../../
+                  mkdir empty-<< parameters.template >>-no-install
+                  cd empty-<< parameters.template >>-no-install
+                  npx storybook init --yes --skip-install
+                environment:
+                  IN_STORYBOOK_SANDBOX: true
+                  STORYBOOK_INIT_EMPTY_TYPE: << parameters.template >>
+                  STORYBOOK_DISABLE_TELEMETRY: true
       - report-workflow-on-failure
   test-portable-stories:
     parameters:
diff --git a/code/core/src/cli/dirs.ts b/code/core/src/cli/dirs.ts
index 37fcca50bfc7..11ca9cb67441 100644
--- a/code/core/src/cli/dirs.ts
+++ b/code/core/src/cli/dirs.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
+import { dirname, join } from 'node:path';
+
 import type { JsPackageManager } from '@storybook/core/common';
 import { temporaryDirectory, versions } from '@storybook/core/common';
 import type { SupportedFrameworks } from '@storybook/core/types';
 
-import downloadTarball from '@ndelangen/get-tarball';
-import getNpmTarballUrl from 'get-npm-tarball-url';
-import { dirname, join } from 'path';
+import downloadTarballDefault from '@ndelangen/get-tarball';
+import getNpmTarballUrlDefault from 'get-npm-tarball-url';
 import invariant from 'tiny-invariant';
 
 import { externalFrameworks } from './project_types';
@@ -17,6 +18,12 @@ const resolveUsingBranchInstall = async (packageManager: JsPackageManager, reque
   // FIXME: this might not be the right version for community packages
   const version = versions[name] || (await packageManager.latestVersion(request));
 
+  // an artifact of esbuild + type=commonjs + exportmap
+  // @ts-expect-error (default export)
+  const getNpmTarballUrl = getNpmTarballUrlDefault.default || getNpmTarballUrlDefault;
+  // @ts-expect-error (default export)
+  const downloadTarball = downloadTarballDefault.default || downloadTarballDefault;
+
   const url = getNpmTarballUrl(request, version, {
     registry: await packageManager.getRegistryURL(),
   });