diff --git a/apps/backend/src/main.ts b/apps/backend/src/main.ts
index 7c7551b..75b80bc 100644
--- a/apps/backend/src/main.ts
+++ b/apps/backend/src/main.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import { join } from 'node:path';
 import cookieParser from 'cookie-parser';
 import type { NextFunction, Request, Response } from 'express';
 import helmet from 'helmet';
@@ -11,6 +10,7 @@ import { AppModule } from './app.module';
 import { createValidationPipe } from './common/security/validation.pipe';
 import { AppConfigService } from './config/config.service';
 import { MigrationHealthService } from './database/migration-health.service';
+import { resolvePublicAssetPath } from './static-assets';
 
 async function bootstrap() {
   const app = await NestFactory.create<NestExpressApplication>(AppModule, {
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ async function bootstrap() {
     });
   }
 
-  app.useStaticAssets(join(__dirname, '..', 'public'), {
+  app.useStaticAssets(resolvePublicAssetPath(__dirname), {
     index: false,
     fallthrough: true,
   });
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ async function bootstrap() {
       next();
       return;
     }
-    res.sendFile(join(__dirname, '..', 'public', 'index.html'));
+    res.sendFile(resolvePublicAssetPath(__dirname, 'index.html'));
   });
 
   await app.get(MigrationHealthService).assertNoPendingMigrations();
diff --git a/apps/backend/src/static-assets.spec.ts b/apps/backend/src/static-assets.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c9a979
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/backend/src/static-assets.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { resolvePublicAssetPath } from './static-assets';
+
+describe('resolvePublicAssetPath', () => {
+  it('resolves frontend files next to the compiled backend entrypoint', () => {
+    const runtimeDirectory = join('app', 'apps', 'backend', 'dist');
+
+    expect(resolvePublicAssetPath(runtimeDirectory)).toBe(
+      join(runtimeDirectory, 'public'),
+    );
+    expect(resolvePublicAssetPath(runtimeDirectory, 'index.html')).toBe(
+      join(runtimeDirectory, 'public', 'index.html'),
+    );
+  });
+});
diff --git a/apps/backend/src/static-assets.ts b/apps/backend/src/static-assets.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3fe0616
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/backend/src/static-assets.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+
+export function resolvePublicAssetPath(
+  runtimeDirectory: string,
+  ...segments: string[]
+): string {
+  return join(runtimeDirectory, 'public', ...segments);
+}