diff --git a/scripts/bench/PERF-METHODOLOGY.md b/scripts/bench/PERF-METHODOLOGY.md
index a62bf89d265c..7b4ab814b4d7 100644
--- a/scripts/bench/PERF-METHODOLOGY.md
+++ b/scripts/bench/PERF-METHODOLOGY.md
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ An engine whose package does not resolve is reported as skipped with a reason ra
 
 This works only for an engine whose child imports the versioned package directly, the way `engines/vue-component-meta.ts` does.
 Where the harness reaches the engine through repo source instead - `react-legacy` goes via `loadReactRendererModule` into `code/renderers/react`, which imports `react-docgen` by bare specifier - no child flag can redirect that import, and a version pair needs a different approach entirely.
+Declaring `@storybook/react` as a dependency of `scripts` is what makes that source reachable in the first place, but it does not make the specifier redirectable: pointing the renderer at a second `react-docgen` would take a module resolution hook registered in the child, which is not built.
 
 Four data edits:
 
diff --git a/scripts/bench/docgen-shared/react-renderer-module.test.ts b/scripts/bench/docgen-shared/react-renderer-module.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8792fec4dab1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/bench/docgen-shared/react-renderer-module.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+
+import { loadReactRendererModule, rendererModuleError } from './react-renderer-module.ts';
+
+/**
+ * The message below is the reason this module exists rather than a hardcoded path: without the
+ * redirect, a missing `code/core` build surfaces as a resolution failure naming a file no harness
+ * ever mentions, and the reader has no way to get from it to `yarn nx compile core`.
+ */
+const missingCoreBuild = new Error(
+  "Cannot find module '/repo/node_modules/storybook/dist/common/index.js' imported from " +
+    '/repo/code/renderers/react/src/componentManifest/utils.ts'
+);
+
+describe('rendererModuleError', () => {
+  it('turns a missing core build into the command that fixes it', () => {
+    const error = rendererModuleError('utils.ts', missingCoreBuild);
+    expect(error.message).toContain('yarn nx compile core');
+    expect(error.message).toContain('utils.ts');
+  });
+
+  it('keeps the original resolution failure as the cause', () => {
+    // The rewritten message replaces the one Node produced, so the path it named has to survive or
+    // a genuinely different resolution problem becomes undebuggable.
+    expect(rendererModuleError('utils.ts', missingCoreBuild).message).toContain(
+      'storybook/dist/common/index.js'
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('passes through failures that are not about the core build', () => {
+    const unrelated = new Error('Unexpected token');
+    expect(rendererModuleError('utils.ts', unrelated)).toBe(unrelated);
+  });
+
+  it('handles a thrown non-Error without losing it', () => {
+    expect(rendererModuleError('utils.ts', 'boom').message).toBe('boom');
+  });
+});
+
+describe('loadReactRendererModule', () => {
+  it('resolves the renderer source through the declared dependency', async () => {
+    // Reaching a real module is what proves the package resolution works; a wrong anchor would fail
+    // here rather than in whichever harness ran first.
+    const mod = await loadReactRendererModule<{ invalidateCache: () => void }>('utils.ts');
+    expect(typeof mod.invalidateCache).toBe('function');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/scripts/bench/docgen-shared/react-renderer-module.ts b/scripts/bench/docgen-shared/react-renderer-module.ts
index 059be30e6ae4..4d81b39f21a4 100644
--- a/scripts/bench/docgen-shared/react-renderer-module.ts
+++ b/scripts/bench/docgen-shared/react-renderer-module.ts
@@ -1,28 +1,66 @@
-import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { existsSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
+import { dirname, join } from 'node:path';
 import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';
 
 /**
- * The React harnesses measure the renderer's own extraction code, so they load it from source
- * rather than through the package's published surface.
+ * The React harnesses measure the renderer's own extraction code, so they load modules out of
+ * `@storybook/react`'s source rather than its published surface - `componentManifest/` is not in the
+ * exports map, and `files` excludes `src/**` outright.
  *
- * Joined as a path rather than concatenated into a URL: string concatenation only happens to work
- * while the directory ends in a separator and the caller's argument does not begin with one.
+ * That reach is deliberate, but it anchors on the resolved package instead of a path relative to
+ * this file. `scripts` declares `@storybook/react`, so the coupling is recorded in the workspace
+ * graph rather than living only in a `../../../` that nothing checks, and either tree can move
+ * without the failure surfacing as a missing file inside an unrelated import.
  */
-const COMPONENT_MANIFEST = join(
-  import.meta.dirname,
-  '..',
-  '..',
-  '..',
-  'code',
-  'renderers',
-  'react',
-  'src',
-  'componentManifest'
-);
+const require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
+
+let cachedDir: string | undefined;
+
+function componentManifestDir(): string {
+  if (cachedDir) {
+    return cachedDir;
+  }
+  const packageRoot = dirname(require.resolve('@storybook/react/package.json'));
+  const dir = join(packageRoot, 'src', 'componentManifest');
+  if (!existsSync(dir)) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `@storybook/react resolved to ${packageRoot}, which has no src/componentManifest. The React ` +
+        `harnesses read the renderer's source, so they need the workspace checkout rather than a ` +
+        `published copy.`
+    );
+  }
+  cachedDir = dir;
+  return dir;
+}
 
 export async function loadReactRendererModule<T>(relativePath: string): Promise<T> {
-  const url = pathToFileURL(join(COMPONENT_MANIFEST, relativePath)).href;
-  return (await import(url)) as T;
+  const url = pathToFileURL(join(componentManifestDir(), relativePath)).href;
+  try {
+    return (await import(url)) as T;
+  } catch (err) {
+    throw rendererModuleError(relativePath, err);
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * The renderer's source imports `storybook/internal/*`, which resolves to `code/core`'s build
+ * output. When that is missing, Node names a path the harness never mentioned, so the one thing the
+ * reader needs - compile core first - is what the message leaves out.
+ *
+ * Exported because that redirect is the point of this module rather than an implementation detail:
+ * if the match stops recognising the failure, the harness goes back to reporting the unhelpful
+ * error and nothing else would notice.
+ */
+export function rendererModuleError(relativePath: string, err: unknown): Error {
+  const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+  if (/storybook[/\\]dist[/\\]/.test(message)) {
+    return new Error(
+      `loading ${relativePath} from the React renderer needs storybook's build output, which is ` +
+        `missing. Run \`yarn nx compile core\` and try again.\n  cause: ${message}`
+    );
+  }
+  return err instanceof Error ? err : new Error(message);
 }
 
 export interface ComponentRefLike {
diff --git a/scripts/package.json b/scripts/package.json
index 0d18f6a4e1b6..7169081cf2aa 100644
--- a/scripts/package.json
+++ b/scripts/package.json
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
     "@octokit/request": "^8.4.1",
     "@openai/codex-sdk": "^0.117.0",
     "@polka/parse": "^1.0.0-next.28",
+    "@storybook/react": "workspace:*",
     "@testing-library/dom": "^10.4.0",
     "@testing-library/jest-dom": "6.9.1",
     "@testing-library/react": "^16.0.0",
@@ -145,6 +146,7 @@
     "simple-git": "^3.30.0",
     "slash": "^3.0.0",
     "sort-package-json": "^3.5.0",
+    "storybook": "workspace:*",
     "tiny-invariant": "^1.3.3",
     "tinyexec": "^0.3.0",
     "tinyglobby": "^0.2.15",
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index cde6482d35e8..25de2481c5ab 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -12765,6 +12765,7 @@ __metadata:
     "@octokit/request": "npm:^8.4.1"
     "@openai/codex-sdk": "npm:^0.117.0"
     "@polka/parse": "npm:^1.0.0-next.28"
+    "@storybook/react": "workspace:*"
     "@testing-library/dom": "npm:^10.4.0"
     "@testing-library/jest-dom": "npm:6.9.1"
     "@testing-library/react": "npm:^16.0.0"
@@ -12855,6 +12856,7 @@ __metadata:
     simple-git: "npm:^3.30.0"
     slash: "npm:^3.0.0"
     sort-package-json: "npm:^3.5.0"
+    storybook: "workspace:*"
     tiny-invariant: "npm:^1.3.3"
     tinyexec: "npm:^0.3.0"
     tinyglobby: "npm:^0.2.15"