diff --git a/packages/@vue/cli-service/lib/Service.js b/packages/@vue/cli-service/lib/Service.js
index da53bd78a6..d350c06dad 100644
--- a/packages/@vue/cli-service/lib/Service.js
+++ b/packages/@vue/cli-service/lib/Service.js
@@ -148,7 +148,6 @@ module.exports = class Service {
       // config plugins are order sensitive
       './config/base',
       './config/css',
-      './config/dev',
       './config/prod',
       './config/app'
     ].map(idToPlugin)
diff --git a/packages/@vue/cli-service/lib/commands/serve.js b/packages/@vue/cli-service/lib/commands/serve.js
index fe0f325e2a..de91699fce 100644
--- a/packages/@vue/cli-service/lib/commands/serve.js
+++ b/packages/@vue/cli-service/lib/commands/serve.js
@@ -44,6 +44,30 @@ module.exports = (api, options) => {
     const validateWebpackConfig = require('../util/validateWebpackConfig')
     const isAbsoluteUrl = require('../util/isAbsoluteUrl')
 
+    // configs that only matters for dev server
+    api.chainWebpack(webpackConfig => {
+      if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' && process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'test') {
+        webpackConfig
+          .devtool('cheap-module-eval-source-map')
+
+        webpackConfig
+          .plugin('hmr')
+            .use(require('webpack/lib/HotModuleReplacementPlugin'))
+
+        // https://github.com/webpack/webpack/issues/6642
+        // https://github.com/vuejs/vue-cli/issues/3539
+        webpackConfig
+          .output
+            .globalObject(`(typeof self !== 'undefined' ? self : this)`)
+
+        if (!process.env.VUE_CLI_TEST && options.devServer.progress !== false) {
+          webpackConfig
+            .plugin('progress')
+            .use(require('webpack/lib/ProgressPlugin'))
+        }
+      }
+    })
+
     // resolve webpack config
     const webpackConfig = api.resolveWebpackConfig()
 
diff --git a/packages/@vue/cli-service/lib/config/dev.js b/packages/@vue/cli-service/lib/config/dev.js
deleted file mode 100644
index d5137da816..0000000000
--- a/packages/@vue/cli-service/lib/config/dev.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-module.exports = (api, options) => {
-  api.chainWebpack(webpackConfig => {
-    if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' && process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'test') {
-      webpackConfig
-        .devtool('cheap-module-eval-source-map')
-        .output
-          .publicPath(options.publicPath)
-
-      webpackConfig
-        .plugin('hmr')
-          .use(require('webpack/lib/HotModuleReplacementPlugin'))
-
-      // https://github.com/webpack/webpack/issues/6642
-      // https://github.com/vuejs/vue-cli/issues/3539
-      webpackConfig
-        .output
-          .globalObject(`(typeof self !== 'undefined' ? self : this)`)
-
-      if (!process.env.VUE_CLI_TEST && options.devServer.progress !== false) {
-        webpackConfig
-          .plugin('progress')
-          .use(require('webpack/lib/ProgressPlugin'))
-      }
-    }
-  })
-}