diff --git a/.changeset/wild-geckos-fetch.md b/.changeset/wild-geckos-fetch.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..80787c38b5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/wild-geckos-fetch.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@firebase/util': patch
+---
+
+Reformat a comment that causes compile errors in some build toolchains.
diff --git a/packages/util/src/defaults.ts b/packages/util/src/defaults.ts
index 0bf32b1968a..ceb73c683a8 100644
--- a/packages/util/src/defaults.ts
+++ b/packages/util/src/defaults.ts
@@ -53,8 +53,11 @@ const getDefaultsFromGlobal = (): FirebaseDefaults | undefined =>
 
 /**
  * Attempt to read defaults from a JSON string provided to
- * process.env.__FIREBASE_DEFAULTS__ or a JSON file whose path is in
- * process.env.__FIREBASE_DEFAULTS_PATH__
+ * process(.)env(.)__FIREBASE_DEFAULTS__ or a JSON file whose path is in
+ * process(.)env(.)__FIREBASE_DEFAULTS_PATH__
+ * The dots are in parens because certain compilers (Vite?) cannot
+ * handle seeing that variable in comments.
+ * See https://github.com/firebase/firebase-js-sdk/issues/6838
  */
 const getDefaultsFromEnvVariable = (): FirebaseDefaults | undefined => {
   if (typeof process === 'undefined' || typeof process.env === 'undefined') {