diff --git a/packages/host/app/routes/render.ts b/packages/host/app/routes/render.ts
index b0d62af3d62..44506dddc73 100644
--- a/packages/host/app/routes/render.ts
+++ b/packages/host/app/routes/render.ts
@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@ export default class RenderRoute extends Route<Model> {
     (globalThis as any).__waitForRenderLoadStability = undefined;
     window.removeEventListener('boxel-render-error', this.handleRenderError);
     this.#detachWindowErrorListeners();
+    this.#removePrerenderBaseHref();
     this.lastStoreResetKey = undefined;
     this.renderBaseParams = undefined;
     this.lastRenderErrorSignature = undefined;
@@ -214,6 +215,14 @@ export default class RenderRoute extends Route<Model> {
     let parsedOptions = parseRenderRouteOptions(options);
     let canonicalOptions = serializeRenderRouteOptions(parsedOptions);
     this.#setupTransitionHelper(id, nonce, canonicalOptions);
+    if (!isTesting()) {
+      // Without this, relative `<img src>` in a card template resolves
+      // against the /render/... synthetic URL and 404s. Skipped in tests:
+      // <base href> is document-wide, and the test harness loads libraries
+      // (e.g. Monaco) that resolve their worker URLs against document.baseURI.
+      // Real prerender headless browsers don't load Monaco. CS-11146.
+      this.#installPrerenderBaseHref(id);
+    }
     // Stamp the "consuming realm" — the realm that owns the card being
     // rendered — onto a global the store-service's federated-search
     // wrapper reads. The realm-server's job-scoped search cache pairs
@@ -936,6 +945,10 @@ export default class RenderRoute extends Route<Model> {
       (globalThis as any).__renderModel = undefined;
       (globalThis as any).__docsInFlight = undefined;
       (globalThis as any).__waitForRenderLoadStability = undefined;
+      // Same reason as the globals above: in tests the owner can be
+      // destroyed without deactivate firing, which would leak the
+      // injected <base> into the next route/test.
+      this.#removePrerenderBaseHref();
     });
   }
 
@@ -1509,6 +1522,46 @@ export default class RenderRoute extends Route<Model> {
     return id;
   }
 
+  #installPrerenderBaseHref(id: string): void {
+    if (typeof document === 'undefined') {
+      return;
+    }
+    let baseHref: string;
+    try {
+      baseHref = new URL('./', this.#normalizeCardId(id)).href;
+    } catch {
+      return;
+    }
+    let head = document.head;
+    if (!head) {
+      return;
+    }
+    let existing = head.querySelector(
+      'base[data-prerender-base]',
+    ) as HTMLBaseElement | null;
+    if (existing) {
+      if (existing.href !== baseHref) {
+        existing.href = baseHref;
+      }
+      return;
+    }
+    let baseEl = document.createElement('base');
+    baseEl.setAttribute('data-prerender-base', '');
+    baseEl.href = baseHref;
+    if (head.firstChild) {
+      head.insertBefore(baseEl, head.firstChild);
+    } else {
+      head.appendChild(baseEl);
+    }
+  }
+
+  #removePrerenderBaseHref(): void {
+    if (typeof document === 'undefined') {
+      return;
+    }
+    document.head?.querySelector('base[data-prerender-base]')?.remove();
+  }
+
   #fallbackDepsFromIds(ids: (string | undefined)[]): string[] {
     // Seed dependency ids in every shape we might see in index/module rows:
     // original id, normalized card id, and `.json` variants. This keeps error