diff --git a/packages/plugin-vue/README.md b/packages/plugin-vue/README.md
index ebc660cc45f8b2..9dcfefd80dd384 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-vue/README.md
+++ b/packages/plugin-vue/README.md
@@ -30,6 +30,22 @@ export interface Options {
    */
   customElement?: boolean | string | RegExp | (string | RegExp)[]
 
+  /**
+   * Enable Vue ref transform (experimental).
+   * https://github.com/vuejs/vue-next/tree/master/packages/ref-transform
+   *
+   * **requires Vue \>= 3.2.5**
+   *
+   * - `true`: transform will be enabled for all vue,js(x),ts(x) files except
+   *           those inside node_modules
+   * - `string | RegExp`: apply to vue + only matched files (will include
+   *                      node_modules, so specify directories in necessary)
+   * - `false`: disable in all cases
+   *
+   * @default false
+   */
+  refTransform?: boolean | string | RegExp | (string | RegExp)[]
+
   // options to pass on to @vue/compiler-sfc
   script?: Partial<SFCScriptCompileOptions>
   template?: Partial<SFCTemplateCompileOptions>
diff --git a/packages/plugin-vue/src/index.ts b/packages/plugin-vue/src/index.ts
index 5f2184fd399a53..5ee0b396140e43 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-vue/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-vue/src/index.ts
@@ -58,9 +58,14 @@ export interface Options {
 
   /**
    * Enable Vue ref transform (experimental).
+   * https://github.com/vuejs/vue-next/tree/master/packages/ref-transform
+   *
    * **requires Vue \>= 3.2.5**
-   * - `true`: transform will be enabled for all vue,js(x),ts(x) files
-   * - `string | RegExp`: apply to vue + only matched files
+   *
+   * - `true`: transform will be enabled for all vue,js(x),ts(x) files except
+   *           those inside node_modules
+   * - `string | RegExp`: apply to vue + only matched files (will include
+   *                      node_modules, so specify directories in necessary)
    * - `false`: disable in all cases
    *
    * @default false
@@ -97,7 +102,7 @@ export default function vuePlugin(rawOptions: Options = {}): Plugin {
     refTransform === false
       ? () => false
       : refTransform === true
-      ? createFilter(/\.(j|t)sx?$/)
+      ? createFilter(/\.(j|t)sx?$/, /node_modules/)
       : createFilter(refTransform)
 
   // compat for older verisons