diff --git a/lib/sass/discourse_stylesheets.rb b/lib/sass/discourse_stylesheets.rb
index 1eee15afe..9b99241ad 100644
--- a/lib/sass/discourse_stylesheets.rb
+++ b/lib/sass/discourse_stylesheets.rb
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ class DiscourseStylesheets
   end
 
   def ensure_digestless_file
-    unless File.exist?(stylesheet_fullpath_no_digest) && File.mtime(stylesheet_fullpath) == File.mtime(stylesheet_fullpath_no_digest)
+    # file without digest is only for auto-reloading css in dev env
+    unless Rails.env.production? || (File.exist?(stylesheet_fullpath_no_digest) && File.mtime(stylesheet_fullpath) == File.mtime(stylesheet_fullpath_no_digest))
       FileUtils.cp(stylesheet_fullpath, stylesheet_fullpath_no_digest)
     end
   end