diff --git a/packages/base/card-api.gts b/packages/base/card-api.gts
index 2371e809fc..811efbcf59 100644
--- a/packages/base/card-api.gts
+++ b/packages/base/card-api.gts
@@ -4787,18 +4787,31 @@ function getStore(instance: BaseDef): CardStore {
   return stores.get(instance as BaseDef) ?? new FallbackCardStore();
 }
 
-// The VirtualNetwork associated with an instance's store, for prefix/RRI
-// resolution outside this module. Returns undefined when the instance is
-// detached (no store, no loader-attached VN) — callers handle that by
-// degrading to URL math or throwing.
-export function virtualNetworkFor(
-  instance: BaseDef,
-): VirtualNetwork | undefined {
+// Resolve a (possibly relative or RRI) reference to a real, fetchable URL,
+// relative to the instance's own location. Card definitions that must hand a
+// real URL to a boundary that can't consume canonical RRI (an `<img src>`, the
+// AI source-file reader's `new URL(...)`) use this rather than reaching for the
+// VirtualNetwork object directly — they get back a URL, not the network itself.
+// Resolves through the active Loader's VirtualNetwork (the network boundary);
+// returns undefined when none is available (detached / static-parse contexts)
+// so callers can degrade to URL math.
+export function resolveInstanceURL(
+  instance: CardDef,
+  reference: string,
+): URL | undefined {
+  let virtualNetwork: VirtualNetwork | undefined;
   try {
-    return getStore(instance).virtualNetwork;
+    virtualNetwork = myLoader().getVirtualNetwork();
   } catch {
     return undefined;
   }
+  if (!virtualNetwork) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  return virtualNetwork.resolveURL(
+    reference,
+    instance.id ?? instance[relativeTo],
+  );
 }
 
 // Resolve a (possibly relative) reference to its absolute canonical RRI,
diff --git a/packages/base/spec.gts b/packages/base/spec.gts
index c890852b96..3e1d8dafb8 100644
--- a/packages/base/spec.gts
+++ b/packages/base/spec.gts
@@ -3,12 +3,11 @@ import {
   field,
   Component,
   CardDef,
-  relativeTo,
   linksToMany,
   FieldDef,
   containsMany,
   getCardMeta,
-  virtualNetworkFor,
+  resolveInstanceURL,
   type CardOrFieldTypeIcon,
   BaseDef,
   type CardContext,
@@ -81,23 +80,20 @@ class PopulateFieldSpecExampleCommand extends PopulateWithSampleDataCommand {
     if (!codeRef) {
       return [];
     }
-    // The attached-file identifiers are read as fetchable source URLs (the AI
-    // source-file reader does `new URL(...)`), so this must resolve to a real
-    // URL — keep the VirtualNetwork here (a scoped RRI can't be fetched).
-    let vn = virtualNetworkFor(card);
-    if (!vn) {
-      return [];
-    }
+    // The attached-file identifier is read as a fetchable source URL (the AI
+    // source-file reader does `new URL(...)`), so the card's type module must
+    // resolve to a real URL — a scoped RRI can't be fetched.
     codeRef = codeRefWithAbsoluteIdentifier(
       codeRef,
-      vn.toURL(card.id!),
+      card.id,
       undefined,
-      vn,
     )! as ResolvedCodeRef;
-    let cardOrFieldModuleURL = codeRef.module
-      ? ensureExtension(codeRef.module, { default: '.gts' })
+    let moduleURL = codeRef.module
+      ? resolveInstanceURL(card, codeRef.module)
       : undefined;
-    return cardOrFieldModuleURL ? [cardOrFieldModuleURL] : [];
+    return moduleURL
+      ? [ensureExtension(moduleURL.href, { default: '.gts' })]
+      : [];
   }
 }
 
@@ -941,13 +937,9 @@ export class Spec extends CardDef {
       }
       // `moduleHref` is consumed as a fetchable / absolute URL (source reader's
       // `new URL(...)`, and URL-form comparisons in the code submode), so it
-      // must resolve to a real URL — keep the VirtualNetwork here (RRI space
-      // would leave a scoped prefix that those readers can't use).
-      let vn = virtualNetworkFor(this);
-      if (!vn) {
-        return undefined;
-      }
-      return vn.resolveURL(this.ref.module, this.id ?? this[relativeTo]).href;
+      // must resolve to a real URL — RRI space would leave a scoped prefix that
+      // those readers can't use.
+      return resolveInstanceURL(this, this.ref.module)?.href;
     },
   });
   @field linkedExamples = linksToMany(CardDef);
diff --git a/packages/experiments-realm/asset.gts b/packages/experiments-realm/asset.gts
index e44521a8c8..ac0650c16d 100644
--- a/packages/experiments-realm/asset.gts
+++ b/packages/experiments-realm/asset.gts
@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@ import {
   CardDef,
   FieldDef,
   Component,
-  relativeTo,
-  virtualNetworkFor,
+  resolveInstanceURL,
 } from 'https://cardstack.com/base/card-api';
 import StringField from 'https://cardstack.com/base/string';
 import CurrencyIcon from '@cardstack/boxel-icons/currency';
@@ -21,19 +20,13 @@ export class Asset extends CardDef {
       if (!this.logoURL) {
         return null;
       }
-      let rel = this[relativeTo] || this.id;
-      // The instance may have no store-attached VirtualNetwork (detached
-      // / static-parse contexts), and `rel` may be a prefix-form RRI
-      // (e.g. `@cardstack/…/Asset/foo`) that `new URL()` can't parse on
-      // its own. If we can't resolve a base, return `logoURL` raw so the
-      // <img src> binding still has a string to render rather than
-      // letting the compute throw.
+      // `logoURL` may be relative to the instance, which lives at a prefix-form
+      // RRI (e.g. `@cardstack/…/Asset/foo`) that `new URL()` can't parse.
+      // Resolve it against the instance's real URL for the <img src>; if no
+      // VirtualNetwork is available (detached / static-parse), fall back to the
+      // raw value.
       try {
-        let base =
-          typeof rel === 'string'
-            ? (virtualNetworkFor(this)?.toURL(rel) ?? new URL(rel))
-            : rel;
-        return new URL(this.logoURL, base).href;
+        return resolveInstanceURL(this, this.logoURL)?.href ?? this.logoURL;
       } catch {
         return this.logoURL;
       }
@@ -105,19 +98,13 @@ class AssetField extends FieldDef {
       if (!this.logoURL) {
         return null;
       }
-      let rel = this[relativeTo] || this.id;
-      // The instance may have no store-attached VirtualNetwork (detached
-      // / static-parse contexts), and `rel` may be a prefix-form RRI
-      // (e.g. `@cardstack/…/Asset/foo`) that `new URL()` can't parse on
-      // its own. If we can't resolve a base, return `logoURL` raw so the
-      // <img src> binding still has a string to render rather than
-      // letting the compute throw.
+      // `logoURL` may be relative to the instance, which lives at a prefix-form
+      // RRI (e.g. `@cardstack/…/Asset/foo`) that `new URL()` can't parse.
+      // Resolve it against the instance's real URL for the <img src>; if no
+      // VirtualNetwork is available (detached / static-parse), fall back to the
+      // raw value.
       try {
-        let base =
-          typeof rel === 'string'
-            ? (virtualNetworkFor(this)?.toURL(rel) ?? new URL(rel))
-            : rel;
-        return new URL(this.logoURL, base).href;
+        return resolveInstanceURL(this, this.logoURL)?.href ?? this.logoURL;
       } catch {
         return this.logoURL;
       }