diff --git a/packages/runtime-core/src/apiSetupHelpers.ts b/packages/runtime-core/src/apiSetupHelpers.ts
index fb8e6f7a..719412ee 100644
--- a/packages/runtime-core/src/apiSetupHelpers.ts
+++ b/packages/runtime-core/src/apiSetupHelpers.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-import { getCurrentInstance, SetupContext } from './component'
+import {
+  getCurrentInstance,
+  SetupContext,
+  createSetupContext
+} from './component'
 import { EmitFn, EmitsOptions } from './componentEmits'
 import { ComponentObjectPropsOptions, ExtractPropTypes } from './componentProps'
 import { warn } from './warning'
@@ -53,5 +57,9 @@ export function defineEmit(emitOptions?: any) {
 }
 
 export function useContext(): SetupContext {
-  return getCurrentInstance()!.setupContext!
+  const i = getCurrentInstance()!
+  if (__DEV__ && !i) {
+    warn(`useContext() called without active instance.`)
+  }
+  return i.setupContext || (i.setupContext = createSetupContext(i))
 }
diff --git a/packages/runtime-core/src/component.ts b/packages/runtime-core/src/component.ts
index 2261dd81..935c4d37 100644
--- a/packages/runtime-core/src/component.ts
+++ b/packages/runtime-core/src/component.ts
@@ -746,7 +746,9 @@ const attrHandlers: ProxyHandler<Data> = {
   }
 }
 
-function createSetupContext(instance: ComponentInternalInstance): SetupContext {
+export function createSetupContext(
+  instance: ComponentInternalInstance
+): SetupContext {
   const expose: SetupContext['expose'] = exposed => {
     if (__DEV__ && instance.exposed) {
       warn(`expose() should be called only once per setup().`)