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What does the Node.js --watch flag do and how does it replace nodemon?

Q: What does the Node.js --watch flag do and how does it replace nodemon?

**TL;DR.** node --watch app.js **restarts the process automatically** when any imported file changes — built into Node, zero dependencies. --watch-path scopes which directories to watch. It covers nodemon's core "restart on save" use case; nodemon still offers more configuration (debounce, custom exec, extension maps). edit + save file --watch detects restarts process <rec

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Native file-watching/restart with node --watch and --watch-path.

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Dependency-free dev loop

node --watch server.js                 # restart on change
node --watch --env-file=.env server.js  # load env too
node --watch server.ts                  # with native type stripping

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