TIL: Auto-Restarting Node.js Processes With nodemon

Restarting Node.js manually after every edit is a cycle that breaks focus. nodemon watches files and restarts automatically.

npm install -g nodemon
nodemon server.js

Every time server.js or any imported module changes, nodemon kills the process and restarts it. The terminal shows the restart happening with a clear message.

nodemon --ext js,json server.js

Watch .js and .json files. By default nodemon watches .js, .mjs, .json. Specify the extensions explicitly to include or exclude types.

nodemon --ignore tests/ server.js

Ignore the tests directory. Running the full test suite triggers restarts that you do not need while developing the server code.

Does nodemon work with TypeScript?

nodemon --exec ts-node server.ts

The –exec flag replaces the default node command. Run ts-node or tsx through nodemon to restart on TypeScript file changes.

How do I stop nodemon?

Ctrl+C stops the process. nodemon exits cleanly and the child process is terminated.