Hey everyone, I’m having trouble with my npm run watch command. It seems to be stuck and not detecting any file changes. Here’s what I see in my terminal:
Local: http://localhost:3000
External: http://192.168.0.106:3000
UI: http://localhost:3001
UI External: http://localhost:3001
[Browsersync] Watching files...
After this, nothing happens. I’ve tried making changes to my files, but the watch command doesn’t pick them up. It’s just stuck on ‘Watching files…’ Has anyone else encountered this issue? Any advice on how to resolve it or what might be causing the problem would be great. Thanks in advance!
I’ve encountered this issue before, and it can be frustrating. One thing that often resolves it for me is increasing the number of file watchers your system allows. On Linux, you can do this by running ‘echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf && sudo sysctl -p’. For Windows or Mac, there are similar solutions. Additionally, ensure your Node.js and npm versions are up to date, as older versions can sometimes cause watch issues. If all else fails, try using a different file watching library like chokidar, which can be more reliable in certain environments.
I’ve dealt with this exact problem before, and it can be a real headache. One thing that worked for me was checking my project’s gitignore file. Sometimes, if you’ve accidentally ignored important directories or files, npm won’t detect changes. Also, make sure you’re running the watch command from the correct directory in your project structure.
Another trick that solved it for me once was simply restarting my development environment and computer. It sounds basic, but it can clear up weird caching issues.
If none of that works, you might want to look into using a different bundler or build tool. I switched to Vite for some projects and found it much faster and more reliable for hot reloading. Just a thought if you’re open to exploring alternatives.
Hope you get it sorted soon!
hey tom, i had similar issue before. try clearing ur npm cache (npm cache clean --force) and reinstall dependencies. also check if ur file paths r correct in ur watch config. sometimes antivirus can mess with file watching too. hope this helps!