Why Use nodemon Instead of Native Watch for Node.js?

Feb 21, 2026

Problem

I tried to switch from nodemon to native Node.js watch for my development server. But I quickly hit limitations.

user@host:~/project$ node --watch src/index.js
Server running on port 3000
[Error] Cannot find module './config.json'

When I changed a config file, the server crashed. Native watch restarted too fast, before my build process finished.

Environment

Node.js 20.10.0
TypeScript 5.3
Express server
Hot reload needed
Custom build step

What happened?

I removed nodemon and switched to native watch to reduce dependencies. Here’s my package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "node --watch src/index.js
  }
}

I can explain the key parts:

Native watch is built into Node.js 20+
No extra dependency needed
Simple configuration

But when I ran it, I got errors. Native watch restarted on every file change, including:

Transpiled files in dist/
Test files
Config files being written

This caused multiple restarts per second and crashed my server.

How to solve it?

I tried to add delays and ignore patterns, but native watch doesn’t support them:

# This doesn't work - no delay option
node --watch --delay 1000 src/index.js

# This doesn't work - no ignore option
node --watch --ignore dist src/index.js

So I went back to nodemon:

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "nodemon
  },
  "nodemonConfig": {
    "watch": ["src"],
    "ext": "js,json",
    "ignore": ["dist", "node_modules", "*.test.js"],
    "delay": "1000
  }
}

Now my server only restarts when I actually change source files.

Advanced nodemon features

I found nodemon has features native watch lacks:

Environment variables:

{
  "nodemonConfig": {
    "env": {
      "NODE_ENV": "development",
      "DEBUG": "app:*
    }
  }
}

Custom restart logic:

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "nodemon --exec 'npm run build && node dist/index.js'
  }
}

Ignored file patterns:

{
  "nodemonConfig": {
    "ignore": [
      "dist/**",
      "*.test.js",
      "*.spec.js",
      "node_modules/**
    ]
  }
}

The reason

I think the key reason for using nodemon:

Ignore patterns: Don’t restart on test or build files
Delay support: Wait for build processes to finish
Custom exec: Run build steps before restart
Environment management: Set different env vars per project
Detailed logs: See exactly what changed and why

Native watch is great for simple scripts. But for real-world development, you need more control.

When to use each

Use native watch when:

Simple Node.js scripts
No build process
No complex dependencies
Want to reduce packages

Use nodemon when:

TypeScript or transpilation
Complex build steps
Multiple file types to ignore
Need restart delays
Custom restart logic

Summary

In this post, I showed why nodemon is still useful despite native watch. The key point is that professional development needs features like ignore patterns, delays, and custom restart logic that native watch doesn’t provide.

Final Words + More Resources

My intention with this article was to help others share my knowledge and experience. If you want to contact me, you can contact by email: Email me

Here are also the most important links from this article along with some further resources that will help you in this scope:

👨‍💻 nodemon Config Documentation

Oh, and if you found these resources useful, don’t forget to support me by starring the repo on GitHub!