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feat: node.js app doesn't reload when files change #283
Description
Question
I'm using Bolt JS with Slack CLI (slack run command). If I modify the manifest.json file in the root of my project, I see:
File change detected: /slack-bolt-app/manifest.json, reinstalling app...
App successfully reinstalled
However, if I modify any other application file, my app isn't reloaded. This is frustrating because I have to shutdown and restart the Slack app on every line change I want to test.
Looking at the code, I see that (maybe) the Slack CLI provides some mechanisms already to specify the Regex file paths which should be monitored for changes (code)? But I'm not sure how to use them slack run --watch says "unknown flag: --watch".
Any advice on how I could debug this further would be great.
Version
Using slack v3.9.2
OS Info
ProductName: macOS
ProductVersion: 26.1
BuildVersion: 25B78
Darwin Kernel Version 25.1.0: Mon Oct 20 19:33:00 PDT 2025; root:xnu-12377.41.6~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T6020
Steps to reproduce:
- Run the getting started Bolt JS app: https://github.com/slackapi/bolt-js/tree/main/examples/getting-started-typescript
- Modify a file in
src/ - BUG: Slack app is not reinstalled
Expected result:
Any file changes in my project should trigger an Slack app reinstall when using slack run
Actual result:
Nothing happens
Requirements
- I've read and understood the Contributing guidelines and have done my best effort to follow them.
- I've read and agree to the Code of Conduct.
- I've searched for any related issues and avoided creating a duplicate issue.
Activity
mwbrooks commentedon Dec 1, 2025
Hi @EvHaus 👋🏻
Thank you for the sharing this feedback! 🙇🏻 We're aware of this feature gap, but haven't been able to prioritized it. Thanks to your feedback, we should be able to move this up our backlog 🙂
I understand how frustrating this can be for your development workflow. A workaround is to add the following line to your project's
.slack/hooks.jsonfile:A complete version of your file may look like:
{ "hooks": { "get-hooks": "npx -q --no-install -p @slack/cli-hooks slack-cli-get-hooks", "start": "node --watch app.js" } }You could also change this to run a custom npm script, such as
"start": "npm run start-dev".As a heads up, you won't see the
File change detected:message, because the file reloading is handled by thenodeprocess instead ofslack.Thanks to your feedback, we'll look into how we can enable node file change detection in development while disabling it in production. 👌🏻
EvHaus commentedon Dec 1, 2025
Thanks for the quick response. The hook approach seems to be working well!
mwbrooks commentedon Dec 1, 2025
Awesome, that's great to hear @EvHaus 🙌🏻
We'll keep this issue open as a feature request for Node file change support. Thanks again for taking the time to submit it.
[-]Not clear how to specify watch options (app doesn't reload when files change)[/-][+]feat: Node.js app doesn't reload when files change[/+][-]feat: Node.js app doesn't reload when files change[/-][+]feat: node.js app doesn't reload when files change[/+]zimeg commentedon Feb 5, 2026
🚀 The latest CLI release v3.12.0 supports automatic server restarts on file change! The following hook versions are required for this:
@EvHaus This is such an appreciated suggestion - I'll close this issue now, but if issues arise please do feel free to comment more!
zimeg commentedon Feb 5, 2026
🤖 A note to
typescriptdevelopment recommendations is included in these release notes too - we suggest running thetscserver separate from the Slack CLIruncommand:📚 https://github.com/slackapi/node-slack-sdk/releases/tag/%40slack%2Fcli-hooks%401.3.0