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Frontend Watch

Guidance for running and troubleshooting the current frontend watch workflow.

Overview​

  • webstir watch runs the Bun dev server for frontend workspaces.
  • spa and ssg serve rebuilt frontend output directly from the workspace build directory.
  • full uses the same frontend host and proxies /api/* to the supervised backend runtime.
  • Hot updates apply when the changed asset can be targeted directly; otherwise the browser falls back to a full reload after rebuild.

CLI Commands​

  • Default frontend loop: webstir watch --workspace <absolute-path>
  • Bind a different address or port: webstir watch --workspace <absolute-path> --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8088
  • One-off frontend build: bunx webstir-frontend build --workspace <absolute-path>
  • Targeted frontend rebuild: bunx webstir-frontend rebuild --workspace <absolute-path> --changed-file <absolute-path>

Failure Recovery​

  1. Stop webstir watch, then start it again.
  2. If dependencies drift, run bun install in the workspace, then restart the watch loop.
  3. Rebuild once with bunx webstir-frontend build --workspace <absolute-path> to confirm the frontend package can emit fresh output outside the long-running watch loop.
  4. If the issue is limited to full, rerun the workspace with webstir watch and confirm the backend runtime restarts cleanly after a backend edit.

Fallbacks​

  • Clearing build/frontend and dist/frontend is safe; the next build or watch cycle will repopulate outputs.
  • Frontend-only validation can use bunx webstir-frontend build or bunx webstir-frontend rebuild directly.
  • Backend-backed validation in full mode should still use webstir watch so the /api proxy and runtime restarts stay in the loop.