feat(workspace-packages): API watch and reload packages

[Tobbe]

The script that runs the api server in dev used on only restart the server when any of the files in the api workspace changes. I've now extended this logic to also watch and restart when workspace packages the api side uses changes

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[greptile-apps]

Greptile Overview

Greptile Summary

This PR extends the API dev watcher to also watch the source trees of workspace packages that the API depends on (via workspace:* deps), enabling rebuild/restart when those packages change. It introduces workspacePackages() to discover relevant package src/** globs and updates startWatch() to include them and broaden ignored paths.

Key integration points:

• packages/api-server/src/workspacePackages.ts computes watch patterns from root workspaces + API package.json workspace deps.
• packages/api-server/src/watch.ts adds those patterns to chokidar and keeps the existing build/restart + SDL validation flow intact.

Confidence Score: 3/5

• This PR is generally safe to merge, but workspace watching may not work correctly on Windows or with common workspaces configurations.
• Core behavior is additive and limited to dev watch paths/ignores, but there are two concrete correctness gaps: (1) generated glob patterns can be Windows-incompatible due to backslashes, and (2) workspaces detection only supports the array form, potentially disabling the feature in common monorepo setups.
• packages/api-server/src/workspacePackages.ts; packages/api-server/src/watch.ts

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
packages/api-server/src/watch.ts	Adds workspace package globs to chokidar watch list and expands ignored paths; potential Windows glob normalization issue when mixing ensurePosixPath with ** patterns.
packages/api-server/src/workspacePackages.ts	New helper to find API’s workspace:* dependencies and return glob watch patterns; workspace detection only supports array workspaces and path globs may be Windows-incompatible.

Sequence Diagram

sequenceDiagram
  participant Dev as Developer
  participant Watch as api-server/startWatch
  participant WP as workspacePackages()
  participant Ch as chokidar
  participant BM as BuildManager
  participant SM as serverManager
  participant SDL as loadAndValidateSdls

  Dev->>Watch: startWatch()
  Watch->>WP: compute workspace globs
  WP-->>Watch: [api/src, pkg/src/**]
  Watch->>Ch: chokidar.watch(paths, ignored)
  Ch-->>Watch: ready
  Watch->>BM: run(clean=true)
  BM->>SM: restartApiServer()
  Watch->>SDL: validate SDLs

  Ch-->>Watch: all(event, file)
  alt file includes .sdl
    Watch->>SDL: validate SDLs
    alt invalid
      Watch->>SM: killApiServer()
      Watch-->>Dev: log schema error
      Watch-->>Ch: return (skip rebuild)
    end
  end
  Watch->>BM: cancelScheduledBuild()
  alt event is add/unlink
    Watch->>BM: run(rebuild=false)
  else other events (change, etc.)
    Watch->>BM: run(rebuild=true)
  end
  BM->>SM: restartApiServer()

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[greptile-apps]

_{2 files reviewed, 2 comments}

_{Edit Code Review Agent Settings | Greptile}

[greptile-apps]

[P0] workspacePackages() can generate invalid chokidar globs on Windows due to path.join() backslashes.

workspacePackages() returns patterns like ...\\src\\**\\* on Windows, and startWatch() only normalizes watch roots with ensurePosixPath (which likely doesn’t treat ** globs specially). This can result in chokidar not matching any workspace package files on Windows.

Consider normalizing the returned patterns from workspacePackages() to POSIX (or returning absolute dirs and letting chokidar handle recursion) instead of mixing path.join + globs.

Prompt To Fix With AI

This is a comment left during a code review.
Path: packages/api-server/src/watch.ts
Line: 125:127

Comment:
[P0] `workspacePackages()` can generate invalid chokidar globs on Windows due to `path.join()` backslashes.

`workspacePackages()` returns patterns like `...\\src\\**\\*` on Windows, and `startWatch()` only normalizes watch roots with `ensurePosixPath` (which likely doesn’t treat `**` globs specially). This can result in chokidar not matching any workspace package files on Windows.

Consider normalizing the returned patterns from `workspacePackages()` to POSIX (or returning absolute dirs and letting chokidar handle recursion) instead of mixing `path.join` + globs.

How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

[nx-cloud]

🤖 Nx Cloud AI Fix

Ensure the fix-ci command is configured to always run in your CI pipeline to get automatic fixes in future runs. For more information, please see https://nx.dev/ci/features/self-healing-ci

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☁️ Nx Cloud last updated this comment at 2026-02-01 21:57:12 UTC

[dosubot]

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[github-actions]

The changes in this PR are now available in 3.0.0-canary.13322+8fb222b6a