coalburn
Save a file. Your app restarts.
coalburn watches your project and restarts your Node.js app when files change. Add --port and the browser reloads too.
npm i -g coalburn
coalburn --port 3000 app.js
[coalburn] Watching /Users/you/my-app
[coalburn] Live reload on http://localhost:3000 (app gets port 56195 as process.env.PORT)
[coalburn] Starting app.js
Server running on port 56195
[coalburn] Open http://localhost:3000
[coalburn] File changed: app.js
[coalburn] Restarting...
[coalburn] Starting app.js
Server running on port 56195
[coalburn] Reloading browser...
Usage
Run it from your project folder. Needs Node.js 20.19 or newer.
coalburn app.js- Runs the file with Node and restarts it when anything in the folder changes.
coalburn node server.js --verbose- Runs any command. Flags after the command go to your app.
coalburn --port 3000 app.js- Serves your app on port 3000 and reloads open tabs after each restart.
coalburn --port 3000 --reload-delay 500 app.js- Reloads the browser half a second after the app is back, instead of one second.
How live reload works
browser coalburn on :3000 your app on a free port
coalburn takes the port you open and gives your app a free one through process.env.PORT. Every HTML page it passes along gets a tiny script that waits for a reload message.
After a restart it waits until your app answers, then one more second, then reloads every open tab.
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000;
app.listen(PORT);| Option | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
--port <port> | Serve the app on this port with live reload | off |
--reload-delay <ms> | Wait this long after the app is up before reloading | 1000 |
What it handles
- Skips
node_modulesand.git. - Waits 300 ms after the last change, so one save means one restart.
- Starts the new process only after the old one exits, so the port is free.
- If your app crashes, it waits for your next save instead of looping.
- Ctrl+C stops everything. Press it twice if your app won't quit.
- One direct dependency: chokidar.