diff --git a/.changeset/fair-students-cough.md b/.changeset/fair-students-cough.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f8ce8d6c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fair-students-cough.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'astro': patch
+---
+
+Fix an issue with how files are watched during development
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/runtime.ts b/packages/astro/src/runtime.ts
index 76c831601..8a9ff1548 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/runtime.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/runtime.ts
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ async function createSnowpack(astroConfig: AstroConfig, options: CreateSnowpackO
       lockfile: null,
     },
     {
-      isWatch: isHmrEnabled,
+      isWatch: mode === 'development',
     }
   );
   const snowpackRuntime = snowpack.getServerRuntime();