--watch-path restarts on unrelated directory touch when --env-file is set

Version

• Node.js: v24.13.0
• OS: macOS

Reproduction

Setup:

mkdir -p /tmp/node-watch-envfile-repro/watched /tmp/node-watch-envfile-repro/unrelated
cd /tmp/node-watch-envfile-repro

echo "FOO=bar" > .env

echo "console.log('START', JSON.stringify({ pid: process.pid, ts: Date.now(), foo: process.env.FOO ?? null }));" > watched/server.js
echo "setInterval(() => {}, 1000);" >> watched/server.js

Run with --env-file and touch an unrelated path:

cd /tmp/node-watch-envfile-repro

node --watch-path=watched --env-file=.env watched/server.js > out-env.log 2>&1 &
PID=$!

sleep 2
touch unrelated
sleep 2

kill $PID
cat out-env.log

Observed output:

START {"pid":58939,"ts":1771621917212,"foo":"bar"}
Restarting 'watched/server.js'
START {"pid":58948,"ts":1771621919442,"foo":"bar"}

Now run without --env-file:

cd /tmp/node-watch-envfile-repro

node --watch-path=watched watched/server.js > out-no-env.log 2>&1 &
PID=$!

sleep 2
touch unrelated
sleep 2

kill $PID
cat out-no-env.log

Observed output:

START {"pid":59279,"ts":1771621950778,"foo":null}

Expected behavior

When --watch-path=watched is set, touching unrelated should not trigger a restart, regardless of whether --env-file is used.

Actual behavior

With --env-file=.env, touching unrelated triggers a restart.
Without --env-file, touching unrelated does not restart.

Notes

This was first noticed in a larger workspace where:

node --watch-path=apps/server/dist-dev --env-file=.env apps/server/dist-dev/server.js

restarts when running:

touch apps/client/dist/

The reduced test case above reproduces the same behavior.

まず、提供されている macOS の再現手順を --env-file ありとなしで実行し、Node.js の watch-path の処理と --env-file エントリポイントとの相互作用に注目します。監視対象のファイルシステムパスがどこで選択されているかを追跡し、無関係なものに触れてもプロセスが再起動しないことを確認する回帰テストを追加または更新します。その後、再現手順と関連する watch テストを再実行して、動作を確認します。