sloppy dev (experimental)

Build a web project, start the local development server, and rebuild on project file changes. This command is experimental; behavior and support may change during the public alpha period.

sloppy dev [source]
           [--host <ip>] [--port <n>]
           [--watch|--no-watch] [--clear] [--openapi]
           [--env <name>] [--environment <name>]

Modes

Project mode:

sloppy dev

Reads sloppy.json, compiles entry into outDir, starts the HTTP server, and watches project inputs.

Explicit source:

sloppy dev src/main.ts

Compiles the supplied source into .sloppy, starts the HTTP server, and watches the source directory plus common project inputs.

Flags

Flag	Default	Purpose
--host <ip>	127.0.0.1 or Plan config	Server bind host
--port <n>	5173 or Plan config	Server bind port
--watch	on	Rebuild after watched file changes
--no-watch	off	Build and run the dev server without reloads
--clear	off	Clear the terminal before the initial build and reload output
--openapi	off	Write <outDir>/openapi.json after successful builds when the Plan is web/OpenAPI-compatible
--env <name>	Development or sloppy.json environment	Short alias for --environment
--environment <name>	Development or sloppy.json environment	Select appsettings overlay

sloppy dev (experimental) requires a web Plan. Program Mode projects should use sloppy run.

Watched Inputs

The development loop uses portable polling. It watches:

• the project source directory, or the explicit source file's containing directory
• sloppy.json
• appsettings.json
• appsettings.Development.json
• public/, static/, and wwwroot/
• templates/ and views/
• assetInclude and moduleInclude roots from sloppy.json
• migration directories configured in sloppy.json

Changes are debounced before rebuild. The changed file paths are printed before the rebuild starts.

Reload Behavior

Startup does an initial build, loads the generated artifacts, and starts the same development HTTP transport used by sloppy run.

On a watched change:

1. sloppy dev (experimental) rebuilds the source.
2. If the build fails, the previous server keeps running.
3. If the build succeeds, sloppy dev (experimental) stops the old server and starts the new artifacts.
4. If --openapi is set, OpenAPI is refreshed after each successful rebuild when the Plan supports it.

Build diagnostics are printed without native stack dumps. Ctrl+C stops the server, shuts down the app lifecycle, and exits.

Examples

# Build, run, and reload the current project.
sloppy dev

# Explicit watch mode, custom port.
sloppy dev --watch --port 8080

# Rebuild and refresh OpenAPI on changes.
sloppy dev --openapi

# Run without reloads.
sloppy dev --no-watch

# Use a non-default environment overlay.
sloppy dev --env Staging