exit-on-changes quits your node/io.js program when changes to source files are detected, leaving the parent process or shell to actually start it again. This avoids some of the problems with other solutions that must spawn two io.js processes or prevent you from using your shell aliases. exit-on-changes is particularly useful (vs. the alternatives) in Cygwin environments, but works elsewhere too.

In your project, run:

npm install exit-on-changes --save

or install from the GitHub repo:

npm install ludios/exit-on-changes --save

Somewhere in your program:

require('exit-on-changes');

Then start your program with the environmental variable EXIT_ON_CHANGES_ENABLED=1.

This will exit on changes to source files in the current directory. To actually have the program restart in a loop, use this restarter() function for zsh, or write a similar loop.

Example:

restarter EXIT_ON_CHANGES_ENABLED=1 iojs app.js