From 31caef8823a2574aab2ac8d1ca8f52809f2badeb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Xavier Stouder <xavier@stouder.io>
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2026 01:36:28 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 1/3] esm: ensure watch mode restarts after syntax errors

Move watch dependency reporting earlier in module resolution to ensure
file dependencies are tracked even when parsing fails.

Fixes: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/61153
---
 lib/internal/modules/esm/loader.js | 11 ++++++-----
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/internal/modules/esm/loader.js b/lib/internal/modules/esm/loader.js
index 40dafb59687b28..0bff0763fcf58f 100644
--- a/lib/internal/modules/esm/loader.js
+++ b/lib/internal/modules/esm/loader.js
@@ -542,6 +542,12 @@ class ModuleLoader {
    */
   #getOrCreateModuleJobAfterResolve(parentURL, resolveResult, request, requestType) {
     const { url, format } = resolveResult;
+
+    if (process.env.WATCH_REPORT_DEPENDENCIES && process.send) {
+      const type = requestType === kRequireInImportedCJS ? 'require' : 'import';
+      process.send({ [`watch:${type}`]: [url] });
+    }
+
     // TODO(joyeecheung): update the module requests to use importAttributes as property names.
     const importAttributes = resolveResult.importAttributes ?? request.attributes;
     let job = this.loadCache.get(url, importAttributes.type);
@@ -570,11 +576,6 @@ class ModuleLoader {
       assert(moduleOrModulePromise instanceof ModuleWrap, `Expected ModuleWrap for loading ${url}`);
     }
 
-    if (process.env.WATCH_REPORT_DEPENDENCIES && process.send) {
-      const type = requestType === kRequireInImportedCJS ? 'require' : 'import';
-      process.send({ [`watch:${type}`]: [url] });
-    }
-
     const { ModuleJob, ModuleJobSync } = require('internal/modules/esm/module_job');
     // TODO(joyeecheung): use ModuleJobSync for kRequireInImportedCJS too.
     const ModuleJobCtor = (requestType === kImportInRequiredESM ? ModuleJobSync : ModuleJob);

From 0e69c4da38bcbdf9b6ed5e1fae9e0e813542a6a6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Xavier Stouder <xavier@stouder.io>
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2026 15:43:35 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 2/3] test

---
 test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs | 47 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 47 insertions(+)

diff --git a/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs b/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs
index b9e57cb30bedc9..c8ff0b43b39f82 100644
--- a/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs
+++ b/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs
@@ -884,4 +884,51 @@ process.on('message', (message) => {
       await done();
     }
   });
+
+  it('should watch changes even when there is syntax errors during esm loading', async () => {
+    // Create initial file with valid code
+    const initialContent = `console.log('hello, world');`;
+    const file = createTmpFile(initialContent, '.mjs');
+
+    const { done, restart } = runInBackground({
+      args: ['--watch', file],
+      completed: 'Completed running',
+      shouldFail: true,
+    });
+
+    try {
+      const { stdout, stderr } = await restart();
+      assert.strictEqual(stderr, '');
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(stdout, [
+        'hello, world',
+        `Completed running ${inspect(file)}. Waiting for file changes before restarting...`,
+      ])
+
+      // Update file with syntax error
+      const syntaxErrorContent = `console.log('hello, wor`;
+      writeFileSync(file, syntaxErrorContent);
+
+      // Wait for the failed restart
+      const { stderr: stderr2, stdout: stdout2 } = await restart();
+      assert.match(stderr2, /SyntaxError: Invalid or unexpected token/);
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(stdout2, [
+        `Restarting ${inspect(file)}`,
+        `Failed running ${inspect(file)}. Waiting for file changes before restarting...`,
+      ])
+
+      writeFileSync(file, `console.log('hello again, world');`);
+
+      const { stderr: stderr3, stdout: stdout3 } = await restart();
+
+      // Verify it recovered and ran successfully
+      assert.strictEqual(stderr3, '');
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(stdout3, [
+        `Restarting ${inspect(file)}`,
+        'hello again, world',
+        `Completed running ${inspect(file)}. Waiting for file changes before restarting...`,
+      ]);
+    } finally {
+      await done();
+    }
+  });
 });

From 91fddbe030bab74a6bbe6b8fac92bdd1ce067430 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Xavier Stouder <xavier@stouder.io>
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2026 16:30:38 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 3/3] lint

---
 test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs b/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs
index c8ff0b43b39f82..a141c3c9126eb3 100644
--- a/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs
+++ b/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs
@@ -902,7 +902,7 @@ process.on('message', (message) => {
       assert.deepStrictEqual(stdout, [
         'hello, world',
         `Completed running ${inspect(file)}. Waiting for file changes before restarting...`,
-      ])
+      ]);
 
       // Update file with syntax error
       const syntaxErrorContent = `console.log('hello, wor`;
@@ -914,7 +914,7 @@ process.on('message', (message) => {
       assert.deepStrictEqual(stdout2, [
         `Restarting ${inspect(file)}`,
         `Failed running ${inspect(file)}. Waiting for file changes before restarting...`,
-      ])
+      ]);
 
       writeFileSync(file, `console.log('hello again, world');`);