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

[OliverJAsh]

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.