diff --git a/api/.gitignore b/api/.gitignore
index 1bb009b34..ac324a27f 100644
--- a/api/.gitignore
+++ b/api/.gitignore
@@ -83,6 +83,8 @@ deploy/*
 
 !**/*.login.*
 
+# Local Development Artifacts
+
 # local api configs - don't need project-wide tracking
 dev/connectStatus.json
 dev/configs/*
@@ -96,6 +98,7 @@ dev/configs/oidc.local.json
 
 # local api keys
 dev/keys/*
-
-# dev docker templates
-dev/docker-templates
\ No newline at end of file
+# mock docker templates
+dev/docker-templates
+# ie unraid notifications
+dev/notifications
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/api/justfile b/api/justfile
index 2542ccca3..0b064fdd8 100644
--- a/api/justfile
+++ b/api/justfile
@@ -12,8 +12,13 @@ default:
 @deploy remote:
     ./scripts/deploy-dev.sh {{remote}}
 
+# watches typescript files and restarts dev server on changes
+@watch:
+    watchexec -e ts -r -- pnpm dev
+
 alias b := build
 alias d := deploy
+alias w := watch
 
 sync-env server:
     rsync -avz --progress --stats -e ssh .env* root@{{server}}:/usr/local/unraid-api