Dev Server

Run native dev in an app directory to build and launch the app. It builds Debug by default — the markup hot-reload watcher and the Debug-only teaching diagnostics are compiled in only in Debug; pass -Doptimize=... to override (native build stays ReleaseFast by default). Native-rendered apps get markup hot reload (edit src/app.native while the app runs); no build files are required — apps without a build.zig are driven through a CLI-generated build graph, apps with one through zig build.

For apps with a frontend dev config in app.zon, native dev also owns the frontend server lifecycle. It starts the configured frontend process, waits for the port to accept connections, launches the native shell with NATIVE_SDK_FRONTEND_URL, sets NATIVE_SDK_HMR=1, and terminates the frontend when the shell exits. Framework HMR stays owned by the dev server (Vite, Next.js, etc.) because the WebView loads the dev URL directly.

Usage

native dev
native dev path/to/app -Dweb-engine=chromium
native dev --binary zig-out/bin/MyApp
native dev --binary zig-out/bin/MyApp --url http://127.0.0.1:3000/ --command "npm run dev"
native dev --binary zig-out/bin/MyApp --timeout-ms 60000

With --binary, the build step is skipped and only the frontend dev flow runs against the prebuilt shell (this is what the expanded template's zig build dev step invokes).

Flags

Flag	Description
`--manifest`	Path to `app.zon` (default: `app.zon`)
`--binary`	Path to the built native binary
`--url`	Override dev server URL from `app.zon`
`--command`	Override dev server command from `app.zon`
`--timeout-ms`	Override readiness timeout (default from `app.zon`)

Configuration in app.zon

.frontend = .{
    .dist = "dist",
    .entry = "index.html",
    .spa_fallback = true,
    .dev = .{
        .url = "http://127.0.0.1:5173/",
        .command = .{ "npm", "run", "dev", "--", "--host", "127.0.0.1" },
        .ready_path = "/",
        .timeout_ms = 30000,
    },
}

Framework recipes

Vite: .url = "http://127.0.0.1:5173/", command npm run dev -- --host 127.0.0.1.

Next.js: .url = "http://127.0.0.1:3000/", command npm run dev -- --hostname 127.0.0.1.

Static preview: point .dist at the build output and use any local server command.