diff --git a/development-server.js b/development-server.js
index 8435fb0f4d..b59f0cb5e0 100644
--- a/development-server.js
+++ b/development-server.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 require('@babel/register');
 
 const { spawn } = require('child_process');
+const nodemon = require('nodemon');
 
 const spawnOpts = {
   stdio: 'inherit',
@@ -8,6 +9,19 @@ const spawnOpts = {
 };
 
 // spawns loopback
-spawn('DEBUG=fcc* babel-node', ['./server/server.js'], spawnOpts);
+
+nodemon({
+  script: './server/server.js',
+  ext: 'js json',
+  // --silent squashes an ELIFECYCLE error when the server exits
+  exec: 'npm run --silent babel-dev-server',
+  watch: './server',
+  spawn: true
+});
+
+nodemon
+  .on('restart', function nodemonRestart(files) {
+    console.log('App restarted due to: ', files);
+  });
 // spawns gatsby in development mode
 spawn('npm', ['run', 'develop'], spawnOpts);
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index dfdeb035bc..352e833242 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -4,10 +4,11 @@
   "repository": "freecodecamp/freecodecamp",
   "scripts": {
     "build": "NODE_ENV=production gatsby build",
+    "babel-dev-server": "babel-node ./server/server.js",
     "commit": "git-cz",
     "commitmsg": "validate-commit-msg",
     "develop": "gatsby develop",
-    "develop-server": "node ./development-server.js",
+    "develop-server": "DEBUG=fcc* node ./development-server.js",
     "ensure-env": "node ./config/ensure-env.js",
     "lint": "npm run lint-js && npm run lint-json",
     "lint-js": "eslint --ext=.js,.jsx gulpfile.js server/ common/ config/ client/",