How to run custom server.js in services when using cds watch from root?

[thisisevanfox]

Hi CAP-Team,

I noticed that in the incidents submodule, inside the srv folder, we have a custom server.js.

When running cds watch directly in the incidents folder, the custom server.js is executed as expected (see screenshot below, no. 1). However, when starting cds watch from the root directory (as described in step 2 of the tutorial), the custom server.js is not called (see screenshot below, no. 2).

Steps to Reproduce

1. Go to the incidents/srv folder.
2. Add a log line inside server.js (for example at line 16):

console.log("=== CALLED CUSTOM SERVER.JS ===");

3. Run cds watch inside the incidents folder → the log appears.
4. Run cds watch from the project root (tutorial step 2). The log does not appear.

Expected Behavior
When running cds watch from the root, the custom server.js files inside the services should also be executed (or there should be a documented way to enable this).

Actual Behavior
The custom server.js is only executed when cds watch is run directly inside the incidents folder, not when running from root.

Is there a recommended way to ensure custom server.js in services are also executed when running cds watch from the root? This is mostly relevant for local development. In deployment scenarios, each service runs in its own container, so the issue does not occur. Still, it would be helpful to know the best practice here.

Thank you & kind regards
Johannes

[thisisevanfox]

I found a workaround for my local development setup and wanted to share it here in case it helps others:

In each service (feedback and incidents) I added the following to package.json:

"cds": {
  "requires": {
    "db": {
      "kind": "sqlite",
      "credentials": {
        "url": "../db.sqlite"
      }
    }
  }
}

In the root package.json I added:

"cds": {
  "requires": {
    "db": {
      "kind": "sqlite",
      "credentials": {
        "url": "db.sqlite"
      }
    }
  }
}

Then I installed concurrently:

npm i -D concurrently

Finally I added these scripts in the root package.json:

"scripts": {
  "watch:feedback": "cd ./feedback && cds watch",
  "watch:incidents": "cd ./incidents && cds watch",
  "watch": "concurrently --kill-others-on-fail -n feedback,incidents -c green,yellow \"npm run watch:feedback\" \"npm run watch:incidents\""
}

Now I can run both submodules with their own custom server.js by simply using:

npm run watch

Is this a valid approach for local development, or would you suggest a different/more official way?