watch: split reload-signal (CSS) from template-signal (templates)

CSS changes still write .clay/reload-signal → full nodemon restart, which
gives the browser a fresh ETag for the stable CSS URL.

Template changes now write .clay/template-signal → html.init() in-process
(~100ms), no restart needed.  Previously both used reload-signal which
broke CSS visibility when we replaced nodemon.restart() with html.init().

Made-with: Cursor

Author: jjpaulino

lib/cmd/vite/scripts.js

@@ -1296,8 +1296,9 @@ async function watch(options = {}) {
       .then(() => {
         stopStyleTick();
         console.log(clr.styles('[styles]') + clr.rebuilt(` Rebuilt (${Date.now() - start}ms)`));
-        // Reuse the same reload-signal as templates so start.js/nodemon
-        // restarts the server and the browser picks up the new CSS.
+        // Write reload-signal so start.js/nodemon restarts the server — a full
+        // restart is needed because CSS has stable URLs and the browser won't
+        // re-fetch without either a new URL or an ETag change from a new process.
         return fs.ensureDir(CLAY_DIR)
           .then(() => fs.writeFile(path.join(CLAY_DIR, 'reload-signal'), String(Date.now())))
           .catch(() => {});
@@ -1325,7 +1326,10 @@ async function watch(options = {}) {
   fontWatcher.on('change', rebuildFonts).on('add', rebuildFonts).on('unlink', rebuildFonts);
 
   // ── Template watcher ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-  const RELOAD_SIGNAL = path.join(CLAY_DIR, 'reload-signal');
+  // Separate signals so each trigger is handled correctly server-side:
+  //   reload-signal    → nodemon.restart() in start.js   (CSS: full restart busts browser cache)
+  //   template-signal  → html.init()       in renderers.js (templates: fast in-process re-register)
+  const TEMPLATE_SIGNAL = path.join(CLAY_DIR, 'template-signal');
 
   const rebuildTemplates = debounce((changedFile) => {
     if (changedFile) console.log(clr.templates('[templates]') + ' Changed: ' + clr.file(rel(changedFile)));
@@ -1336,10 +1340,10 @@ async function watch(options = {}) {
       .then(() => {
         stopTemplateTick();
         console.log(clr.templates('[templates]') + clr.rebuilt(` Rebuilt (${Date.now() - start}ms)`));
-        // Write the reload-signal file so that the app server (start.js / nodemon)
-        // picks up the template change without needing to poll thousands of files.
+        // Write template-signal so renderers.js calls html.init() in-process
+        // (~100ms) without a full server restart.
         return fs.ensureDir(CLAY_DIR)
-          .then(() => fs.writeFile(RELOAD_SIGNAL, String(Date.now())))
+          .then(() => fs.writeFile(TEMPLATE_SIGNAL, String(Date.now())))
           .catch(() => {}); // non-fatal if signal can't be written
       })
       .catch(e => { stopTemplateTick(); console.error(clr.templates('[templates]') + clr.error(` rebuild failed: ${e.message}`)); });