Create react app, reload not working

Year 2021

I had this issue in react ^17.0.2 I fixed it by adding a .env file and setting FAST_REFRESH=false. Just create a .env file in the root directory of your project and add FAST_REFRESH=false in the file.

After too many searches I found Webpack watch uses inotify to observe file changes and in ubuntu it's set to a low value. a quick fix:

sudo -i
echo 1048576 > /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches
exit

If you want change it permanently (from Ronald answer):

echo "fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

You may also need to add a .env file in the root directory of your project with this line "FAST_REFRESH=false" as noted in create react app docs.

echo "FAST_REFRESH=false\n" | cat > .env