diff --git a/scripts/dev-runner-paths.mjs b/scripts/dev-runner-paths.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..274be549
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/dev-runner-paths.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+const testDirectoryNames = new Set([
+  "__tests__",
+  "_tests",
+  "test",
+  "tests",
+]);
+
+const ignoredTestConfigBasenames = new Set([
+  "jest.config.cjs",
+  "jest.config.js",
+  "jest.config.mjs",
+  "jest.config.ts",
+  "playwright.config.ts",
+  "vitest.config.ts",
+]);
+
+export function shouldTrackDevServerPath(relativePath) {
+  const normalizedPath = String(relativePath).replaceAll("\\", "/").replace(/^\.\/+/, "");
+  if (normalizedPath.length === 0) return false;
+
+  const segments = normalizedPath.split("/");
+  const basename = segments.at(-1) ?? normalizedPath;
+
+  if (ignoredTestConfigBasenames.has(basename)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  if (segments.some((segment) => testDirectoryNames.has(segment))) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  if (/\.(test|spec)\.[^/]+$/i.test(basename)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  return true;
+}
diff --git a/scripts/dev-runner.mjs b/scripts/dev-runner.mjs
index 7e13efef..091dbb19 100644
--- a/scripts/dev-runner.mjs
+++ b/scripts/dev-runner.mjs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import path from "node:path";
 import { createInterface } from "node:readline/promises";
 import { stdin, stdout } from "node:process";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import { shouldTrackDevServerPath } from "./dev-runner-paths.mjs";
 
 const mode = process.argv[2] === "watch" ? "watch" : "dev";
 const cliArgs = process.argv.slice(3);
@@ -164,6 +165,7 @@ function readSignature(absolutePath) {
 function addFileToSnapshot(snapshot, absolutePath) {
   const relativePath = toRelativePath(absolutePath);
   if (ignoredRelativePaths.has(relativePath)) return;
+  if (!shouldTrackDevServerPath(relativePath)) return;
   snapshot.set(relativePath, readSignature(absolutePath));
 }
 
diff --git a/server/src/__tests__/dev-runner-paths.test.ts b/server/src/__tests__/dev-runner-paths.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..76b35203
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/src/__tests__/dev-runner-paths.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { shouldTrackDevServerPath } from "../../../scripts/dev-runner-paths.mjs";
+
+describe("shouldTrackDevServerPath", () => {
+  it("ignores common test file paths", () => {
+    expect(shouldTrackDevServerPath("server/src/__tests__/health.test.ts")).toBe(false);
+    expect(shouldTrackDevServerPath("packages/shared/src/lib/foo.test.ts")).toBe(false);
+    expect(shouldTrackDevServerPath("packages/shared/src/lib/foo.spec.tsx")).toBe(false);
+    expect(shouldTrackDevServerPath("packages/shared/_tests/helpers.ts")).toBe(false);
+    expect(shouldTrackDevServerPath("packages/shared/tests/helpers.ts")).toBe(false);
+    expect(shouldTrackDevServerPath("packages/shared/test/helpers.ts")).toBe(false);
+    expect(shouldTrackDevServerPath("vitest.config.ts")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps runtime paths restart-relevant", () => {
+    expect(shouldTrackDevServerPath("server/src/routes/health.ts")).toBe(true);
+    expect(shouldTrackDevServerPath("packages/shared/src/index.ts")).toBe(true);
+    expect(shouldTrackDevServerPath("server/src/testing/runtime.ts")).toBe(true);
+  });
+});