nodemon as a gulp task

example.js

'use strict';

import {gulp, plugins, config} from '../plugins';
import proxyMiddleware from 'http-proxy-middleware';
const proxy = 'localhost:8002';

/**
 * Watch Task: gulp watch
 */
gulp.task('watch', plugins.sequence('nodemon', 'bundle', 'browserSync', 'watch-start'));

gulp.task('browserSync', (done) => {
    config.browserSyncConfig = {
        proxy: {
            target: proxy,
            middleware: [proxyMiddleware(['api'], {target: `http://${proxy}/api`})]
        }
    };

    plugins.browserSync.init(config.browserSyncConfig, (err) => {
        if (!err) {
            done();
        } else {
            throw new Error('Error starting BrowserSync');
        }
    });
});

gulp.task('watch-start', (done) => {
    plugins.util.log(plugins.util.colors.cyan('Watching for changes...'));

    plugins.watch([
        config.src + '/scripts/**/*' + config.extensionGlobs.js,
        config.src + '/scripts/**/*' + config.extensionGlobs.vue,
        '!' + config.src + '/scripts/**/' + '**_scsslint_tmp**.js'
    ], () => {
        return gulp.start('webpack');
    });

    plugins.watch(config.src + '/views/' + config.extensionGlobs.views, () => {
        return gulp.start('views');
    });

    plugins.watch(config.src + '/fonts/' + config.extensionGlobs.fonts, () => {
        return gulp.start('fonts');
    });

    plugins.watch(config.src + '/images/' + config.extensionGlobs.images, () => {
        return gulp.start('images');
    });

    plugins.watch(config.src + '/styles/' + config.extensionGlobs.sass, () => {
        return gulp.start('sass');
    });

    done();
});

nodemon.js

'use strict';

import {gulp, plugins} from '../plugins';
import nodemon from 'nodemon';

gulp.task('nodemon', (done) => {
    let initial = true;
    return nodemon({
        script: './server/index.js',
        ignore: [
            'gulp/**',
            'node_modules/**',
            'bower_components/**',
            'server/app/public/**'
        ]
    }).on('start', () => {
        if (initial) {
            done();
            initial = false;
        }
    }).on('restart', (files) => {
        setTimeout(() => {
            plugins.browserSync.reload({
                stream: false
            });
        }, 1000);

        plugins.util.log(plugins.util.colors.cyan('Express app restarted due to: ', files));
    });
});

Must be used in a sequence where regular gulp tasks run, this task is allowed to run en full before changing directories back.

gulp.task('watch', plugins.sequence('bundle', 'nodemon', 'watch-start'));

Assumes server is located in ./server and is started by index.js.