data.json

{
  "script": "http.js",
  "ext": "json",
  "ignore": [".git", "node_modules/**/node_modules"],
  "watch": "watchPath"
}

http.js

require('http').createServer((req, res) => res.end('ok')).listen(8000);

index.js

const nodemon = require('nodemon');
const spawn = require('child_process').spawn;

nodemon({
  script: 'http.js',
  ext: 'json',
  ignore: ['.git', 'node_modules/**/node_modules'],
  watch: ['./watch'],
}).on('restart', files => {
  console.log(files.length, files);
  /// process files
});

setInterval(() => {
  console.log('touching data file');
  spawn('touch', ['./watch/data.json']);
}, 1000);

package.json

{
  "name": "1383",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "nodemon": "*"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC"
}