diff --git a/packages/wxt/e2e/tests/dev.test.ts b/packages/wxt/e2e/tests/dev.test.ts
index 7597a6b88..a319dd585 100644
--- a/packages/wxt/e2e/tests/dev.test.ts
+++ b/packages/wxt/e2e/tests/dev.test.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import type { InlineConfig } from 'vite';
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 import { TestProject, occupyPort } from '../utils';
 
@@ -84,4 +85,56 @@ describe('Dev Mode', () => {
       await freePort();
     }
   });
+  it('should pass watchOptions to the Vite dev server watcher', async () => {
+    let watcherOptions: NonNullable<InlineConfig['server']>['watch'];
+
+    const project = new TestProject();
+    project.addFile(
+      'entrypoints/background.ts',
+      'export default defineBackground(() => {})',
+    );
+
+    const server = await project.startServer({
+      runner: { disabled: true },
+      vite: () => ({
+        server: {
+          watch: {
+            awaitWriteFinish: true,
+            ignored: ['vite-ignore/**'],
+          },
+        },
+      }),
+      watchOptions: {
+        usePolling: true,
+        interval: 1000,
+        ignored: ['custom-ignore/**'],
+      },
+      hooks: {
+        'vite:devServer:extendConfig': (config) => {
+          watcherOptions = config.server?.watch;
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    try {
+      expect(watcherOptions).toMatchObject({
+        awaitWriteFinish: true,
+        usePolling: true,
+        interval: 1000,
+      });
+
+      expect(watcherOptions).toEqual(
+        expect.objectContaining({
+          ignored: expect.arrayContaining([
+            expect.stringContaining('.output'),
+            expect.stringContaining('.wxt'),
+            'vite-ignore/**',
+            'custom-ignore/**',
+          ]),
+        }),
+      );
+    } finally {
+      await server.stop();
+    }
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/wxt/src/core/builders/vite/index.ts b/packages/wxt/src/core/builders/vite/index.ts
index 43da7ebec..a08280fb6 100644
--- a/packages/wxt/src/core/builders/vite/index.ts
+++ b/packages/wxt/src/core/builders/vite/index.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import {
   VirtualModuleId,
 } from '../../utils/virtual-modules';
 import * as wxtPlugins from './plugins';
+import { resolveWatchOptions } from '../../utils/watch-options';
 
 export async function createViteBuilder(
   wxtConfig: ResolvedConfig,
@@ -66,9 +67,8 @@ export async function createViteBuilder(
     }
 
     config.server ??= {};
-    config.server.watch = {
-      ignored: [`${wxtConfig.outBaseDir}/**`, `${wxtConfig.wxtDir}/**`],
-    };
+
+    config.server.watch = resolveWatchOptions(wxtConfig, config.server.watch);
 
     // TODO: Remove once https://github.com/wxt-dev/wxt/pull/1411 is merged
     config.legacy ??= {};
diff --git a/packages/wxt/src/core/create-server.ts b/packages/wxt/src/core/create-server.ts
index da748345f..95d5e0a2e 100644
--- a/packages/wxt/src/core/create-server.ts
+++ b/packages/wxt/src/core/create-server.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import {
   createFileReloader,
   reloadContentScripts,
 } from './utils/create-file-reloader';
+import { resolveWatchOptions } from './utils/watch-options';
 
 /**
  * Creates a dev server and pre-builds all the files that need to exist before
@@ -152,7 +153,10 @@ async function createServerInternal(): Promise<WxtDevServer> {
       logBabelSyntaxError(err);
       wxt.logger.info('Waiting for syntax error to be fixed...');
       await new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
-        const watcher = chokidar.watch(err.id, { ignoreInitial: true });
+        const watcher = chokidar.watch(err.id, {
+          ...resolveWatchOptions(wxt.config),
+          ignoreInitial: true,
+        });
         watcher.on('all', () => {
           watcher.close();
           wxt.logger.info('Syntax error resolved, rebuilding...');
diff --git a/packages/wxt/src/core/resolve-config.ts b/packages/wxt/src/core/resolve-config.ts
index 9e7903a76..0252825bd 100644
--- a/packages/wxt/src/core/resolve-config.ts
+++ b/packages/wxt/src/core/resolve-config.ts
@@ -244,6 +244,7 @@ export async function resolveConfig(
     builtinModules,
     userModules,
     plugins: [],
+    watchOptions: mergedConfig.watchOptions,
     ...moduleOptions,
   };
 }
diff --git a/packages/wxt/src/core/utils/watch-options.ts b/packages/wxt/src/core/utils/watch-options.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..311cc6ae6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/wxt/src/core/utils/watch-options.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import type { AnymatchPattern } from 'vite';
+import type { ResolvedConfig, WxtWatchOptions } from '../../types';
+
+export function resolveWatchOptions(
+  config: ResolvedConfig,
+  viteWatchOptions?: WxtWatchOptions | null,
+): WxtWatchOptions {
+  return {
+    ...viteWatchOptions,
+    ...config.watchOptions,
+    ignored: [
+      `${config.outBaseDir}/**`,
+      `${config.wxtDir}/**`,
+      ...normalizeIgnored(viteWatchOptions?.ignored),
+      ...normalizeIgnored(config.watchOptions?.ignored),
+    ],
+  };
+}
+
+function normalizeIgnored(
+  ignored: WxtWatchOptions['ignored'] | undefined,
+): AnymatchPattern[] {
+  if (ignored == null) return [];
+  return Array.isArray(ignored) ? ignored : [ignored];
+}
diff --git a/packages/wxt/src/types.ts b/packages/wxt/src/types.ts
index 7998ec28a..139edd45a 100644
--- a/packages/wxt/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/wxt/src/types.ts
@@ -429,6 +429,12 @@ export interface InlineConfig {
    * "wxt-module-analytics").
    */
   modules?: string[];
+
+  /**
+   * Configure file watching behavior during development. These options are
+   * passed to Vite's dev server watcher.
+   */
+  watchOptions?: WxtWatchOptions;
 }
 
 // TODO: Extract to @wxt/vite-builder and use module augmentation to include the vite field
@@ -1571,6 +1577,7 @@ export interface ResolvedConfig {
   hooks: NestedHooks<WxtHooks>;
   builtinModules: WxtModule<any>[];
   userModules: WxtModuleWithMetadata<any>[];
+  watchOptions?: WxtWatchOptions;
   /**
    * An array of string to import plugins from. These paths should be resolvable
    * by vite, and they should `export default defineWxtPlugin(...)`.
@@ -1801,3 +1808,5 @@ export interface WxtDirFileEntry {
   /** Set to `true` to add a reference to this file in `.wxt/wxt.d.ts`. */
   tsReference?: boolean;
 }
+
+export type WxtWatchOptions = NonNullable<vite.ServerOptions['watch']>;