Description

While working on an issue related to dotnet watch and non-compilable files, it became clear that the main missing piece is the ability for an app to trigger a browser refresh using the existing dotnet watch browser refresh infrastructure.

Currently, dotnet watch can detect file changes and refresh the browser, but there doesn’t appear to be a supported way for application code to trigger that same refresh signal.

Scenario

I’m building a markdown-driven site (similar to VitePress/Astro) where content files (e.g. .md) are:

• Not under wwwroot
• Parsed and rendered at request time
• Updated frequently during development

File watching can be handled inside the app (e.g. PhysicalFileProvider + IChangeToken), but there’s no built-in way to trigger a browser refresh when those files change.

Current workaround

• Custom WebSocket endpoint + injected reload script
• This duplicates functionality already implemented by dotnet watch

Expected behavior

It would be useful to have a supported way for apps to trigger a browser refresh through the existing dotnet watch pipeline.

See #53709 for context on the original request