[zengks]

The default .git ignore matches substrings anywhere in an absolute path. In directories such as fastify.git/main or ordinary.git, TypeScript recompiles but Fastify does not restart because the watcher ignores the app.

Match the literal .git entry as a complete path segment using POSIX or Windows separators. Git metadata files, directories, and descendants remain excluded. Other ignore tokens and custom regular expressions retain their existing behavior.

Add regression tests for metadata exclusion, similarly named directories, Windows drive and UNC paths, parsed TypeScript watch defaults, and custom expressions. Document the corrected behavior.

Fixes #548.

Validation

• Full macOS suite passes on Node 24.22.1, including type checks and 100% coverage.
• All 18 focused watcher tests pass on macOS and Linux.
• Six real TypeScript reload scenarios pass on both platforms, including the two previously failing layouts.
• Lint passes.
• npm run benchmark --if-present succeeds; no benchmark script is defined.
• Native Windows watching and the remaining CI matrix have not been verified locally.

Related: #925 changes build matching in the same helper. This change is limited to the literal .git token.

Checklist

• run npm run test && npm run benchmark --if-present
• tests and/or benchmarks are included
• documentation is changed or added
• Commit message and code follow the Developer’s Certificate of Origin and the Code of Conduct.

[SameRainbows]

Tested locally on Node 24 (Windows). All 5 tests in est/watch.test.js pass cleanly and
pm run lint is clean.

The regex (?:^|[/\\])\.git(?:[/\\]|$) handles Windows drive paths (C:\work\app.git\HEAD) and UNC network shares (\server\share\app.git\HEAD) while allowing projects in .git-suffixed folders (such as ordinary.git or worktrees) to trigger watch reloads. Custom ignore expressions also retain their existing behavior.