diff --git a/contributors.yml b/contributors.yml
index f7cc03ee2c..df9faae6c8 100644
--- a/contributors.yml
+++ b/contributors.yml
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@
 - elylucas
 - emzoumpo
 - engpetermwangi
+- EqualMa
 - ericschn
 - esadek
 - faergeek
diff --git a/packages/react-router-dev/__tests__/path-starts-with-test.ts b/packages/react-router-dev/__tests__/path-starts-with-test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b08ff5a465
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/react-router-dev/__tests__/path-starts-with-test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import pathStartsWith from "../config/path-starts-with";
+
+describe("pathStartsWith", () => {
+  it("real world example", () => {
+    const APP_FOLDER = "/workspace/app";
+    expect(pathStartsWith("/workspace/app/root.tsx", APP_FOLDER)).toBe(true);
+
+    const IRRELEVANT_FILE = "/workspace/apps/irrelevant-project/package.json";
+    expect(IRRELEVANT_FILE.startsWith(APP_FOLDER)).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith(IRRELEVANT_FILE, APP_FOLDER)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("windows paths", () => {
+    const APP_FOLDER = "C:\\\\workspace\\app";
+    expect(pathStartsWith("C:\\\\workspace\\app\\root.tsx", APP_FOLDER)).toBe(
+      true
+    );
+
+    const IRRELEVANT_FILE =
+      "C:\\\\workspace\\apps\\irrelevant-project\\package.json";
+    expect(IRRELEVANT_FILE.startsWith(APP_FOLDER)).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith(IRRELEVANT_FILE, APP_FOLDER)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("edge cases", () => {
+    expect(pathStartsWith("./dir", "./dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("./dir/", "./dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("./dir/path", "./dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("./dir/path", "./dir/")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("./dir/path/", "./dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("./dir/path/", "./dir/")).toBe(true);
+
+    expect(pathStartsWith("dir", "dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("dir/", "dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("dir/path", "dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("dir/path", "dir/")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("dir/path/", "dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("dir/path/", "dir/")).toBe(true);
+
+    expect(pathStartsWith("/dir", "/dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("/dir/", "/dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("/dir/path", "/dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("/dir/path", "/dir/")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("/dir/path/", "/dir")).toBe(true);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("/dir/path/", "/dir/")).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("paths are not normalized intentionally", () => {
+    expect(pathStartsWith("./dir/path", "dir")).toBe(false);
+    expect(pathStartsWith("/dir/a/b/c/../../..", "/dir/a/b/c")).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/react-router-dev/config/config.ts b/packages/react-router-dev/config/config.ts
index 5057b1b8c3..a858eb8b66 100644
--- a/packages/react-router-dev/config/config.ts
+++ b/packages/react-router-dev/config/config.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import {
   configRoutesToRouteManifest,
 } from "./routes";
 import { detectPackageManager } from "../cli/detectPackageManager";
+import pathStartsWith from "./path-starts-with";
 
 const excludedConfigPresetKeys = ["presets"] as const satisfies ReadonlyArray<
   keyof ReactRouterConfig
@@ -686,7 +687,7 @@ export async function createConfigLoader({
             let dirname = Path.dirname(path);
 
             return (
-              !dirname.startsWith(appDirectory) &&
+              !pathStartsWith(dirname, appDirectory) &&
               // Ensure we're only watching files outside of the app directory
               // that are at the root level, not nested in subdirectories
               path !== root && // Watch the root directory itself
diff --git a/packages/react-router-dev/config/path-starts-with.ts b/packages/react-router-dev/config/path-starts-with.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..68a670e06d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/react-router-dev/config/path-starts-with.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+/**
+ * Returns true if `a` is a path that starts with `b` and might contains subpath.
+ *
+ * Note that `a` and `b` will not be normalized
+ * so the returned boolean doesn't indicate whether `a` resolves to a path contained in `b`.
+ */
+export default function pathStartsWith(a: string, b: string) {
+  return (
+    a.startsWith(b) &&
+    // they are the same string
+    (a.length === b.length ||
+      // or b is a directory path
+      b.endsWith("/") ||
+      b.endsWith("\\") ||
+      // or a is `${b}/${subpath}`
+      a[b.length] === "/" ||
+      a[b.length] === "\\")
+  );
+}