Intellij does not refresh javascript

This is more of a request / seeking advice more than an issue - as I've discovered any easy enough workaround.  But the details are below.

I have a spring boot application that renders thymeleaf pages on the server.  I have also implemented Vuejs.

In terms of Vuejs, I have an npm/webpack setup that watches for file changes in vue.  When a change occurs, it bundles my vue files, and copies them over to the public site folder (a typical js watcher setup).

The copy works fine, however, unless I actually restart the server inside intellij or force sync the project, the changes are not recognized.  Eclipse - which I'm moving away from .- has a hook/setting to watch for external file changes that works well for watching these types of static resource changes.

So my question (after all that), is there a setting that will watch this automatically?  I have a number of projects (and i have to imagine many other people do as well) that have this live-reload scenario.

I've changed the sync shortcut inside Intellij to one that is more convenient - and also enabled the registry's allow auto-make; So I'm now able to save / wait for the bundle / sync the project & I see my updates in the browser after a few seconds.  But again, wondering if there is a less-hackish solution in terms of Intellij recognizing these updates?

Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks!