diff --git a/src/core/generation.cpp b/src/core/generation.cpp
index 77e4a9cb..a0b465f8 100644
--- a/src/core/generation.cpp
+++ b/src/core/generation.cpp
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 #include <qcontainerfwd.h>
 #include <qcoreapplication.h>
 #include <qdebug.h>
+#include <qdir.h>
+#include <qfileinfo.h>
 #include <qfilesystemwatcher.h>
 #include <qhash.h>
 #include <qlogging.h>
@@ -117,13 +119,21 @@ void EngineGeneration::setWatchingFiles(bool watching) {
 
 			for (auto& file: this->scanner.scannedFiles) {
 				this->watcher->addPath(file);
+				this->watcher->addPath(QFileInfo(file).dir().absolutePath());
 			}
 
 			QObject::connect(
 			    this->watcher,
 			    &QFileSystemWatcher::fileChanged,
 			    this,
-			    &EngineGeneration::filesChanged
+			    &EngineGeneration::onFileChanged
+			);
+
+			QObject::connect(
+			    this->watcher,
+			    &QFileSystemWatcher::directoryChanged,
+			    this,
+			    &EngineGeneration::onDirectoryChanged
 			);
 		}
 	} else {
@@ -134,6 +144,24 @@ void EngineGeneration::setWatchingFiles(bool watching) {
 	}
 }
 
+void EngineGeneration::onFileChanged(const QString& name) {
+	if (!this->watcher->files().contains(name)) {
+		this->deletedWatchedFiles.push_back(name);
+	} else {
+		emit this->filesChanged();
+	}
+}
+
+void EngineGeneration::onDirectoryChanged() {
+	// try to find any files that were just deleted from a replace operation
+	for (auto& file: this->deletedWatchedFiles) {
+		if (QFileInfo(file).exists()) {
+			emit this->filesChanged();
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 void EngineGeneration::registerIncubationController(QQmlIncubationController* controller) {
 	auto* obj = dynamic_cast<QObject*>(controller);
 
diff --git a/src/core/generation.hpp b/src/core/generation.hpp
index 11ebf0be..3c8f3997 100644
--- a/src/core/generation.hpp
+++ b/src/core/generation.hpp
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ public:
 	ShellRoot* root = nullptr;
 	SingletonRegistry singletonRegistry;
 	QFileSystemWatcher* watcher = nullptr;
+	QVector<QString> deletedWatchedFiles;
 	DelayedQmlIncubationController delayedIncubationController;
 	bool reloadComplete = false;
 
@@ -50,6 +51,8 @@ signals:
 	void reloadFinished();
 
 private slots:
+	void onFileChanged(const QString& name);
+	void onDirectoryChanged();
 	void incubationControllerDestroyed();
 
 private: