diff --git a/docs/config/server-options.md b/docs/config/server-options.md
index 9d1adefba7765e..cd9b809b6b7bd1 100644
--- a/docs/config/server-options.md
+++ b/docs/config/server-options.md
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ The error that appears in the Browser when the fallback happens can be ignored.
 
 ## server.watch
 
-- **Type:** `object`
+- **Type:** `object | null`
 
 File system watcher options to pass on to [chokidar](https://github.com/paulmillr/chokidar#api).
 
@@ -197,6 +197,8 @@ export default defineConfig({
 })
 ```
 
+If set to `null`, no files will be watched. `server.watcher` will provide a compatible event emitter, but calling `add` or `unwatch` will have no effect.
+
 ::: warning Using Vite on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2
 
 When running Vite on WSL2, file system watching does not work when a file is edited by Windows applications (non-WSL2 process). This is due to [a WSL2 limitation](https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4739). This also applies to running on Docker with a WSL2 backend.
diff --git a/docs/guide/api-javascript.md b/docs/guide/api-javascript.md
index c320d5374c70c4..b51f5f4a4bcb51 100644
--- a/docs/guide/api-javascript.md
+++ b/docs/guide/api-javascript.md
@@ -75,7 +75,8 @@ interface ViteDevServer {
    */
   httpServer: http.Server | null
   /**
-   * Chokidar watcher instance.
+   * Chokidar watcher instance. If `config.server.watch` is set to `null`,
+   * returns a noop event emitter.
    * https://github.com/paulmillr/chokidar#api
    */
   watcher: FSWatcher
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/server/__tests__/watcher.spec.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/server/__tests__/watcher.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..90b68fcfd88d0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/server/__tests__/watcher.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { createServer } from '../index'
+
+const stubGetWatchedCode = /getWatched\(\) \{.+?return \{\};.+?\}/s
+
+describe('watcher configuration', () => {
+  it('when watcher is disabled, return noop watcher', async () => {
+    const server = await createServer({
+      server: {
+        watch: null,
+      },
+    })
+    expect(server.watcher.getWatched.toString()).toMatch(stubGetWatchedCode)
+  })
+
+  it('when watcher is not disabled, return chokidar watcher', async () => {
+    const server = await createServer({
+      server: {
+        watch: {},
+      },
+    })
+    expect(server.watcher.getWatched.toString()).not.toMatch(stubGetWatchedCode)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts
index 7510e740a7bfad..d37c37c7bd2cb8 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ import type { BindCLIShortcutsOptions } from '../shortcuts'
 import { CLIENT_DIR, DEFAULT_DEV_PORT } from '../constants'
 import type { Logger } from '../logger'
 import { printServerUrls } from '../logger'
-import { resolveChokidarOptions } from '../watch'
+import { createNoopWatcher, resolveChokidarOptions } from '../watch'
 import type { PluginContainer } from './pluginContainer'
 import { createPluginContainer } from './pluginContainer'
 import type { WebSocketServer } from './ws'
@@ -85,10 +85,10 @@ export interface ServerOptions extends CommonServerOptions {
    */
   hmr?: HmrOptions | boolean
   /**
-   * chokidar watch options
+   * chokidar watch options or null to disable FS watching
    * https://github.com/paulmillr/chokidar#api
    */
-  watch?: WatchOptions
+  watch?: WatchOptions | null
   /**
    * Create Vite dev server to be used as a middleware in an existing server
    * @default false
@@ -360,11 +360,15 @@ export async function _createServer(
     setClientErrorHandler(httpServer, config.logger)
   }
 
-  const watcher = chokidar.watch(
-    // config file dependencies and env file might be outside of root
-    [root, ...config.configFileDependencies, config.envDir],
-    resolvedWatchOptions,
-  ) as FSWatcher
+  // eslint-disable-next-line eqeqeq
+  const watchEnabled = serverConfig.watch !== null
+  const watcher = watchEnabled
+    ? (chokidar.watch(
+        // config file dependencies and env file might be outside of root
+        [root, ...config.configFileDependencies, config.envDir],
+        resolvedWatchOptions,
+      ) as FSWatcher)
+    : createNoopWatcher(resolvedWatchOptions)
 
   const moduleGraph: ModuleGraph = new ModuleGraph((url, ssr) =>
     container.resolveId(url, undefined, { ssr }),
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/watch.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/watch.ts
index 64c42a7b97dddc..3b40a71c84d3fc 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/watch.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/watch.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events'
 import glob from 'fast-glob'
-import type { WatchOptions } from 'dep-types/chokidar'
+import type { FSWatcher, WatchOptions } from 'dep-types/chokidar'
 import type { ResolvedConfig } from '.'
 
 export function resolveChokidarOptions(
@@ -23,3 +24,29 @@ export function resolveChokidarOptions(
 
   return resolvedWatchOptions
 }
+
+class NoopWatcher extends EventEmitter implements FSWatcher {
+  constructor(public options: WatchOptions) {
+    super()
+  }
+
+  add() {
+    return this
+  }
+
+  unwatch() {
+    return this
+  }
+
+  getWatched() {
+    return {}
+  }
+
+  async close() {
+    // noop
+  }
+}
+
+export function createNoopWatcher(options: WatchOptions): FSWatcher {
+  return new NoopWatcher(options)
+}