diff --git a/pkgs/webview-ui/app/vite.config.ts b/pkgs/webview-ui/app/vite.config.ts
index df6fde824..2acb62d69 100644
--- a/pkgs/webview-ui/app/vite.config.ts
+++ b/pkgs/webview-ui/app/vite.config.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,26 @@ import solidPlugin from "vite-plugin-solid";
 import solidSvg from "vite-plugin-solid-svg";
 import devtools from "solid-devtools/vite";
 import path from "node:path";
+import { exec } from "child_process";
+
+// watch also clan-cli to catch api changes
+const clanCliDir = path.resolve(__dirname, "../../clan-cli");
+
+function regenPythonApiOnFileChange() {
+  return {
+    name: "run-python-script-on-change",
+    handleHotUpdate({}) {
+      exec("reload-python-api.sh", (err, stdout, stderr) => {
+        if (err) {
+          console.error(`reload-python-api.sh error:\n${stderr}`);
+        }
+      });
+    },
+    configureServer(server: import("vite").ViteDevServer) {
+      server.watcher.add([clanCliDir]);
+    },
+  };
+}
 
 export default defineConfig({
   resolve: {
@@ -18,6 +38,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
     devtools(),
     solidPlugin(),
     solidSvg(),
+    regenPythonApiOnFileChange(),
   ],
   server: {
     port: 3000,
diff --git a/pkgs/webview-ui/bin/reload-python-api.sh b/pkgs/webview-ui/bin/reload-python-api.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..90618d1c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/webview-ui/bin/reload-python-api.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+script_dir=$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")
+
+clan_cli="$script_dir/../../clan-cli"
+
+trap 'rm -rf "$tmpdir"' EXIT
+tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
+
+set -x
+python "$clan_cli/api.py" > "$tmpdir/API.json"
+json2ts --input "$tmpdir/API.json" > "$tmpdir/API.ts"
+
+# compare sha256 sums of old and new API.ts
+old_api_hash=$(sha256sum "$script_dir/../app/api/API.ts" | cut -d ' ' -f 1)
+new_api_hash=$(sha256sum "$tmpdir/API.ts" | cut -d ' ' -f 1)
+if [ "$old_api_hash" != "$new_api_hash" ]; then
+  cp "$tmpdir/API.json" "$script_dir/../app/api/API.json"
+  cp "$tmpdir/API.ts" "$script_dir/../app/api/API.ts"
+fi
diff --git a/pkgs/webview-ui/flake-module.nix b/pkgs/webview-ui/flake-module.nix
index c6ca39073..6496259e3 100644
--- a/pkgs/webview-ui/flake-module.nix
+++ b/pkgs/webview-ui/flake-module.nix
@@ -53,11 +53,18 @@
           config.packages.webview-ui
           self'.devShells.default
         ];
+        packages = [
+          # required for reload-python-api.sh script
+          pkgs.python3
+          pkgs.json2ts
+        ];
         shellHook = ''
           export GIT_ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
           export PKG_ROOT="$GIT_ROOT/pkgs/webview-ui"
           export NODE_PATH="$PKG_ROOT/app/node_modules"
-          export PATH="$NODE_PATH/.bin:$PATH"
+
+          scriptsPath="$PKG_ROOT/bin"
+          export PATH="$NODE_PATH/.bin:$scriptsPath:$PATH"
 
           cp -r ${self'.packages.fonts} "$PKG_ROOT/app/.fonts"
           chmod -R +w "$PKG_ROOT/app/.fonts"