diff --git a/packages/api/cli/src/electron-forge-start.ts b/packages/api/cli/src/electron-forge-start.ts
index f5b90c7bb0..3a675d94fb 100644
--- a/packages/api/cli/src/electron-forge-start.ts
+++ b/packages/api/cli/src/electron-forge-start.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { api, StartOptions } from '@electron-forge/core';
 
+import { ChildProcess } from 'child_process';
 import fs from 'fs-extra';
 import path from 'path';
 import program from 'commander';
@@ -64,12 +65,26 @@ import './util/terminate';
   const spawned = await api.start(opts);
 
   await new Promise((resolve) => {
-    spawned.on('exit', (code: number) => {
-      if ((spawned as any).restarted) return;
-      if (code !== 0) {
-        process.exit(code);
-      }
-      resolve();
-    });
+    const listenForExit = (child: ChildProcess) => {
+      const removeListeners = () => {
+        child.removeListener('exit', onExit);
+        child.removeListener('restarted', onRestart);
+      };
+      const onExit = (code: number) => {
+        removeListeners();
+        if ((spawned as any).restarted) return;
+        if (code !== 0) {
+          process.exit(code);
+        }
+        resolve();
+      };
+      const onRestart = (newChild: ChildProcess) => {
+        removeListeners();
+        listenForExit(newChild);
+      };
+      child.on('exit', onExit);
+      child.on('restarted', onRestart);
+    };
+    listenForExit(spawned);
   });
 })();
diff --git a/packages/api/core/src/api/start.ts b/packages/api/core/src/api/start.ts
index 402aebfd12..ce8e9a47fa 100644
--- a/packages/api/core/src/api/start.ts
+++ b/packages/api/core/src/api/start.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,21 @@ export default async ({
 
   const forgeSpawnWrapper = async () => {
     lastSpawned = await forgeSpawn();
+    // When the child app is closed we should stop listening for stdin
+    if (lastSpawned) {
+      if (interactive && process.stdin.isPaused()) {
+        process.stdin.resume();
+      }
+      lastSpawned.on('exit', () => {
+        if ((lastSpawned as any).restarted) return;
+
+        if (!process.stdin.isPaused()) process.stdin.pause();
+      });
+    } else {
+      if (interactive && !process.stdin.isPaused()) {
+        process.stdin.pause();
+      }
+    }
     return lastSpawned;
   };
 
@@ -114,12 +129,12 @@ export default async ({
   };
 
   if (interactive) {
-    process.stdin.on('data', (data) => {
+    process.stdin.on('data', async (data) => {
       if (data.toString().trim() === 'rs' && lastSpawned) {
         console.info('\nRestarting App\n'.cyan);
         (lastSpawned as any).restarted = true;
         lastSpawned.kill('SIGTERM');
-        forgeSpawnWrapper();
+        lastSpawned.emit('restarted', await forgeSpawnWrapper());
       }
     });
   }
diff --git a/packages/api/core/test/fast/start_spec.ts b/packages/api/core/test/fast/start_spec.ts
index d84d47c07b..9c13ef6749 100644
--- a/packages/api/core/test/fast/start_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/api/core/test/fast/start_spec.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ describe('start', () => {
   let packageJSON: any;
   let resolveStub: SinonStub;
   let spawnStub: SinonStub;
-  let shouldOverride: boolean;
+  let shouldOverride: any;
   let processOn: SinonStub;
 
   beforeEach(() => {
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ describe('start', () => {
 
   it('should not spawn if a plugin overrides the start command', async () => {
     resolveStub.returnsArg(0);
-    shouldOverride = true;
+    shouldOverride = { on: () => {} };
     await start({
       dir: __dirname,
       interactive: false,
@@ -172,12 +172,13 @@ describe('start', () => {
 
   it('should resolve with a handle to the spawned instance', async () => {
     resolveStub.returnsArg(0);
-    spawnStub.returns('child');
+    const fakeChild = { on: () => {} };
+    spawnStub.returns(fakeChild);
 
     await expect(start({
       dir: __dirname,
       interactive: false,
       enableLogging: true,
-    })).to.eventually.equal('child');
+    })).to.eventually.equal(fakeChild);
   });
 });