diff --git a/packages/cli/src/lib/bundler/backend.ts b/packages/cli/src/lib/bundler/backend.ts
index 41ad76d2e5..bd4ab42098 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/lib/bundler/backend.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/lib/bundler/backend.ts
@@ -26,23 +26,16 @@ export async function serveBackend(options: BackendServeOptions) {
     isDev: true,
   });
 
-  const compiler = webpack(config);
-
-  const watcher = compiler.watch(
-    {
-      poll: true,
-    },
-    (err: Error | undefined) => {
-      if (err) {
-        console.error(err);
-      } else console.log('Build succeeded');
-    },
-  );
+  const compiler = webpack(config, (err: Error | undefined) => {
+    if (err) {
+      console.error(err);
+    } else console.log('Build succeeded');
+  });
 
   const waitForExit = async () => {
     for (const signal of ['SIGINT', 'SIGTERM'] as const) {
       process.on(signal, () => {
-        watcher.close(() => console.log('Stopped watcher'));
+        compiler.close(() => console.log('Stopped watcher'));
         // exit instead of resolve. The process is shutting down and resolving a promise here logs an error
         process.exit();
       });
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/lib/bundler/config.ts b/packages/cli/src/lib/bundler/config.ts
index 88ded22243..6698e8e16d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/lib/bundler/config.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/lib/bundler/config.ts
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ export async function createBackendConfig(
         modulesDir: paths.rootNodeModules,
         additionalModuleDirs: moduleDirs,
         allowlist: ['webpack/hot/poll?100', ...localPackageNames],
-      }) as any,
+      }),
     ],
     target: 'node' as const,
     node: {
@@ -358,8 +358,11 @@ function nodeExternalsWithResolve(
     },
   });
 
-  return (context: string, request: string, callback: any) => {
-    currentContext = context;
+  return (
+    { context, request }: { context?: string; request?: string },
+    callback: any,
+  ) => {
+    currentContext = context!;
     return externals(context, request, callback);
   };
 }