diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/app/serve.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/app/serve.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..21241c99e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/app/serve.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 Spotify AB
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import { run } from '../../helpers/run';
+import { watchDeps } from '../watch-deps';
+
+export default async () => {
+  const args = ['start'];
+
+  // Start dynamic watch and build of dependencies, then serve the app
+  await watchDeps();
+  await run('react-scripts', args, {
+    env: {
+      EXTEND_ESLINT: 'true',
+      SKIP_PREFLIGHT_CHECK: 'true',
+    },
+  });
+};
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/watch-deps/index.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/watch-deps/index.ts
index 6ea1fae23b..e5993ae9d6 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/watch-deps/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/watch-deps/index.ts
@@ -31,16 +31,9 @@ const PACKAGE_BLACKLIST = [
 
 const WATCH_LOCATIONS = ['package.json', 'src', 'assets'];
 
-/*
- * The watch-deps command is meant to improve iteration speed while working in a large monorepo
- * with packages that are built independently, meaning packages depends on each other's build output.
- *
- * The command traverses all dependencies of the current package within the monorepo, and starts
- * watching for updates in all those packages. If a change is detected, we stop listening for changes,
- * and instead start up watch mode for that package. Starting watch mode means running the first
- * available yarn script out of "build:watch", "watch", or "build" --watch.
- */
-export default async (_command: any, args: string[]) => {
+// Start watching for dependency changes.
+// The returned promise resolves when watchers have started for all current dependencies.
+export async function watchDeps() {
   const localPackagePath = resolvePath('package.json');
 
   // Rotate through different prefix colors to make it easier to differenciate between different deps
@@ -66,6 +59,19 @@ export default async (_command: any, args: string[]) => {
     const newDeps = await getPackageDeps(localPackagePath, PACKAGE_BLACKLIST);
     await watcher.update(newDeps);
   });
+}
+
+/*
+ * The watch-deps command is meant to improve iteration speed while working in a large monorepo
+ * with packages that are built independently, meaning packages depends on each other's build output.
+ *
+ * The command traverses all dependencies of the current package within the monorepo, and starts
+ * watching for updates in all those packages. If a change is detected, we stop listening for changes,
+ * and instead start up watch mode for that package. Starting watch mode means running the first
+ * available yarn script out of "build:watch", "watch", or "build" --watch.
+ */
+export default async (_command: any, args: string[]) => {
+  await watchDeps();
 
   if (args?.length) {
     await waitForExit(startChild(args));
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/index.ts b/packages/cli/src/index.ts
index 487ba58e53..4797cceaf2 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/index.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import watch from './commands/watch-deps';
 import lintCommand from './commands/lint';
 import testCommand from './commands/testCommand';
 import appBuild from './commands/app/build';
+import appServe from './commands/app/serve';
 import pluginBuild from './commands/plugin/build';
 import pluginServe from './commands/plugin/serve';
 import { exitWithError } from './helpers/errors';
@@ -36,6 +37,11 @@ const main = (argv: string[]) => {
     .description('Build an app for a production release')
     .action(actionHandler(appBuild));
 
+  program
+    .command('app:serve')
+    .description('Serve an app for local development')
+    .action(actionHandler(appServe));
+
   program
     .command('create-plugin')
     .description('Creates a new plugin in the current repository')