diff --git a/app/tsconfig.app.json b/app/tsconfig.app.json
index 25f20cf..70fcde6 100644
--- a/app/tsconfig.app.json
+++ b/app/tsconfig.app.json
@@ -36,8 +36,12 @@
 
     "baseUrl": ".",
     "paths": {
-      "@/*": ["./src/*"]
+      "@/*": ["./src/*"],
+      "@opchan/core": ["../packages/core/src/index.ts"],
+      "@opchan/core/*": ["../packages/core/src/*"],
+      "@opchan/react": ["../packages/react/src/index.ts"],
+      "@opchan/react/*": ["../packages/react/src/*"]
     }
   },
-  "include": ["src"]
+  "include": ["src", "../packages/core/src", "../packages/react/src"]
 }
diff --git a/app/vite.config.ts b/app/vite.config.ts
index 66c3ccb..2f4e04e 100644
--- a/app/vite.config.ts
+++ b/app/vite.config.ts
@@ -7,16 +7,29 @@ export default defineConfig(() => ({
   server: {
     host: '::',
     port: 8080,
+    watch: {
+      // Watch source files in local packages for hot reload
+      ignored: ['!**/node_modules/@opchan/**'],
+    },
+    fs: {
+      // Allow serving files from the monorepo root
+      allow: ['..'],
+    },
   },
   plugins: [react()],
   resolve: {
     alias: {
       '@': path.resolve(__dirname, './src'),
       buffer: 'buffer',
+      // Point to source files instead of dist for hot reloading
+      '@opchan/core': path.resolve(__dirname, '../packages/core/src/index.ts'),
+      '@opchan/react': path.resolve(__dirname, '../packages/react/src/index.ts'),
     },
   },
   optimizeDeps: {
-    include: ['buffer', '@opchan/core', '@opchan/hooks'],
+    include: ['buffer'],
+    // Exclude local packages from pre-bundling to enable hot reload
+    exclude: ['@opchan/core', '@opchan/react'],
   },
   build: {
     target: 'es2022',
diff --git a/packages/core/src/index.ts b/packages/core/src/index.ts
index 328d682..5422fea 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/index.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ export * from './lib/forum/transformers';
 // Export services
 export { BookmarkService } from './lib/services/BookmarkService';
 export { MessageService } from './lib/services/MessageService';
-export { UserIdentityService, UserIdentity } from './lib/services/UserIdentityService';
+export { UserIdentityService, type UserIdentity } from './lib/services/UserIdentityService';
 export { ordinals } from './lib/services/Ordinals';
 
 // Export utilities