diff --git a/bin/src/run/watch.ts b/bin/src/run/watch.ts
index d09ab82bff2..eec4d29f078 100644
--- a/bin/src/run/watch.ts
+++ b/bin/src/run/watch.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ export default function watch(
 
 	const warnings = batchWarnings();
 
+	let processConfigsErr: any;
 	const initialConfigs = processConfigs(configs);
 
 	const clearScreen = initialConfigs.every(config => config.watch.clearScreen !== false);
@@ -52,8 +53,6 @@ export default function watch(
 	let watcher: Watcher;
 	let configWatcher: Watcher;
 
-	let processConfigsErr: any;
-
 	function processConfigs(configs: RollupWatchOptions[]): RollupWatchOptions[] {
 		return configs.map(options => {
 			const merged = mergeOptions({
diff --git a/test/chunking-form/samples/manual-chunks-function/_config.js b/test/chunking-form/samples/manual-chunks-function/_config.js
index 0ea976037f8..7dce4fbb810 100644
--- a/test/chunking-form/samples/manual-chunks-function/_config.js
+++ b/test/chunking-form/samples/manual-chunks-function/_config.js
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ module.exports = {
 		input: ['main-a'],
 		manualChunks(id) {
 			if (id[id.length - 5] === '-') {
-				console.log(id, id[id.length - 4]);
 				return `chunk-${id[id.length - 4]}`;
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/test/cli/index.js b/test/cli/index.js
index 325f488b5c5..9aa7f6abc5b 100644
--- a/test/cli/index.js
+++ b/test/cli/index.js
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ runTestSuiteWithSamples(
 
 				const command = 'node ' + path.resolve(__dirname, '../../bin') + path.sep + config.command;
 
-				exec(command, {}, (err, code, stderr) => {
-					if (err) {
+				const childProcess = exec(command, { timeout: 2000 }, (err, code, stderr) => {
+					if (err && !err.killed) {
 						if (config.error) {
 							const shouldContinue = config.error(err);
 							if (!shouldContinue) return done();
@@ -111,6 +111,12 @@ runTestSuiteWithSamples(
 						}
 					}
 				});
+
+				childProcess.stderr.on('data', data => {
+					if (config.abortOnStderr && config.abortOnStderr(data)) {
+						childProcess.kill('SIGINT');
+					}
+				});
 			}
 		);
 	},
diff --git a/test/cli/samples/watch/_config.js b/test/cli/samples/watch/_config.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..85833195535
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/samples/watch/_config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+module.exports = {
+	description: 'does not fail in watch-mode with clearScreen: false',
+	command: 'rollup -cw',
+	abortOnStderr(data) {
+		if (data.includes('created')) {
+			return true;
+		}
+	}
+};
diff --git a/test/cli/samples/watch/_expected.js b/test/cli/samples/watch/_expected.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e69de29bb2d
diff --git a/test/cli/samples/watch/foo.js b/test/cli/samples/watch/foo.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3b8dc9fedfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/samples/watch/foo.js
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export var foo = 42;
diff --git a/test/cli/samples/watch/main.js b/test/cli/samples/watch/main.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8ab8dbd37ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/samples/watch/main.js
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+import { foo } from './foo.js';
+
+assert.equal( foo, 42 );
diff --git a/test/cli/samples/watch/rollup.config.js b/test/cli/samples/watch/rollup.config.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1b6e0556847
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/samples/watch/rollup.config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+export default {
+	input: 'main.js',
+	output: {
+		file: '_actual.js',
+		format: 'esm'
+	},
+	watch: {
+		clearScreen: false
+	}
+};