diff --git a/.changeset/tender-months-explode.md b/.changeset/tender-months-explode.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d5cdbd76c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/tender-months-explode.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@rsbuild/core': patch
+---
+
+feat(cli): support reload .env files and restart dev server
diff --git a/e2e/cases/cli/restart/.gitignore b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-config/.gitignore
similarity index 100%
rename from e2e/cases/cli/restart/.gitignore
rename to e2e/cases/cli/reload-config/.gitignore
diff --git a/e2e/cases/cli/restart/index.test.ts b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-config/index.test.ts
similarity index 88%
rename from e2e/cases/cli/restart/index.test.ts
rename to e2e/cases/cli/reload-config/index.test.ts
index 31ac135743..3928970ecb 100644
--- a/e2e/cases/cli/restart/index.test.ts
+++ b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-config/index.test.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { exec } from 'child_process';
 import { test } from '@playwright/test';
 import { fse } from '@rsbuild/shared';
 import { awaitFileExists } from '@scripts/helper';
+import { getRandomPort } from '@scripts/shared';
 
 test('should restart dev server and reload config when config file changed', async () => {
   const dist1 = path.join(__dirname, 'dist');
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ test('should restart dev server and reload config when config file changed', asy
           root: 'dist',
         },
       },
+      server: { port: ${getRandomPort()} }
     };`,
   );
 
@@ -37,6 +39,7 @@ test('should restart dev server and reload config when config file changed', asy
           root: 'dist-2',
         },
       },
+      server: { port: ${getRandomPort()} }
     };`,
   );
 
diff --git a/e2e/cases/cli/restart/src/index.js b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-config/src/index.js
similarity index 100%
rename from e2e/cases/cli/restart/src/index.js
rename to e2e/cases/cli/reload-config/src/index.js
diff --git a/e2e/cases/cli/restart/tsconfig.json b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-config/tsconfig.json
similarity index 100%
rename from e2e/cases/cli/restart/tsconfig.json
rename to e2e/cases/cli/reload-config/tsconfig.json
diff --git a/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/.gitignore b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..02a8a0dc1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+rsbuild.config.mjs
diff --git a/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/index.test.ts b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/index.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..38babc7dab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/index.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import path from 'path';
+import { exec } from 'child_process';
+import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
+import { fse } from '@rsbuild/shared';
+import { awaitFileExists } from '@scripts/helper';
+import { getRandomPort } from '@scripts/shared';
+
+test('should restart dev server when .env file is changed', async () => {
+  const dist = path.join(__dirname, 'dist');
+  const configFile = path.join(__dirname, 'rsbuild.config.mjs');
+  const envLocalFile = path.join(__dirname, '.env.local');
+  const distIndex = path.join(dist, 'static/js/index.js');
+  fse.removeSync(dist);
+  fse.removeSync(configFile);
+  fse.removeSync(envLocalFile);
+
+  fse.writeFileSync(envLocalFile, ``);
+  fse.writeFileSync(
+    configFile,
+    `export default {
+      output: {
+        distPath: {
+          root: 'dist',
+        },
+        disableFilenameHash: true,
+      },
+      server: { port: ${getRandomPort()} }
+    };`,
+  );
+
+  const process = exec('npx rsbuild dev', {
+    cwd: __dirname,
+  });
+
+  await awaitFileExists(distIndex);
+  expect(fse.readFileSync(distIndex, 'utf-8')).not.toContain('jack');
+  fse.removeSync(distIndex);
+
+  fse.writeFileSync(envLocalFile, `PUBLIC_NAME=jack`);
+  await awaitFileExists(distIndex);
+  expect(fse.readFileSync(distIndex, 'utf-8')).toContain('jack');
+
+  process.kill();
+});
diff --git a/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/src/index.js b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/src/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..47b5b41c18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/src/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+console.log('hello!', process.env.PUBLIC_NAME);
diff --git a/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/tsconfig.json b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7f0bdc0141
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/cases/cli/reload-env/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{
+  "extends": "@rsbuild/tsconfig/base",
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "jsx": "react-jsx",
+    "baseUrl": "./",
+    "outDir": "./dist",
+    "paths": {
+      "@scripts/*": ["../../../scripts/*"]
+    }
+  },
+  "include": ["src", "*.test.ts"]
+}
diff --git a/e2e/scripts/helper.ts b/e2e/scripts/helper.ts
index f5ff3971d8..08e99dc62f 100644
--- a/e2e/scripts/helper.ts
+++ b/e2e/scripts/helper.ts
@@ -35,16 +35,18 @@ export const globContentJSON = async (path: string, options?: GlobOptions) => {
   return ret;
 };
 
-export const awaitFileExists = async (dir: string, checks = 0) => {
+export const awaitFileExists = async (dir: string) => {
   const maxChecks = 100;
   const interval = 100;
-  if (fse.existsSync(dir)) {
-    expect(true).toBe(true);
-  } else if (checks < maxChecks) {
+  let checks = 0;
+
+  while (checks < maxChecks) {
+    if (fse.existsSync(dir)) {
+      return;
+    }
     checks++;
     await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, interval));
-    await awaitFileExists(dir, checks);
-  } else {
-    expect(false).toBe(true);
   }
+
+  throw new Error('awaitFileExists failed: ' + dir);
 };
diff --git a/packages/core/src/cli/commands.ts b/packages/core/src/cli/commands.ts
index 828cd5cbcd..7fe1b80a3b 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/cli/commands.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/cli/commands.ts
@@ -40,8 +40,9 @@ export async function init({
   }
 
   try {
-    const { publicVars } = await loadEnv();
-    const config = await loadConfig(commonOpts.config);
+    const root = process.cwd();
+    const { publicVars } = await loadEnv({ dir: root });
+    const config = await loadConfig(root, commonOpts.config);
     const { createRsbuild } = await import('../createRsbuild');
 
     config.source ||= {};
@@ -66,6 +67,7 @@ export async function init({
     }
 
     return await createRsbuild({
+      cwd: root,
       rsbuildConfig: config,
       provider: config.provider,
     });
diff --git a/packages/core/src/cli/config.ts b/packages/core/src/cli/config.ts
index bd5bf733d8..39d461335a 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/cli/config.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/cli/config.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import {
   debounce,
   type RsbuildConfig as BaseRsbuildConfig,
 } from '@rsbuild/shared';
+import { getEnvFiles } from '../loadEnv';
 import { restartDevServer } from '../server/restart';
 
 export type RsbuildConfig = BaseRsbuildConfig & {
@@ -36,9 +37,7 @@ export function defineConfig(config: RsbuildConfigExport) {
   return config;
 }
 
-const resolveConfigPath = (customConfig?: string) => {
-  const root = process.cwd();
-
+const resolveConfigPath = (root: string, customConfig?: string) => {
   if (customConfig) {
     const customConfigPath = isAbsolute(customConfig)
       ? customConfig
@@ -69,31 +68,36 @@ const resolveConfigPath = (customConfig?: string) => {
   return null;
 };
 
-async function watchConfig(configFile: string) {
+async function watchConfig(root: string, configFile: string) {
   const chokidar = await import('@rsbuild/shared/chokidar');
+  const envFiles = getEnvFiles().map((filename) => join(root, filename));
 
-  const watcher = chokidar.watch(configFile, {
+  const watcher = chokidar.watch([configFile, ...envFiles], {
+    // do not trigger add for initial files
+    ignoreInitial: true,
     // If watching fails due to read permissions, the errors will be suppressed silently.
     ignorePermissionErrors: true,
   });
 
   const callback = debounce(
-    async () => {
+    async (filePath) => {
       watcher.close();
-      await restartDevServer({ filePath: configFile });
+      await restartDevServer({ filePath });
     },
     // set 300ms debounce to avoid restart frequently
     300,
   );
 
+  watcher.on('add', callback);
   watcher.on('change', callback);
   watcher.on('unlink', callback);
 }
 
 export async function loadConfig(
+  root: string,
   customConfig?: string,
 ): Promise<RsbuildConfig> {
-  const configFile = resolveConfigPath(customConfig);
+  const configFile = resolveConfigPath(root, customConfig);
 
   if (!configFile) {
     return {};
@@ -110,7 +114,7 @@ export async function loadConfig(
 
     const command = process.argv[2];
     if (command === 'dev') {
-      watchConfig(configFile);
+      watchConfig(root, configFile);
     }
 
     const configExport = loadConfig(configFile) as RsbuildConfigExport;
diff --git a/packages/core/src/loadEnv.ts b/packages/core/src/loadEnv.ts
index 7eb25c0783..7c10a58036 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/loadEnv.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/loadEnv.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@ import fs from 'fs';
 import { join } from 'path';
 import { isFileSync } from '@rsbuild/shared';
 
+export const getEnvFiles = () => {
+  const { NODE_ENV } = process.env;
+  return ['.env', '.env.local', `.env.${NODE_ENV}`, `.env.${NODE_ENV}.local`];
+};
+
 export async function loadEnv({
   dir = process.cwd(),
   prefixes = ['PUBLIC_'],
@@ -9,15 +14,7 @@ export async function loadEnv({
   const { parse } = await import('../compiled/dotenv');
   const { expand } = await import('../compiled/dotenv-expand');
 
-  const { NODE_ENV } = process.env;
-  const files = [
-    '.env',
-    '.env.local',
-    `.env.${NODE_ENV}`,
-    `.env.${NODE_ENV}.local`,
-  ];
-
-  const envPaths = files
+  const envPaths = getEnvFiles()
     .map((filename) => join(dir, filename))
     .filter(isFileSync);