diff --git a/.goosehints b/.goosehints
index aee6fd0d67..d7b21135f3 100644
--- a/.goosehints
+++ b/.goosehints
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ NOTE: ftl dev command will run things as a server so you will need to run it as
 
 ### Development Mode
 ```bash
-ftl dev --recreate ./examples/go
+ftl dev ./examples/go
 ```
 
 ### With OpenTelemetry
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index b38e599132..a3407c70a6 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ Once the Hermit environment is activated you can type the following to start a
 hot-reloading ftl agent:
 
 ```
-$ ftl dev --recreate ./examples/go
+$ ftl dev ./examples/go
 ```
 
 ## Development processes
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 290c1180bb..e801e8b26a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ ftl new go . alice
 Start FTL in one terminal:
 
 ```sh file=test.sh region=start
-ftl dev --wait-for=alice --recreate .
+ftl dev .
 ```
 
 Then in a second terminal run the following:
diff --git a/docs/content/docs/help/faq.md b/docs/content/docs/help/faq.md
index 83d27509f9..235d1c24fb 100644
--- a/docs/content/docs/help/faq.md
+++ b/docs/content/docs/help/faq.md
@@ -72,6 +72,6 @@ info: Starting FTL with 1 controller(s)
 ftl: error: ERROR: relation "fsm_executions" does not exist (SQLSTATE 42P01)
 ```
 
-Run again with `ftl dev --recreate`. This usually indicates that your DB has an old schema.
+Run again with `ftl dev`. This usually indicates that your DB has an old schema.
 
 This can occur when FTL has been upgraded with schema changes, making the database out of date. While in alpha we do not use schema migrations, so this won't occur once we hit a stable release.
diff --git a/examples/online-boutique/Justfile b/examples/online-boutique/Justfile
index b629d5d371..ccad94e5ce 100644
--- a/examples/online-boutique/Justfile
+++ b/examples/online-boutique/Justfile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Start the FTL backend with hot-reloading
 dev:
-  ftl dev --recreate --allow-origins '*'
+  ftl dev --allow-origins '*'
 
 gen-mobile:
   ftl schema generate mobile/templates/ online-boutique/mobile/lib/api --watch=5s
diff --git a/frontend/cli/cmd_dev.go b/frontend/cli/cmd_dev.go
index 86d483f99f..369e604a01 100644
--- a/frontend/cli/cmd_dev.go
+++ b/frontend/cli/cmd_dev.go
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ func (d *devCmd) Run(
 	provisionerClient provisionerconnect.ProvisionerServiceClient,
 ) error {
 	startTime := time.Now()
+	// Dev always recreated the DB
+	d.ServeCmd.Recreate = true
 	if len(d.Build.Dirs) == 0 {
 		d.Build.Dirs = projConfig.AbsModuleDirs()
 	}
diff --git a/frontend/console/playwright.config.ts b/frontend/console/playwright.config.ts
index 18ae44a8d7..c453b0c9e5 100644
--- a/frontend/console/playwright.config.ts
+++ b/frontend/console/playwright.config.ts
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ const config: PlaywrightTestConfig = {
     },
   ],
   webServer: {
-    command: process.env.CI ? 'ftl dev --recreate -j1' : 'ftl dev --recreate',
+    command: process.env.CI ? 'ftl dev -j1' : 'ftl dev',
     url: 'http://localhost:8892',
     reuseExistingServer: !process.env.CI,
     /* If the test ends up needing to pull the postgres docker image, this can take a while. Give it a few minutes. */
diff --git a/frontend/intellij/src/main/kotlin/xyz/block/ftl/intellij/FTLSettings.kt b/frontend/intellij/src/main/kotlin/xyz/block/ftl/intellij/FTLSettings.kt
index 9f59376afc..e5721a94e6 100644
--- a/frontend/intellij/src/main/kotlin/xyz/block/ftl/intellij/FTLSettings.kt
+++ b/frontend/intellij/src/main/kotlin/xyz/block/ftl/intellij/FTLSettings.kt
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ class AppSettings : PersistentStateComponent<AppSettings.State> {
 
   data class State(
     @NonNls var lspServerPath: String = "ftl",
-    var lspServerArguments: String = "--recreate --lsp",
+    var lspServerArguments: String = "--lsp",
     var lspServerStopArguments: String = "serve --stop",
     var autoRestartLspServer: Boolean = false,
   )
diff --git a/frontend/intellij/src/main/kotlin/xyz/block/ftl/intellij/FTLSettingsConfigurable.kt b/frontend/intellij/src/main/kotlin/xyz/block/ftl/intellij/FTLSettingsConfigurable.kt
index 1e2c844810..10087241cf 100644
--- a/frontend/intellij/src/main/kotlin/xyz/block/ftl/intellij/FTLSettingsConfigurable.kt
+++ b/frontend/intellij/src/main/kotlin/xyz/block/ftl/intellij/FTLSettingsConfigurable.kt
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ class FTLSettingsConfigurable : Configurable {
   override fun apply() {
     val state = AppSettings.getInstance().state
     state.lspServerPath = mySettingsComponent?.getLspServerPath() ?: "ftl"
-    state.lspServerArguments = mySettingsComponent?.getLspServerArguments() ?: " dev --recreate --lsp"
+    state.lspServerArguments = mySettingsComponent?.getLspServerArguments() ?: " dev --lsp"
     state.lspServerStopArguments = mySettingsComponent?.getLspServerStopArguments() ?: "serve --stop"
   }
 
diff --git a/frontend/vscode/README.md b/frontend/vscode/README.md
index 97465b72d7..3119147316 100644
--- a/frontend/vscode/README.md
+++ b/frontend/vscode/README.md
@@ -33,11 +33,11 @@ Configure the FTL extension by setting the following options in your Visual Stud
   }
   ```
 
-- `ftl.devCommandFlags`: Defines flags to pass to the FTL executable when starting the development environment. The default is ["--recreate"].
+- `ftl.devCommandFlags`: Defines flags to pass to the FTL executable when starting the development environment.
 
   ```json
   {
-    "ftl.devCommandFlags": ["--recreate", "--parallelism=4"]
+    "ftl.devCommandFlags": ["--parallelism=4"]
   }
   ```
 
diff --git a/frontend/vscode/package.json b/frontend/vscode/package.json
index 0535ac2823..521ffc7c84 100644
--- a/frontend/vscode/package.json
+++ b/frontend/vscode/package.json
@@ -31,9 +31,7 @@
         },
         "ftl.devCommandFlags": {
           "type": "array",
-          "default": [
-            "--recreate"
-          ],
+          "default": [],
           "items": {
             "type": "string"
           },