diff --git a/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/comms/ServerWebSocket.tsx b/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/comms/ServerWebSocket.tsx
index aecd0c0fa..bf639a30a 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/comms/ServerWebSocket.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/comms/ServerWebSocket.tsx
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ export interface ConnectionCtx {
   request: IncomingMessage;
 }
 
+// based on https://github.com/websockets/ws/blob/master/lib/websocket-server.js#L40,
+// exposed to share with socket.io defaults
+export const WEBSOCKET_MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE = 100 * 1024 * 1024;
+
 /**
  * It serves as a base class for WebSocket based servers. It delegates the 'connection'
  * event to subclasses as a customisation point.
@@ -52,6 +56,7 @@ class ServerWebSocket extends ServerAdapter {
       const wsServer = new WSServer({
         server,
         verifyClient: this.verifyClient(),
+        maxPayload: WEBSOCKET_MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE,
       });
 
       // We do not need to listen to http server's `error` because it is propagated to WS
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/index.tsx b/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/index.tsx
index f1a81d70b..f5732302b 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/index.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/index.tsx
@@ -26,3 +26,5 @@ export function getGatekeepers(username: string): Record<string, boolean> {
   }
   return GKImplementation.allGKs();
 }
+
+export {WEBSOCKET_MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE} from './comms/ServerWebSocket';
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-server/src/startBaseServer.tsx b/desktop/flipper-server/src/startBaseServer.tsx
index c3beef23f..666128947 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-server/src/startBaseServer.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-server/src/startBaseServer.tsx
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import http from 'http';
 import path from 'path';
 import fs from 'fs-extra';
 import socketio from 'socket.io';
+import {WEBSOCKET_MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE} from 'flipper-server-core';
 
 type Config = {
   port: number;
@@ -61,6 +62,8 @@ function startAssetServer(
 }
 
 function addWebsocket(server: http.Server) {
-  const io = new socketio.Server(server);
+  const io = new socketio.Server(server, {
+    maxHttpBufferSize: WEBSOCKET_MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE,
+  });
   return io;
 }
diff --git a/desktop/scripts/start-flipper-server.ts b/desktop/scripts/start-flipper-server.ts
index e983e783b..dc52d1eaf 100644
--- a/desktop/scripts/start-flipper-server.ts
+++ b/desktop/scripts/start-flipper-server.ts
@@ -138,7 +138,10 @@ function launchServer() {
 }
 
 async function restartServer() {
-  proc?.kill(9);
+  if (proc) {
+    proc.kill(9);
+    await sleep(1000);
+  }
   try {
     await compileServerMain();
     await launchServer();
@@ -196,10 +199,13 @@ async function startWatchChanges() {
     await restartServer();
 
     if (argv.open) {
-      setTimeout(() => {
-        // TODO: make port configurable together with flipper-server
-        open('http://localhost:52342/index.web.dev.html');
-      }, 2000);
+      await sleep(2000);
+      // TODO: make port configurable together with flipper-server
+      open('http://localhost:52342/index.web.dev.html');
     }
   }
 })();
+
+function sleep(ms: number) {
+  return new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, ms));
+}