From 9b28ddf6749bc6eec1f26892062de5ce0e80b1db Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Vivek JM <vivekjm77@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 13 May 2026 01:43:42 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] fix: allow run-windows to start Metro on custom port

---
 ...-58f79ee3-6346-45f1-bd07-2ffac4fb32a1.json |  7 +++++++
 .../commands/runWindows/runWindowsOptions.ts  | 18 ++++++++++++++---
 .../cli/src/e2etest/runWindows.test.ts        | 10 ++++++++++
 .../cli/src/utils/deploy.ts                   | 20 +++++++++++++------
 4 files changed, 46 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 change/@react-native-windows-cli-58f79ee3-6346-45f1-bd07-2ffac4fb32a1.json

diff --git a/change/@react-native-windows-cli-58f79ee3-6346-45f1-bd07-2ffac4fb32a1.json b/change/@react-native-windows-cli-58f79ee3-6346-45f1-bd07-2ffac4fb32a1.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f949464b1a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/change/@react-native-windows-cli-58f79ee3-6346-45f1-bd07-2ffac4fb32a1.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+  "type": "prerelease",
+  "comment": "Add a run-windows port option for Metro",
+  "packageName": "@react-native-windows/cli",
+  "email": "vivekjm77@gmail.com",
+  "dependentChangeType": "patch"
+}
diff --git a/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/commands/runWindows/runWindowsOptions.ts b/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/commands/runWindows/runWindowsOptions.ts
index 6b119862546..d9d0ba0f618 100644
--- a/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/commands/runWindows/runWindowsOptions.ts
+++ b/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/commands/runWindows/runWindowsOptions.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ export type BuildConfig = 'Debug' | 'DebugBundle' | 'Release' | 'ReleaseBundle';
  *    deploy-from-layout: Force deploy from layout, even in release builds
  *    sln: String - Solution file to build
  *    msbuildprops: String - Comma separated props to pass to msbuild, eg: prop1=value1,prop2=value2
+ *    port: Number - Port to use for the React Native packager
  *    direct-debugging: Number - Enable direct debugging on specified port
  *    no-telemetry: Boolean - Disables sending telemetry that allows analysis of usage and failures of the react-native-windows CLI
  */
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@ export interface RunWindowsOptions {
   msbuildprops?: string;
   buildLogDirectory?: string;
   info?: boolean;
+  port?: number;
   directDebugging?: number;
   telemetry?: boolean;
 }
@@ -147,6 +149,12 @@ export const runWindowsOptions: CommandOption[] = [
     name: '--info',
     description: 'Dump environment information',
   },
+  {
+    name: '--port [number]',
+    description: 'Port to use for the React Native packager',
+    default: 8081,
+    parse: parsePort,
+  },
   {
     name: '--direct-debugging [number]',
     description: 'Enable direct debugging on specified port',
@@ -171,13 +179,17 @@ function parseBuildArch(arg: string): BuildArch {
 }
 
 function parseDirectDebuggingPort(arg: string): number {
-  const num = parseInt(arg, 10);
+  return parsePort(arg, '--direct-debugging');
+}
+
+function parsePort(arg: string, optionName = '--port'): number {
+  const num = Number(arg);
 
   if (!Number.isInteger(num)) {
-    errorOut(`Expected argument '--direct-debugging' to be a number`);
+    errorOut(`Expected argument '${optionName}' to be a number`);
   }
   if (num < 1024 || num >= 65535) {
-    errorOut('Direct debugging port it out of range');
+    errorOut(`${optionName} is out of range`);
   }
 
   return num;
diff --git a/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/e2etest/runWindows.test.ts b/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/e2etest/runWindows.test.ts
index 23c1f3b0b4e..88d38ddb915 100644
--- a/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/e2etest/runWindows.test.ts
+++ b/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/e2etest/runWindows.test.ts
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ function validateOptionName(
     case 'msbuildprops':
     case 'buildLogDirectory':
     case 'info':
+    case 'port':
     case 'directDebugging':
     case 'telemetry':
       return true;
@@ -77,3 +78,12 @@ test('runWindowsOptions - validate options', () => {
     ).toBe(true);
   }
 });
+
+test('runWindowsOptions - parses packager port', () => {
+  const portOption = runWindowsOptions.find(option =>
+    option.name.startsWith('--port'),
+  );
+
+  expect(portOption).toBeDefined();
+  expect(portOption!.parse!('9000')).toBe(9000);
+});
diff --git a/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/utils/deploy.ts b/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/utils/deploy.ts
index 4335d166c36..b3e0e28002c 100644
--- a/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/utils/deploy.ts
+++ b/packages/@react-native-windows/cli/src/utils/deploy.ts
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ export function getBuildConfiguration(options: RunWindowsOptions): BuildConfig {
       ? 'ReleaseBundle'
       : 'Release'
     : options.bundle
-    ? 'DebugBundle'
-    : 'Debug';
+      ? 'DebugBundle'
+      : 'Debug';
 }
 
 function shouldDeployByPackage(
@@ -314,8 +314,8 @@ export async function deployToDevice(
   const deployTarget = options.target
     ? options.target
     : options.emulator
-    ? 'emulator'
-    : 'device';
+      ? 'emulator'
+      : 'device';
   const deployTool = new WinAppDeployTool();
   const appxManifest = getAppxManifest(options, projectName);
   const shouldLaunch = shouldLaunchApp(options);
@@ -512,9 +512,11 @@ export function startServerInNewWindow(
   options: RunWindowsOptions,
   verbose: boolean,
 ): Promise<void> {
+  const port = options.port ?? 8081;
+
   return new Promise(resolve => {
     http
-      .get('http://localhost:8081/status', res => {
+      .get(`http://localhost:${port}/status`, res => {
         if (res.statusCode === 200) {
           newSuccess('React-Native Server already started');
         } else {
@@ -537,5 +539,11 @@ function launchServer(options: RunWindowsOptions, verbose: boolean) {
     stdio: verbose ? 'inherit' : 'ignore',
   };
 
-  spawn('cmd.exe', ['/C', 'start npx @react-native-community/cli start'], opts);
+  const port = options.port ?? 8081;
+
+  spawn(
+    'cmd.exe',
+    ['/C', `start npx @react-native-community/cli start --port ${port}`],
+    opts,
+  );
 }