diff --git a/Makefile.local b/Makefile.local
--- a/Makefile.local
+++ b/Makefile.local
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
 	echo "flush_all" | nc -q 2 localhost 11211 2>/dev/null
 
 run-django-webpack-devserver: add-users-dev yarn-install
-	bash -c "trap 'trap - SIGINT SIGTERM ERR; kill %1' SIGINT SIGTERM ERR; \
+	bash -c "trap 'trap - SIGINT SIGTERM ERR && kill %1' SIGINT SIGTERM ERR; \
 	$(YARN) start-dev & sleep 10 && cd swh/web && \
 	python3 manage.py runserver --nostatic --settings=$(SETTINGS_DEV)"
 
@@ -85,7 +85,8 @@
 
 .PHONY: test-frontend-cmd
 test-frontend-cmd: build-webpack-test add-users-test
-	bash -c "trap 'trap - SIGINT SIGTERM ERR EXIT; jobs -p | xargs -r kill' SIGINT SIGTERM ERR EXIT; \
+	bash -c "trap 'trap - SIGINT SIGTERM ERR EXIT && \
+	jobs -p | xargs -r kill' SIGINT SIGTERM ERR EXIT; \
 	python3 swh/web/manage.py runserver --nostatic --settings=$(SETTINGS_TEST) & \
 	sleep 10 && $(YARN) run cypress run --config numTestsKeptInMemory=0 && $(YARN) run mochawesome"
 
@@ -96,8 +97,13 @@
 test-frontend-full: test-frontend-cmd
 
 .PHONY: test-frontend-ui-cmd
-test-frontend-ui-cmd: build-webpack-test add-users-test
-	bash -c "trap 'trap - SIGINT SIGTERM ERR EXIT; jobs -p | xargs -r kill' SIGINT SIGTERM ERR EXIT; \
+test-frontend-ui-cmd: add-users-test yarn-install
+	# ensure all child processes will be killed when hitting Ctrl-C in terminal
+	# or manually closing the Cypress UI window, killing by PGID seems the only
+	# reliable way to do it in that case
+	bash -c "trap 'trap - SIGINT SIGTERM ERR EXIT && \
+	ps -o pgid= $$$$ | grep -o [0-9]* | xargs pkill -g' SIGINT SIGTERM ERR EXIT; \
+	$(YARN) start-dev & \
 	python3 swh/web/manage.py runserver --nostatic --settings=$(SETTINGS_TEST) & \
 	sleep 10 && $(YARN) run cypress open"
 
diff --git a/assets/config/webpack.config.development.js b/assets/config/webpack.config.development.js
--- a/assets/config/webpack.config.development.js
+++ b/assets/config/webpack.config.development.js
@@ -122,7 +122,8 @@
       errors: true
     },
     // workaround for https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/issues/2692
-    injectClient: false
+    injectClient: false,
+    transportMode: 'ws'
   },
   // set entries to the bundles we want to produce
   entry: bundles,
diff --git a/cypress.json b/cypress.json
--- a/cypress.json
+++ b/cypress.json
@@ -25,5 +25,7 @@
   },
   "retries": {
     "runMode": 4
-  }
-}
+  },
+  "hmrUrl": "ws://localhost:3000/sockjs-node",
+  "hmrRestartDelay": 3000
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cypress/support/index.js b/cypress/support/index.js
--- a/cypress/support/index.js
+++ b/cypress/support/index.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
  * See top-level LICENSE file for more information
  */
 
+import 'cypress-hmr-restarter';
 import '@cypress/code-coverage/support';
 
 import {httpGetJson} from '../utils';
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
     "copy-webpack-plugin": "^8.1.1",
     "css-loader": "^5.2.4",
     "cypress": "^7.3.0",
+    "cypress-hmr-restarter": "^2.0.1",
     "cypress-multi-reporters": "^1.5.0",
     "ejs": "^3.1.6",
     "ejs-compiled-loader": "^3.1.0",
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -4733,6 +4733,11 @@
   dependencies:
     array-find-index "^1.0.1"
 
+cypress-hmr-restarter@^2.0.1:
+  version "2.0.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/cypress-hmr-restarter/-/cypress-hmr-restarter-2.0.1.tgz#1981dd5fbfaecb7df3372f974ec7d2a2c86de3da"
+  integrity sha512-uBZw6mjrV7FIXSf4Y7PzwUUqfpYMfIFAmMWZ7yTQPzZHAuC9AvDxJ2bbZvXomK1/EabARpCeox6Ip3i7YITLfg==
+
 cypress-multi-reporters@^1.5.0:
   version "1.5.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/cypress-multi-reporters/-/cypress-multi-reporters-1.5.0.tgz#fff2758c082b49e8b91fed39f9650c70bc06de0d"