diff --git a/.changeset/tricky-bottles-bow.md b/.changeset/tricky-bottles-bow.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4cf91d81f0e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/tricky-bottles-bow.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"wrangler": patch
+---
+
+Default the file based registry (`--x-registry`) to on. This should improve stability of multi-worker development
diff --git a/packages/wrangler/e2e/dev-registry.test.ts b/packages/wrangler/e2e/dev-registry.test.ts
index aab29e3edb72..e1f0ce908c83 100644
--- a/packages/wrangler/e2e/dev-registry.test.ts
+++ b/packages/wrangler/e2e/dev-registry.test.ts
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ describe("unstable_dev()", () => {
 						}
 					);
 
+					await setTimeout(2000)
+
 					const parentWorker = await unstable_dev(
 						"src/index.ts",
 						{
diff --git a/packages/wrangler/src/__tests__/dev.test.ts b/packages/wrangler/src/__tests__/dev.test.ts
index 211c1176e8cf..4c6560f72394 100644
--- a/packages/wrangler/src/__tests__/dev.test.ts
+++ b/packages/wrangler/src/__tests__/dev.test.ts
@@ -1419,7 +1419,7 @@ describe.sequential("wrangler dev", () => {
 				      --test-scheduled                             Test scheduled events by visiting /__scheduled in browser  [boolean] [default: false]
 				      --log-level                                  Specify logging level  [choices: \\"debug\\", \\"info\\", \\"log\\", \\"warn\\", \\"error\\", \\"none\\"] [default: \\"log\\"]
 				      --show-interactive-dev-session               Show interactive dev session (defaults to true if the terminal supports interactivity)  [boolean]
-				      --experimental-registry, --x-registry        Use the experimental file based dev registry for multi-worker development  [boolean] [default: false]
+				      --experimental-registry, --x-registry        Use the experimental file based dev registry for multi-worker development  [boolean] [default: true]
 				      --experimental-vectorize-bind-to-prod        Bind to production Vectorize indexes in local development mode  [boolean] [default: false]",
 				  "warn": "",
 				}
diff --git a/packages/wrangler/src/api/dev.ts b/packages/wrangler/src/api/dev.ts
index f6407f2198d7..2c4da2b5f4ba 100644
--- a/packages/wrangler/src/api/dev.ts
+++ b/packages/wrangler/src/api/dev.ts
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ export async function unstable_dev(
 		showInteractiveDevSession,
 		testMode,
 		testScheduled,
-		fileBasedRegistry = false,
+		fileBasedRegistry = true,
 		vectorizeBindToProd,
 		// 2. options for alpha/beta products/libs
 		d1Databases,
diff --git a/packages/wrangler/src/api/integrations/platform/index.ts b/packages/wrangler/src/api/integrations/platform/index.ts
index 3398efdd99e9..e058dcd5dbbf 100644
--- a/packages/wrangler/src/api/integrations/platform/index.ts
+++ b/packages/wrangler/src/api/integrations/platform/index.ts
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ export async function getPlatformProxy<
 
 	const miniflareOptions = await run(
 		{
-			FILE_BASED_REGISTRY: Boolean(options.experimentalRegistry),
+			FILE_BASED_REGISTRY: Boolean(options.experimentalRegistry ?? true),
 			JSON_CONFIG_FILE: Boolean(options.experimentalJsonConfig),
 		},
 		() => getMiniflareOptionsFromConfig(rawConfig, env, options)
diff --git a/packages/wrangler/src/dev-registry/file-registry.ts b/packages/wrangler/src/dev-registry/file-registry.ts
index 9520dca7bfcb..99b6e7bfbef6 100644
--- a/packages/wrangler/src/dev-registry/file-registry.ts
+++ b/packages/wrangler/src/dev-registry/file-registry.ts
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ async function devRegistry(
 async function startWorkerRegistry(
 	cb?: (registry: WorkerRegistry | undefined) => void
 ) {
+	await loadWorkerDefinitions();
+	cb?.({ ...globalWorkers });
 	globalWatcher ??= watch(DEV_REGISTRY_PATH, {
 		persistent: true,
 	}).on("all", async () => {
diff --git a/packages/wrangler/src/dev.ts b/packages/wrangler/src/dev.ts
index fe916df5b4b2..aa516bd8e863 100644
--- a/packages/wrangler/src/dev.ts
+++ b/packages/wrangler/src/dev.ts
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ const command = defineCommand({
 			type: "boolean",
 			describe:
 				"Use the experimental file based dev registry for multi-worker development",
-			default: false,
+			default: true,
 		},
 		"experimental-vectorize-bind-to-prod": {
 			type: "boolean",