diff --git a/server/lib/status-error.js b/server/lib/status-error.js
index 873cb0c..bac4b11 100644
--- a/server/lib/status-error.js
+++ b/server/lib/status-error.js
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@
 var http = require('http');
 
 /* Create an error as per http://bluebirdjs.com/docs/api/catch.html */
-function StatusError(status, message) {
-  if (!message) {
+function StatusError(status, inputMessage) {
+  let message = inputMessage;
+  if (!inputMessage) {
     message = http.STATUS_CODES[status] || http.STATUS_CODES['500'];
   }
 
diff --git a/server/start-dev.js b/server/start-dev.js
index 91b62b8..fe4710b 100644
--- a/server/start-dev.js
+++ b/server/start-dev.js
@@ -6,10 +6,14 @@ const mergeOptions = require('merge-options');
 
 const viteConfig = require('../vite.config');
 
-// See https://github.com/remy/nodemon/blob/main/doc/requireable.md
+// Listen for any changes to files and restart the Node.js server process
+//
+// For API docs, see
+// https://github.com/remy/nodemon/blob/main/doc/requireable.md
 nodemon({
   script: path.join(__dirname, './server.js'),
   ext: 'js json',
+  ignore: [path.join(__dirname, '../dist/*')],
 });
 
 nodemon
@@ -24,10 +28,11 @@ nodemon
     console.log('App restarted due to: ', files);
   });
 
-// Build the client-side bundle
+// Build the client-side JavaScript bundle when we see any changes
 build(
   mergeOptions(viteConfig, {
     build: {
+      // Rebuild when we see changes
       watch: true,
     },
   })
diff --git a/shared/.eslintrc.json b/shared/.eslintrc.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5a34ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shared/.eslintrc.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+  "env": {
+    "browser": true
+  }
+}
diff --git a/shared/ArchiveView.js b/shared/ArchiveView.js
index 333753d..a7d53fc 100644
--- a/shared/ArchiveView.js
+++ b/shared/ArchiveView.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+'use strict';
+
 const { TemplateView, RoomView, RightPanelView } = require('hydrogen-view-sdk');
 
 class ArchiveView extends TemplateView {
diff --git a/shared/hydrogen-vm-render-script.js b/shared/hydrogen-vm-render-script.js
index f39f48a..8c65622 100644
--- a/shared/hydrogen-vm-render-script.js
+++ b/shared/hydrogen-vm-render-script.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+'use strict';
+
 const assert = require('matrix-public-archive-shared/lib/assert');
 const {
   Platform,
@@ -223,4 +225,7 @@ async function mountHydrogen() {
   app.replaceChildren(view.mount());
 }
 
+// N.B.: When we run this in a `vm`, it will return the last statement. It's
+// important to leave this as the last statement so we can await the promise it
+// returns and signal that all of the async tasks completed.
 mountHydrogen();
diff --git a/vite.config.js b/vite.config.js
index a82cf44..467f942 100644
--- a/vite.config.js
+++ b/vite.config.js
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 // vite.config.js
+'use strict';
+
 const path = require('path');
 const { defineConfig } = require('vite');