diff --git a/flow-typed/npm/@react-native-community/cli-tools_v12.x.x.js b/flow-typed/npm/@react-native-community/cli-tools_v12.x.x.js
index a855762f78c9b5..aef9a4fc695978 100644
--- a/flow-typed/npm/@react-native-community/cli-tools_v12.x.x.js
+++ b/flow-typed/npm/@react-native-community/cli-tools_v12.x.x.js
@@ -18,50 +18,15 @@ declare module '@react-native-community/cli-tools' {
     constructor(msg: string, originalError?: Error | mixed | string): this;
   }
 
-  declare export function getPidFromPort(port: number): number | null;
-
-  declare export function handlePortUnavailable(
-    initialPort: number,
-    projectRoot: string,
-    initialPackager?: boolean,
-  ): Promise<{
-    port: number,
-    packager: boolean,
-  }>;
-
-  declare export function hookStdout(callback: Function): () => void;
-
-  declare export function isPackagerRunning(
-    packagerPort: string | number | void,
-  ): Promise<
-    | {
-        status: 'running',
-        root: string,
-      }
-    | 'not_running'
-    | 'unrecognized',
-  >;
-
   declare export const logger: $ReadOnly<{
-    success: (...message: Array<string>) => void,
-    info: (...message: Array<string>) => void,
-    warn: (...message: Array<string>) => void,
-    error: (...message: Array<string>) => void,
     debug: (...message: Array<string>) => void,
+    error: (...message: Array<string>) => void,
     log: (...message: Array<string>) => void,
-    setVerbose: (level: boolean) => void,
-    isVerbose: () => boolean,
-    disable: () => void,
-    enable: () => void,
+    info: (...message: Array<string>) => void,
+    warn: (...message: Array<string>) => void,
+    ...
   }>;
 
-  declare export function logAlreadyRunningBundler(port: number): void;
-
-  declare export function resolveNodeModuleDir(
-    root: string,
-    packageName: string,
-  ): string;
-
   declare export const version: $ReadOnly<{
     logIfUpdateAvailable: (projectRoot: string) => Promise<void>,
   }>;
diff --git a/packages/community-cli-plugin/src/commands/start/runServer.js b/packages/community-cli-plugin/src/commands/start/runServer.js
index 482d0a6378dcd8..16d9f9cce20e3e 100644
--- a/packages/community-cli-plugin/src/commands/start/runServer.js
+++ b/packages/community-cli-plugin/src/commands/start/runServer.js
@@ -23,14 +23,9 @@ import {
   createDevServerMiddleware,
   indexPageMiddleware,
 } from '@react-native-community/cli-server-api';
-import {
-  isPackagerRunning,
-  logger,
-  version,
-  logAlreadyRunningBundler,
-  handlePortUnavailable,
-} from '@react-native-community/cli-tools';
+import {logger, version} from '@react-native-community/cli-tools';
 
+import isDevServerRunning from '../../utils/isDevServerRunning';
 import loadMetroConfig from '../../utils/loadMetroConfig';
 import attachKeyHandlers from './attachKeyHandlers';
 
@@ -58,41 +53,38 @@ async function runServer(
   ctx: Config,
   args: StartCommandArgs,
 ) {
-  let port = args.port ?? 8081;
-  let packager = true;
-  const packagerStatus = await isPackagerRunning(port);
-
-  if (
-    typeof packagerStatus === 'object' &&
-    packagerStatus.status === 'running'
-  ) {
-    if (packagerStatus.root === ctx.root) {
-      packager = false;
-      logAlreadyRunningBundler(port);
-    } else {
-      const result = await handlePortUnavailable(port, ctx.root, packager);
-      [port, packager] = [result.port, result.packager];
-    }
-  } else if (packagerStatus === 'unrecognized') {
-    const result = await handlePortUnavailable(port, ctx.root, packager);
-    [port, packager] = [result.port, result.packager];
-  }
-
-  if (packager === false) {
-    process.exit();
-  }
-
-  logger.info(`Starting dev server on port ${chalk.bold(String(port))}`);
-
   const metroConfig = await loadMetroConfig(ctx, {
     config: args.config,
     maxWorkers: args.maxWorkers,
-    port: port,
+    port: args.port ?? 8081,
     resetCache: args.resetCache,
     watchFolders: args.watchFolders,
     projectRoot: args.projectRoot,
     sourceExts: args.sourceExts,
   });
+  const host = args.host?.length ? args.host : 'localhost';
+  const {
+    projectRoot,
+    server: {port},
+    watchFolders,
+  } = metroConfig;
+
+  const serverStatus = await isDevServerRunning(host, port, projectRoot);
+
+  if (serverStatus === 'matched_server_running') {
+    logger.info(
+      `A dev server is already running for this project on port ${port}. Exiting.`,
+    );
+    return;
+  } else if (serverStatus === 'port_taken') {
+    logger.error(
+      `Another process is running on port ${port}. Please terminate this ` +
+        'process and try again, or use another port with "--port".',
+    );
+    return;
+  }
+
+  logger.info(`Starting dev server on port ${chalk.bold(String(port))}`);
 
   if (args.assetPlugins) {
     // $FlowIgnore[cannot-write] Assigning to readonly property
@@ -107,14 +99,14 @@ async function runServer(
     messageSocketEndpoint,
     eventsSocketEndpoint,
   } = createDevServerMiddleware({
-    host: args.host,
-    port: metroConfig.server.port,
-    watchFolders: metroConfig.watchFolders,
+    host,
+    port,
+    watchFolders,
   });
   const {middleware, websocketEndpoints} = createDevMiddleware({
-    host: args.host?.length ? args.host : 'localhost',
-    port: metroConfig.server.port,
-    projectRoot: metroConfig.projectRoot,
+    host,
+    port,
+    projectRoot,
     logger,
   });
 
diff --git a/packages/community-cli-plugin/src/utils/isDevServerRunning.js b/packages/community-cli-plugin/src/utils/isDevServerRunning.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..42239bb18194e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/community-cli-plugin/src/utils/isDevServerRunning.js
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ *
+ * @flow strict-local
+ * @format
+ * @oncall react_native
+ */
+
+import net from 'net';
+import fetch from 'node-fetch';
+
+/**
+ * Determine whether we can run the dev server.
+ *
+ * Return values:
+ * - `not_running`: The port is unoccupied.
+ * - `matched_server_running`: The port is occupied by another instance of this
+ *   dev server (matching the passed `projectRoot`).
+ * - `port_taken`: The port is occupied by another process.
+ * - `unknown`: An error was encountered; attempt server creation anyway.
+ */
+export default async function isDevServerRunning(
+  host: string,
+  port: number,
+  projectRoot: string,
+): Promise<
+  'not_running' | 'matched_server_running' | 'port_taken' | 'unknown',
+> {
+  try {
+    if (!(await isPortOccupied(host, port))) {
+      return 'not_running';
+    }
+
+    const statusResponse = await fetch(`http://localhost:${port}/status`);
+    const body = await statusResponse.text();
+
+    return body === 'packager-status:running' &&
+      statusResponse.headers.get('X-React-Native-Project-Root') === projectRoot
+      ? 'matched_server_running'
+      : 'port_taken';
+  } catch (e) {
+    return 'unknown';
+  }
+}
+
+async function isPortOccupied(host: string, port: number): Promise<boolean> {
+  let result = false;
+  const server = net.createServer();
+
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    server.once('error', e => {
+      server.close();
+      if (e.code === 'EADDRINUSE') {
+        result = true;
+      } else {
+        reject(e);
+      }
+    });
+    server.once('listening', () => {
+      result = false;
+      server.close();
+    });
+    server.once('close', () => {
+      resolve(result);
+    });
+    server.listen({host, port});
+  });
+}