diff --git a/docs/06-configuration.md b/docs/06-configuration.md
index a7b3fe457..1ef433e0a 100644
--- a/docs/06-configuration.md
+++ b/docs/06-configuration.md
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ Arguments passed to the CLI will always take precedence over the CLI options con
 ## Options
 
 - `files`: an array of glob patterns to select test files. Files with an underscore prefix are ignored. By default only selects files with `cjs`, `mjs` & `js` extensions, even if the pattern matches other files. Specify `extensions` to allow other file extensions
-- `ignoredByWatcher`: an array of glob patterns to match files that, even if changed, are ignored by the watcher. See the [watch mode recipe for details](https://github.com/avajs/ava/blob/main/docs/recipes/watch-mode.md)
+- `watchMode`: See the [watch mode recipe for details](https://github.com/avajs/ava/blob/main/docs/recipes/watch-mode.md)
 - `match`: not typically useful in the `package.json` configuration, but equivalent to [specifying `--match` on the CLI](./05-command-line.md#running-tests-with-matching-titles)
 - `cache`: defaults to `true` to cache compiled files under `node_modules/.cache/ava`. If `false`, files are cached in a temporary directory instead
 - `concurrency`: max number of test files running at the same time (default: CPU cores)
diff --git a/docs/recipes/watch-mode.md b/docs/recipes/watch-mode.md
index 09ff0f125..710ce8996 100644
--- a/docs/recipes/watch-mode.md
+++ b/docs/recipes/watch-mode.md
@@ -37,7 +37,17 @@ Otherwise, AVA 6 uses `fs.watch()`. Support for `recursive` mode is required. No
 
 By default AVA watches for changes to all files, except for those with a `.snap.md` extension, `ava.config.*` and files in [certain directories](https://github.com/novemberborn/ignore-by-default/blob/master/index.js) as provided by the [`ignore-by-default`] package.
 
-You can configure additional patterns for files to ignore in the [`ava` section of your `package.json`, or `ava.config.*` file][config], using the `ignoredByWatcher` key.
+With AVA 5, you can configure additional patterns for files to ignore in the [`ava` section of your `package.json`, or `ava.config.*` file][config], using the `ignoredByWatcher` key.
+
+With AVA 6, place these patterns within the `watchMode` object:
+
+```js
+export default {
+	watchMode: {
+		ignoreChanges: ['coverage'],
+	},
+};
+```
 
 If your tests write to disk they may trigger the watcher to rerun your tests. Configuring additional ignore patterns helps avoid this.
 
diff --git a/lib/cli.js b/lib/cli.js
index 969463429..456b2e9e4 100644
--- a/lib/cli.js
+++ b/lib/cli.js
@@ -327,6 +327,10 @@ export default async function loadCli() { // eslint-disable-line complexity
 		exit('’watch’ must not be configured, use the --watch CLI flag instead.');
 	}
 
+	if (Object.hasOwn(conf, 'ignoredByWatcher')) {
+		exit('’ignoredByWatcher’ has moved to ’watchMode.ignoreChanges’.');
+	}
+
 	if (!combined.tap && Object.keys(experiments).length > 0) {
 		console.log(chalk.magenta(`  ${figures.warning} Experiments are enabled. These are unsupported and may change or be removed at any time.`));
 	}
@@ -380,7 +384,7 @@ export default async function loadCli() { // eslint-disable-line complexity
 
 	let globs;
 	try {
-		globs = normalizeGlobs({files: conf.files, ignoredByWatcher: conf.ignoredByWatcher, extensions, providers});
+		globs = normalizeGlobs({files: conf.files, ignoredByWatcher: conf.watchMode?.ignoreChanges, extensions, providers});
 	} catch (error) {
 		exit(error.message);
 	}
diff --git a/lib/globs.js b/lib/globs.js
index 70bbdebd8..c789dcc97 100644
--- a/lib/globs.js
+++ b/lib/globs.js
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ export function normalizeGlobs({extensions, files: filePatterns, ignoredByWatche
 	}
 
 	if (ignoredByWatcherPatterns !== undefined && (!Array.isArray(ignoredByWatcherPatterns) || ignoredByWatcherPatterns.length === 0)) {
-		throw new Error('The ’ignoredByWatcher’ configuration must be an array containing glob patterns.');
+		throw new Error('The ’watchMode.ignoreChanges’ configuration must be an array containing glob patterns.');
 	}
 
 	const extensionPattern = buildExtensionPattern(extensions);
diff --git a/test-tap/api.js b/test-tap/api.js
index 6cc7daf89..29e748c16 100644
--- a/test-tap/api.js
+++ b/test-tap/api.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ async function apiCreator(options = {}) {
 	options.concurrency = 2;
 	options.extensions = options.extensions || ['cjs'];
 	options.experiments = {};
-	options.globs = normalizeGlobs({files: options.files, ignoredByWatcher: options.ignoredByWatcher, extensions: options.extensions, providers: []});
+	options.globs = normalizeGlobs({files: options.files, ignoredByWatcher: options.watchMode?.ignoreChanges, extensions: options.extensions, providers: []});
 	const instance = new Api(options);
 
 	return instance;
diff --git a/test/globs/fixtures/ignored-by-watcher/package.json b/test/globs/fixtures/ignored-by-watcher/package.json
index eb6f557ce..4679552cc 100644
--- a/test/globs/fixtures/ignored-by-watcher/package.json
+++ b/test/globs/fixtures/ignored-by-watcher/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 {
 	"type": "module",
 	"ava": {
-		"ignoredByWatcher": []
+		"watchMode": {
+			"ignoreChanges": []
+		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/test/globs/snapshots/test.js.md b/test/globs/snapshots/test.js.md
index c185640ff..2dc58c3bc 100644
--- a/test/globs/snapshots/test.js.md
+++ b/test/globs/snapshots/test.js.md
@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ Generated by [AVA](https://avajs.dev).
 
     'The ’files’ configuration must be an array containing glob patterns.'
 
-## errors if top-level ignoredByWatcher is an empty array
+## errors if watchMode.ignoreChanges is an empty array
 
 > fails with message
 
-    'The ’ignoredByWatcher’ configuration must be an array containing glob patterns.'
+    'The ’watchMode.ignoreChanges’ configuration must be an array containing glob patterns.'
 
 ## files can be filtered by directory
 
diff --git a/test/globs/snapshots/test.js.snap b/test/globs/snapshots/test.js.snap
index 1064b5c1a..f21455526 100644
Binary files a/test/globs/snapshots/test.js.snap and b/test/globs/snapshots/test.js.snap differ
diff --git a/test/globs/test.js b/test/globs/test.js
index 795377621..dae4d621c 100644
--- a/test/globs/test.js
+++ b/test/globs/test.js
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ test('errors if top-level files is an empty array', async t => {
 	t.snapshot(cleanOutput(result.stderr), 'fails with message');
 });
 
-test('errors if top-level ignoredByWatcher is an empty array', async t => {
+test('errors if watchMode.ignoreChanges is an empty array', async t => {
 	const options = {
 		cwd: cwd('ignored-by-watcher'),
 	};
diff --git a/test/watch-mode/fixtures/basic/ava.config.js b/test/watch-mode/fixtures/basic/ava.config.js
index 618a8b186..cfa22d60a 100644
--- a/test/watch-mode/fixtures/basic/ava.config.js
+++ b/test/watch-mode/fixtures/basic/ava.config.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 export default {
-	ignoredByWatcher: ['ignored-by-watcher.js'],
+	watchMode: {
+		ignoreChanges: ['ignored-by-watcher.js'],
+	},
 };
diff --git a/test/watch-mode/fixtures/exclusive/ava.config.js b/test/watch-mode/fixtures/exclusive/ava.config.js
index 618a8b186..cfa22d60a 100644
--- a/test/watch-mode/fixtures/exclusive/ava.config.js
+++ b/test/watch-mode/fixtures/exclusive/ava.config.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 export default {
-	ignoredByWatcher: ['ignored-by-watcher.js'],
+	watchMode: {
+		ignoreChanges: ['ignored-by-watcher.js'],
+	},
 };