use rebar all the time. In rebar.config, I have
{deps,[
{sync, ".*", {git, "git://github.com/rustyio/sync", {tag,"master"}}},
}
for relang.mk just add sync to deps
use a .erlang file, typically placed in src/.erlang with the following two lines
code:add_path("../deps/sync/ebin").
sync:go().
Now, whenever I save a file, it is reloaded. I see no reason why this shouldn't work for Cowboy