I also use Cursive so can't help on that front, but sometimes I have to manually clear Clerk's cache to get my changes. Doubt that's the issue, but since it's hit me a few times, I thought I'd mention it.

if they’re using the file watcher it should be editor independent. Maybe a second clerk issue is running? Do you see the log output?

Just got her set up on Cursive and she's seeing the same problem. She's going to reboot her machine, but it's likely that she's running two Clerks perhaps.

Just a minor thing; IntelliJ only saves to disk on-blur, that is, when you switch to a different application. At least it works that way on my machine. What this means is that when I change my frontend files, figwheel does not reload the code in the browser until I either manually save (Cmd + S) or switch focus to some other application (for example the browser).

Your problem sounds more involved, but you should take heed of the aspect I mention as well, if it's relevant for your setup, as I guess it'll muddle your perspective of your testing if you don't.