Watcher - Develop your programs easily

Watcher watches all the files present in the directory it is run from of the directory that is specified while running it and whenever a file is changed or a file is created/deleted from the directory, it runs the command specified while running it or a default command that it recognises from the contents of the current directory.

Features

• Choose which directory to watch for file changes
• Specify amount of time to wait before running the command after a file change occurs
• List the files that are being watched
• Choose whether to run the command on startup
• Set the maximum number of files that can be watched
• Supports never ending processes such as dev servers as the command
• Have a default ignore list
• Press keys for force refreshing even when file change is not detected
• Automatically recognize commands for popular project structure

Arguments

Command

The command you want to run when any file changes

watcher --cmd '
   
    '
   

Directory

The directory that you want watcher to watch for file changes. (default: ".")

watcher --dir '
   
    '
   

Ignore

The files that you want to ignore. It also supports file globbing.

watcher --ignore '
   
    '
   

Ignore File

A file that contains the files that you want to ignore. It follows the gitignore file syntax

watcher --ignore-file '
   
    '
   

Hidden

Whether the hidden files should also be watched for file changes. (default: true)

watcher --hidden false

Delay

The amount of time to wait before running the specified command after a file change occurs. (default: 500ms)

watcher --delay 1000ms

Run on Start

Whether the specified command should run when watcher has first started. (default: true)

watcher --run-cmd-on-start false
or
watcher -r false

List on Start

Whether the list of files being watched should be printed when watcher has first started. (default: false)

watcher --list-on-start true

Limit

The maximum number of files that can be watched. (default: 10000)

watcher --limit 50000
or
watcher -l 50000

⚠️ Every system has a maximum value which cannot be exceeded. To find it look at:

• Linux: /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches contains the limit, reaching this limit results in a "no space left on device" error.
• BSD / OSX: sysctl variables kern.maxfiles and kern.maxfilesperproc, reaching these limits results in a "too many open files" error.

Examples

• Basic example (use default options):

  watcher

• Intermediate example:

  watcher --cmd 'go run .' --delay 1s

• Advanced example:

  watcher --cmd 'go run .' --dir '~/Projects/watcher' --hidden false -l 50000