Software development often involves running the same commands over and over. Boring!
watchexec is a simple, standalone tool that watches a path and runs a command whenever it detects modifications.
Example use cases:
- Automatically run unit tests
- Run linters/syntax checkers
- Rebuild artifacts
- Simple invocation and use, does not require a cryptic command line involving
xargs - Runs on OS X, Linux, and Windows
- Monitors current directory and all subdirectories for changes
- Coalesces multiple filesystem events into one, for editors that use swap/backup files during saving
- Loads
.gitignoreand.ignorefiles - Uses process groups to keep hold of forking programs
- Provides the paths that changed in environment variables or STDIN
- Does not require a language runtime, not tied to any particular language or ecosystem
- And more!
Watch all JavaScript, CSS and HTML files in the current directory and all subdirectories for changes, running npm run build when a change is detected:
$ watchexec -e js,css,html npm run build
Call/restart python server.py when any Python file in the current directory (and all subdirectories) changes:
$ watchexec -r -e py -- python server.py
More usage examples: in the CLI README!
- With your package manager for Arch, Debian, Homebrew, Nix, Scoop, Chocolatey…
- From binary with Binstall:
cargo binstall watchexec-cli - As pre-built binary package from Github
- From source with Cargo:
cargo install --locked watchexec-cli
All options in detail: in the CLI README,
in the online help (watchexec -h, watchexec --help, or watchexec --manual),
and in the manual page (PDF).
Watchexec pairs well with:
- checkexec: to run only when source files are newer than a target file
- just: a modern alternative to
make - systemfd: socket-passing in development
- watchexec library: to create more specialised watchexec-powered tools.
- watchexec-events: event types for watchexec.
- watchexec-signals: signal types for watchexec.
- watchexec-supervisor: process lifecycle manager (the exec part of watchexec).
- clearscreen: to clear the (terminal) screen on every platform.
- command group: to run commands in process groups.
- ignore files: to find, parse, and interpret ignore files.
- project origins: to find the origin(s) directory of a project.
- notify: to respond to file modifications (third-party).
Selected downstreams of watchexec and associated crates:
- cargo watch: a specialised watcher for Rust/Cargo projects.
- cargo lambda: a dev tool for Rust-powered AWS Lambda functions.
- create-rust-app: a template for Rust+React web apps.
- dotter: a dotfile manager.
- ghciwatch: a specialised watcher for Haskell projects.
- tectonic: a TeX/LaTeX typesetting system.