Watchexec CLI

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

Features

• Simple invocation and use

• Runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, and more

• Monitors current directory and all subdirectories for changes

  • Uses efficient event polling mechanism (on Linux, Mac, Windows, BSD)

• Coalesces multiple filesystem events into one, for editors that use swap/backup files during saving

• By default, uses .gitignore, .ignore, and other such files to determine which files to ignore notifications for

• Support for watching files with a specific extension

• Support for filtering/ignoring events based on glob patterns

• Launches the command in a new process group (can be disabled with --no-process-group)

• Optionally clears screen between executions

• Optionally restarts the command with every modification (good for servers)

• Optionally sends a desktop notification on command start and end

• Does not require a language runtime

• Sets the following environment variables in the process:

  $WATCHEXEC_COMMON_PATH is set to the longest common path of all of the below variables, and so should be prepended to each path to obtain the full/real path.

  Variable name	Event kind
  $WATCHEXEC_CREATED_PATH	files/folders were created
  $WATCHEXEC_REMOVED_PATH	files/folders were removed
  $WATCHEXEC_RENAMED_PATH	files/folders were renamed
  $WATCHEXEC_WRITTEN_PATH	files/folders were modified
  $WATCHEXEC_META_CHANGED_PATH	files/folders' metadata were modified
  $WATCHEXEC_OTHERWISE_CHANGED_PATH	every other kind of event

  These variables may contain multiple paths: these are separated by the platform's path separator, as with the PATH system environment variable. On Unix that is :, and on Windows ;. Within each variable, paths are deduplicated and sorted in binary order (i.e. neither Unicode nor locale aware).

  This can be disabled or limited with --no-environment (doesn't set any of these variables) and --no-meta (ignores metadata changes).

Anti-Features

• Not tied to any particular language or ecosystem
• Not tied to Git or the presence of a repository/project
• Does not require a cryptic command line involving xargs

Usage Examples

Watch all JavaScript, CSS and HTML files in the current directory and all subdirectories for changes, running make when a change is detected:

$ watchexec --exts js,css,html make

Call make test when any file changes in this directory/subdirectory, except for everything below target:

$ watchexec -i "target/**" make test

Call ls -la when any file changes in this directory/subdirectory:

$ watchexec -- ls -la

Call/restart python server.py when any Python file in the current directory (and all subdirectories) changes:

$ watchexec -e py -r python server.py

Call/restart my_server when any file in the current directory (and all subdirectories) changes, sending SIGKILL to stop the command:

$ watchexec -r -s SIGKILL my_server

Send a SIGHUP to the command upon changes (Note: using -n here we're executing my_server directly, instead of wrapping it in a shell:

$ watchexec -n -s SIGHUP my_server

Run make when any file changes, using the .gitignore file in the current directory to filter:

$ watchexec make

Run make when any file in lib or src changes:

$ watchexec -w lib -w src make

Run bundle install when the Gemfile changes:

$ watchexec -w Gemfile bundle install

Run two commands:

$ watchexec 'date; make'

If you come from entr, note that the watchexec command is run in a shell by default. You can use -n or --shell=none to not do that:

$ watchexec -n -- echo ';' lorem ipsum

On Windows, you may prefer to use Powershell:

$ watchexec --shell=powershell -- test-connection localhost

Installation

First-party

Pre-built

Use the download section on Github or the website to obtain the package appropriate for your platform and architecture, extract it, and place it in your PATH.

There are also Debian/Ubuntu (DEB) and Fedora/RedHat (RPM) packages.

Checksums and signatures are available.

Cargo (from source)

Requires Rust 1.58.0 or later.

$ cargo install watchexec-cli

Binstall

$ cargo binstall watchexec-cli

Third-party

These are provided by third parties, caveat emptor!

macOS

• Homebrew: $ brew install watchexec
• Nix/NixOS: $ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.watchexec
• Webi: $ curl -sS https://webinstall.dev/watchexec | bash

Linux

• ArchLinux: $ pacman -S watchexec
• Nix/NixOS: $ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.watchexec
• Webi: $ curl -sS https://webinstall.dev/watchexec | bash

Windows

• Scoop: #> scoop install watchexec
• Chocolatey: #> choco install watchexec
• Webi: #> curl.exe -A MS https://webinstall.dev/watchexec | powershell

Shell completions

Currently available shell completions:

• zsh: completions/zsh should be installed to /usr/share/zsh/site-functions/_watchexec