watch

Enable file watching for a process.

Usage

runix watch <id|name> [flags]

Description

Watches file paths for changes and automatically restarts the process when changes are detected. Uses fsnotify with configurable debounce to batch rapid file changes.

Examples

# Watch the process's cwd (default)
runix watch api

# Watch specific paths
runix watch api --paths ./src --paths ./config

# Custom ignore patterns
runix watch api --ignore "*.test.go" --ignore "_test.go"

# Custom debounce duration
runix watch api --debounce 500ms

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--paths	process cwd	Paths to watch (can specify multiple)
--ignore	(see defaults)	Glob patterns to ignore
--debounce	100ms	Debounce window for coalescing changes

Default Ignore Patterns

When no --ignore flags are provided:

.git
node_modules
__pycache__
*.pyc
.DS_Store
vendor
dist
build
bin

How It Works

1. An fsnotify watcher is created for each path (recursively)
2. File change events are collected during the debounce window
3. After the debounce window, the handler is called with all changed paths
4. The handler restarts the process

runix watch api
# [Runix] Watching [./src] for process "api" (Ctrl+C to stop)
# [Runix] File changed: ./src/handler.go
# [Runix] Process "api" restarted

The command blocks until interrupted with Ctrl+C.

Config-Based Watch

Watch can also be configured in runix.yaml:

processes:
  api:
    entrypoint: ./cmd/api
    watch:
      paths: ["./src", "./templates"]
      ignore: ["*_test.go", "*.md"]
      debounce: 200ms

When using runix start api with watch config, the watcher starts automatically.

What's Next

• Watch Mode — How file watching works internally
• Start Command — --watch flag