fix(cli): glob patterns ignored in chokidar v4 by kaizencc · Pull Request #1131 · aws/aws-cdk-cli

kaizencc · 2026-02-10T19:40:51Z

In CDK CLI v2.1103.0, we released #1059 which migrated our chokidar dependency from v3 to v4. We missed a breaking change in this migration: glob is no longer supported. This causes cdk watch in CDK CLI v2.1102.0 - v2.1105.0 to work improperly with include or exclude parameters that utilize globs -- including the default configuration that is include: ['**']. Using the default include causes cdk watch to not watch any files at all.

Since CDK CLI exposes an include and exclude property that users can set in their own cdk.json configuration, and we support globs, we must continue to do so. Therefore, this PR migrates globs into the new format that chokidar v4 understands - a includes path adn an ignored function.

This code was written with the help of AI, including all tests, and also inspired by similar updates to other projects like this one.

By submitting this pull request, I confirm that my contribution is made under the terms of the Apache-2.0 license

codecov-commenter · 2026-02-10T19:54:03Z

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 92.17391% with 9 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 87.75%. Comparing base (750d9be) to head (5a70d68).

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/convert-globs.ts	94.28%	6 Missing ⚠️
packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/cdk-toolkit.ts	70.00%	3 Missing ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    aws/aws-cdk-cli#1131      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   87.70%   87.75%   +0.05%     
==========================================
  Files          72       73       +1     
  Lines       10116    10228     +112     
  Branches     1337     1371      +34     
==========================================
+ Hits         8872     8976     +104     
- Misses       1218     1226       +8     
  Partials       26       26

Flag	Coverage Δ
suite.unit	`87.75% <92.17%> (+0.05%)`	⬆️

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Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR addresses a regression in cdk watch after upgrading to chokidar v4 by translating CLI watch.include/watch.exclude glob patterns into chokidar v4-compatible inputs (non-glob watch paths + an ignored callback), and updating tests accordingly.

Changes:

Added convertGlobsToChokidarV4() to derive watchPaths and an ignored() function from include/exclude patterns.
Updated CdkToolkit.watch() to call chokidar.watch(watchPaths, { ignored, cwd }) instead of passing globs directly.
Added new unit tests for glob conversion and adjusted existing watch tests to assert function-based ignore behavior.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 8 comments.

File	Description
packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/convert-globs.ts	New glob-to-chokidar-v4 conversion logic (watch paths extraction + ignore callback).
packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/cdk-toolkit.ts	Uses the converter for `cdk watch` and adds a pre-ready logging skip based on `ignored()`.
packages/aws-cdk/test/cli/convert-globs.test.ts	New tests for the conversion helper.
packages/aws-cdk/test/cli/cdk-toolkit.test.ts	Updates watch tests to assert against `watchPaths` + `ignored` function behavior.

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Copilot · 2026-02-10T20:36:31Z

packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/convert-globs.ts

+  if (pattern === '**') return '.';
+  if (pattern.startsWith('**/')) return '.';
+  // Remove glob parts: ./dir/**/* -> ./dir, src/** -> src
+  return pattern.replace(/\/\*\*.*$/, '').replace(/\/\*\.[^/]*$/, '') || '.';


extractWatchPath() can return glob-containing paths (e.g., patterns like *.ts or src/* will not be stripped), which would be passed directly to chokidar.watch() even though v4 no longer supports globs. Consider hardening this to always return a real directory (typically . or a parent dir) for any pattern containing */?/[], using a glob-parent style algorithm (or an existing helper) so watch paths are never globs.

Suggested change

if (pattern === '**') return '.';

if (pattern.startsWith('**/')) return '.';

// Remove glob parts: ./dir/**/* -> ./dir, src/** -> src

return pattern.replace(/\/\*\*.*$/, '').replace(/\/\*\.[^/]*$/, '') || '.';

if (!pattern) return '.';

// Pure recursive patterns watch from current directory

if (pattern === '**') return '.';

if (pattern.startsWith('**/')) return '.';

// If there are no glob characters, the pattern itself is a concrete path

const firstGlobIndex = pattern.search(/[*?\[\]]/);

if (firstGlobIndex === -1) {

return pattern;

}

// Find the last path separator before the first glob character

const lastSlashBeforeGlob = pattern.lastIndexOf('/', firstGlobIndex);

// Glob in the first segment (e.g., "*.ts", "**/*.ts") => watch current directory

if (lastSlashBeforeGlob === -1) {

return '.';

}

const baseDir = pattern.slice(0, lastSlashBeforeGlob);

// If baseDir is empty (e.g., "*/foo"), fall back to current directory

return baseDir || '.';

Copilot · 2026-02-10T20:36:32Z

packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/convert-globs.ts

+function matchesIncludePattern(normalized: string, basename: string, pathParts: string[], pattern: string): boolean {
+  // Non-glob patterns: match if path starts with the pattern
+  if (!pattern.includes('*')) {
+    return normalized.startsWith(pattern + '/') || normalized === pattern;
+  }
+  // Glob patterns
+  if (pattern === '**') return true;
+  if (pattern.startsWith('**/*.')) {
+    return basename.endsWith(pattern.slice(4));
+  }
+  if (pattern.endsWith('/**/*')) {
+    const dir = pattern.slice(0, -5);
+    return !dir || normalized.startsWith(dir + '/');
+  }
+  if (pattern.startsWith('**/') && pattern.endsWith('/*')) {
+    // Match files directly in a directory anywhere (e.g., **/my-dir2/*)
+    const dirName = pattern.slice(3, -2);
+    return pathParts.includes(dirName);
+  }
+  return true;
+}


matchesIncludePattern() returns true for any unhandled glob shape (line 38), which effectively disables include filtering for many valid patterns. For example, patterns like src/** or cdk*.json-style globs aren’t meaningfully evaluated here; and **/my-dir/* is treated as matching any depth under my-dir (since it only checks pathParts.includes(dirName)). To preserve the CLI’s documented glob support, it would be more reliable to evaluate includes via minimatch (already a dependency) against the normalized relative path and only fall back to permissive behavior when explicitly intended.

Copilot · 2026-02-10T20:36:32Z

packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/convert-globs.ts

+function matchesExcludePattern(normalized: string, basename: string, pathParts: string[], pattern: string): boolean {
+  if (!pattern.includes('*')) return basename === pattern;
+  if (pattern.startsWith('**/*.')) return basename.endsWith(pattern.slice(4));
+  if (pattern === '**/.*') return basename.startsWith('.');
+  if (pattern === '**/.*/**') {
+    // Match files inside hidden directories
+    return pathParts.some(part => part.startsWith('.'));
+  }
+  if (pattern.startsWith('**/') && pattern.endsWith('/**')) {
+    return pathParts.includes(pattern.slice(3, -3));
+  }
+  if (pattern.startsWith('**/')) {
+    // Match directory name anywhere in path (e.g., **/my-dir2)
+    const dirName = pattern.slice(3);
+    return pathParts.includes(dirName);
+  }
+  if (pattern.endsWith('/**')) {
+    const dir = pattern.slice(0, -3);
+    return normalized === dir || normalized.startsWith(dir + '/');
+  }
+  if (pattern.endsWith('*')) return basename.startsWith(pattern.slice(0, -1));
+  return false;
+}


matchesExcludePattern() does not correctly implement several exclude patterns that are used in repo templates/docs, because it (a) treats non-glob patterns as basename === pattern (so src/test / target won’t exclude a directory tree) and (b) doesn’t handle common globs like target/* or cdk*.json (a * in the middle). This means user-provided excludes may silently stop working. Suggest using minimatch for exclude matching (with appropriate options like dot) against the normalized path, and treating non-glob patterns as path prefixes (relative to cdk.json) rather than basenames.

Copilot · 2026-02-10T20:36:32Z

packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/convert-globs.ts

+    // Check include patterns - if file doesn't match any include, ignore it
+    if (includePatterns.length > 0 && stats?.isFile()) {
+      const matchesInclude = includePatterns.some(pattern =>
+        matchesIncludePattern(normalized, basename, pathParts, pattern),
+      );
+      if (!matchesInclude) return true;
+    }


Include filtering is currently gated on stats?.isFile() (line 91). Since stats is optional in chokidar’s ignored callback, this can cause include patterns like **/*.js to be ignored entirely when chokidar calls ignored() without stats, leading to deployments being triggered by files outside the include set. Consider making include evaluation independent of stats (while still ensuring directories aren’t excluded prematurely), or configuring chokidar so stats is always available for ignore evaluation.

Copilot · 2026-02-10T20:36:32Z

packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/convert-globs.ts

+ * ignored function that evaluates both include and exclude patterns.
+ *
+ * @param includePatterns - Array of glob patterns to include (e.g., ['**', 'src/*.ts'])
+ * @param excludePatterns - Array of glob patterns to exclude (e.g., ['node_modules', '**\/*.d.ts'])


JSDoc example for excludePatterns contains an escaped glob **\/*.d.ts (line 76). In a comment this escape isn’t needed and reads like a literal backslash in the pattern; consider updating it to **/*.d.ts to avoid confusion about the expected input format.

Suggested change

* @param excludePatterns - Array of glob patterns to exclude (e.g., ['node_modules', '**\/*.d.ts'])

* @param excludePatterns - Array of glob patterns to exclude (e.g., ['node_modules', '**/*.d.ts'])

Copilot · 2026-02-10T20:36:33Z

packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/cdk-toolkit.ts

+        // Skip logging for ignored files during initial scan
+        if (filePath && ignored(filePath)) {
+          return;


In the watch event handler, ignored(filePath) is called without a stats argument. With the current ignored implementation, this means include-based filtering (which depends on stats?.isFile()) won’t be applied here, so the “Skip logging for ignored files” behavior may diverge from what chokidar actually ignores/doesn’t ignore. If include filtering continues to depend on stats, consider either passing/deriving stats consistently, or adjusting ignored so it can make the same decision with only the path.

Copilot · 2026-02-10T20:36:33Z

packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/convert-globs.ts

+  const watchPaths = includePatterns.map(extractWatchPath);
+
+  const ignored = (path: string, stats?: any): boolean => {
+    const normalized = path.replace(/\\/g, '/');
+    const basename = path.split(/[/\\]/).pop() || '';
+    const pathParts = normalized.split('/');
+


Patterns themselves aren’t normalized before matching (e.g., a user include like ./dir/**/* will produce a watchPath of ./dir, but event paths under cwd are typically dir/..., so include/exclude comparisons can fail due to the leading ./). Consider normalizing includePatterns/excludePatterns up-front (strip leading ./, convert \\ to /) so matching semantics are consistent across platforms and with chokidar’s cwd behavior.

Copilot · 2026-02-10T20:36:33Z

packages/aws-cdk/test/cli/convert-globs.test.ts

+import { convertGlobsToChokidarV4 } from '../../lib/cli/convert-globs';
+
+describe('convertGlobsToChokidarV4', () => {
+  describe('watchPaths extraction', () => {
+    test('converts "**" to current directory', () => {
+      const { watchPaths } = convertGlobsToChokidarV4(['**'], []);
+      expect(watchPaths).toEqual(['.']);
+    });
+
+    test('converts "**/*.js" to current directory', () => {
+      const { watchPaths } = convertGlobsToChokidarV4(['**/*.js'], []);
+      expect(watchPaths).toEqual(['.']);
+    });
+
+    test('converts "src/*.ts" to src directory', () => {
+      const { watchPaths } = convertGlobsToChokidarV4(['src/*.ts'], []);
+      expect(watchPaths).toEqual(['src']);
+    });
+
+    test('converts "./dir/**/*" to ./dir', () => {
+      const { watchPaths } = convertGlobsToChokidarV4(['./dir/**/*'], []);
+      expect(watchPaths).toEqual(['./dir']);
+    });
+
+    test('handles multiple include patterns', () => {
+      const { watchPaths } = convertGlobsToChokidarV4(['src/**', 'lib/**'], []);
+      expect(watchPaths).toEqual(['src', 'lib']);
+    });
+
+    test('deduplicates identical paths', () => {
+      const { watchPaths } = convertGlobsToChokidarV4(['**/*.js', '**/*.ts'], []);
+      expect(watchPaths).toEqual(['.']);
+    });
+  });
+


Test coverage here doesn’t cover several glob shapes that CDK documents/ships in templates (e.g., target/*, cdk*.json, src/test, *.ts, src/*, and patterns with a leading ./). Adding cases for these would help ensure the conversion preserves existing watch.exclude/watch.include behavior across common configurations, especially since the matcher is currently shape-specific.

iankhou · 2026-02-10T20:29:56Z

packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli/convert-globs.ts

+  if (pattern === '**') return '.';
+  if (pattern.startsWith('**/')) return '.';


Why not do: if (pattern.startsWith('**')) return '.'; to cover both cases?

This reverts commit 4f58bf1.

Reverts #1131 There are additional glob patterns that the PR does not catch. --- By submitting this pull request, I confirm that my contribution is made under the terms of the Apache-2.0 license

kaizencc added 3 commits February 10, 2026 12:05

feat: new commit

c6b32fc

fix(cli): glob patterns ignored in chokidar v4

6f1997a

remove erroneous file

835c59a

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aws-cdk-automation requested a review from a team February 10, 2026 19:42

fix printing and chagne filename

5a70d68

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Merged via the queue into main with commit 4f58bf1 Feb 10, 2026
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kaizencc added a commit that referenced this pull request Feb 11, 2026

Revert "fix(cli): glob patterns ignored in chokidar v4 (#1131)"

6b55218

This reverts commit 4f58bf1.

kaizencc mentioned this pull request Feb 11, 2026

revert: glob patterns ignored in chokidar v4 #1132

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iankhou mentioned this pull request Feb 12, 2026

fix(cli): cdk watch glob pattern support broken after chokidar v3 -> v4 upgrade #1134

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fix(cli): glob patterns ignored in chokidar v4#1131

fix(cli): glob patterns ignored in chokidar v4#1131
aws-cdk-automation merged 4 commits intomainfrom
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-  if (pattern === '**') return '.';
-  if (pattern.startsWith('**/')) return '.';
-  // Remove glob parts: ./dir/**/* -> ./dir, src/** -> src
-  return pattern.replace(/\/\*\*.*$/, '').replace(/\/\*\.[^/]*$/, '') || '.';
+  if (!pattern) return '.';
+  // Pure recursive patterns watch from current directory
+  if (pattern === '**') return '.';
+  if (pattern.startsWith('**/')) return '.';
+  // If there are no glob characters, the pattern itself is a concrete path
+  const firstGlobIndex = pattern.search(/[*?\[\]]/);
+  if (firstGlobIndex === -1) {
+    return pattern;
+  }
+  // Find the last path separator before the first glob character
+  const lastSlashBeforeGlob = pattern.lastIndexOf('/', firstGlobIndex);
+  // Glob in the first segment (e.g., "*.ts", "**/*.ts") => watch current directory
+  if (lastSlashBeforeGlob === -1) {
+    return '.';
+  }
+  const baseDir = pattern.slice(0, lastSlashBeforeGlob);
+  // If baseDir is empty (e.g., "*/foo"), fall back to current directory
+  return baseDir || '.';

	* @param excludePatterns - Array of glob patterns to exclude (e.g., ['node_modules', '*\/.d.ts'])
	* @param excludePatterns - Array of glob patterns to exclude (e.g., ['node_modules', '*/.d.ts'])

		if (pattern === '**') return '.';
		if (pattern.startsWith('**/')) return '.';

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kaizencc commented Feb 10, 2026 •

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