feat: add file watching to auto-restart daemons by jdx · Pull Request #165 · jdx/pitchfork

jdx · 2026-01-19T15:26:21Z

Summary

Add support for a watch config option that allows daemons to be automatically restarted when specified files change.

Add watch field to daemon configuration for glob patterns
Implement file watching using the existing notify crate infrastructure
Auto-restart running daemons when matched files change

Example Config

[daemons.api]
run = "npm run dev"
watch = ["src/**/*.ts", "package.json"]

[daemons.worker]
run = "python worker.py"
watch = ["worker.py", "lib/**/*.py"]

Test Plan

cargo build compiles
cargo nextest run - all 76 tests pass
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings - no warnings
Manual test: Create a daemon with watch, modify a watched file, verify restart

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Note

Enables hot-reload by watching files and auto-restarting affected daemons.

Config/schema: Add watch array to PitchforkTomlDaemon and JSON schema; CLI config add initializes watch = [].
Supervisor: Integrate daemon_file_watch() and restart_watched_daemon() to monitor directories, match changed paths against watch patterns, and restart only running, enabled daemons.
File watching utils: New src/watch_files.rs with debounced watcher (notify), glob expansion (glob), and matching (globset), including recursive dir watching and cross-platform path normalization.
Docs: New "File Watching" guide; update configuration reference and sidebar; include examples and behavior notes (1s debounce, relative patterns).
Deps/CI: Add glob and globset; small release workflow tweak to fetch tags.

^{Written by Cursor Bugbot for commit 5447aec. This will update automatically on new commits. Configure here.}

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR adds file watching functionality to automatically restart daemons when their watched files change. The implementation leverages the existing notify crate infrastructure and adds a watch configuration field for specifying glob patterns.

Changes:

Added watch field to daemon configuration supporting glob patterns
Implemented expand_watch_patterns and path_matches_patterns helper functions for glob matching
Added daemon_file_watch method to set up file watching and restart_watched_daemon to handle automatic restarts

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 8 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/pitchfork_toml.rs	Added `watch` field to `PitchforkTomlDaemon` struct
src/watch_files.rs	Implemented glob pattern expansion and path matching utilities
src/supervisor.rs	Added daemon file watching and auto-restart logic
src/deps.rs	Added `watch` field initialization in test helpers
src/cli/config/add.rs	Added `watch` field initialization for new daemon configs
tests/test_pitchfork_toml.rs	Added `watch` field initialization in test
Cargo.toml	Added `glob` crate dependency

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Copilot · 2026-01-19T15:27:15Z

src/watch_files.rs

+
+        // Also watch the base directories for patterns with wildcards
+        // This ensures we catch new files in watched directories
+        if pattern.contains('*') {


This check only looks for the * wildcard character, but glob patterns can also contain ? and [...] wildcards. Files matching patterns with these other wildcards won't be detected correctly. Consider checking for all glob wildcard characters: pattern.contains(['*', '?', '[']).

Copilot · 2026-01-19T15:27:15Z

src/supervisor.rs

+
+        // Spawn the file watcher task
+        tokio::spawn(async move {
+            let mut wf = match WatchFiles::new(Duration::from_secs(1)) {


The debounce duration of 1 second is hardcoded. Consider extracting this to a configurable value or using the existing interval_duration() helper for consistency with other timing configurations in the codebase.

Copilot · 2026-01-19T15:27:15Z

src/supervisor.rs

+        let _ = self.stop(id).await;
+
+        // Small delay to allow the process to fully stop
+        time::sleep(Duration::from_millis(100)).await;


The 100ms delay is a magic number without explanation. Consider extracting this to a named constant (e.g., DAEMON_STOP_GRACE_PERIOD_MS) to make the purpose clearer and easier to adjust if needed.

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src/watch_files.rs

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src/watch_files.rs

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src/watch_files.rs

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src/watch_files.rs

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src/watch_files.rs

Add support for a `watch` config option that allows daemons to be automatically restarted when specified files change. Configuration example: ```toml [daemons.api] run = "npm run dev" watch = ["src/**/*.ts", "package.json"] ``` Implementation: - Add `watch` field to PitchforkTomlDaemon for glob patterns - Add `expand_watch_patterns` and `path_matches_patterns` to watch_files.rs - Implement `daemon_file_watch()` in supervisor that: - Collects daemons with watch patterns - Expands glob patterns to directories - Watches directories recursively using notify crate - Restarts running daemons when matched files change Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

- Add new guide at docs/guides/file-watching.md with examples - Document `watch` field in configuration reference - Add file watching to sidebar navigation Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

The release-plz action creates and pushes the new tag to GitHub, but the local checkout doesn't have it. Add a git fetch --tags step before trying to find the previous tag for release notes generation. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

For non-wildcard patterns like "package.json", always watch the parent directory even if the file doesn't exist yet. This ensures that file watching works correctly when the file is created after the supervisor starts. Previously, if all configured watch patterns were non-existent specific files, file watching would be silently disabled. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

For wildcard patterns like src/**/*.ts, if the base directory (src/) doesn't exist at startup, fall back to watching base_dir instead of silently disabling file watching. This makes wildcard patterns consistent with non-wildcard patterns, which already had this fallback behavior. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

On Windows, path.join() produces backslashes while glob patterns use forward slashes. This caused pattern matching to fail. Now we normalize all paths to use forward slashes before glob matching. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Set require_literal_separator: true so that * only matches within a single directory (standard glob behavior). Use ** for recursive matching across directories. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

The glob crate's Pattern::matches_with() doesn't give ** special recursive directory matching semantics. Switch to globset which properly supports ** for matching across directory boundaries. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

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Cursor Bugbot has reviewed your changes and found 1 potential issue.

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src/supervisor.rs

Check if a daemon is disabled before restarting it on file changes. This ensures `pitchfork disable` is respected by the file watcher. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

socket-security · 2026-01-19T17:23:17Z

Review the following changes in direct dependencies. Learn more about Socket for GitHub.

Diff	Package	Supply Chain Security	Vulnerability	Quality	Maintenance	License
	cargo/glob@0.3.3

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## 🤖 New release * `pitchfork-cli`: 1.0.2 -> 1.1.0 <details><summary>Changelog</summary> <blockquote> ## [1.1.0](v1.0.2...v1.1.0) - 2026-01-19 ### Added - add file watching to auto-restart daemons ([#165](#165)) - support boolean values for retry configuration ([#170](#170)) - disable web UI by default ([#172](#172)) - auto-generate JSON schema from Rust types ([#167](#167)) ### Fixed - improve cron watcher granularity for sub-minute schedules ([#163](#163)) - improve log file position tracking accuracy ([#164](#164)) </blockquote> </details> --- This PR was generated with [release-plz](https://github.com/release-plz/release-plz/).  --- > [!NOTE] > Releases `pitchfork-cli` v1.1.0 and syncs version across `Cargo.toml`, `Cargo.lock`, `docs/cli/*`, and `pitchfork.usage.kdl`. > > - **Added**: file watching to auto-restart daemons; boolean support for retry config; web UI disabled by default; JSON schema generation from Rust types > - **Fixed**: improved cron watcher granularity (sub-minute); more accurate log file position tracking > - Updated `CHANGELOG.md` with 1.1.0 notes > > Written by [Cursor Bugbot](https://cursor.com/dashboard?tab=bugbot) for commit 2e6d4c6. This will update automatically on new commits. Configure [here](https://cursor.com/dashboard?tab=bugbot).  --------- Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

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jdx and others added 8 commits January 19, 2026 11:07

docs: add file watching documentation

4558d9e

- Add new guide at docs/guides/file-watching.md with examples - Document `watch` field in configuration reference - Add file watching to sidebar navigation Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

fix: use require_literal_separator for correct glob behavior

daf931a

Set require_literal_separator: true so that * only matches within a single directory (standard glob behavior). Use ** for recursive matching across directories. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

jdx force-pushed the feat/file-watching branch from 003c29f to 0344f36 Compare January 19, 2026 17:08

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fix: respect disabled status in file watcher restarts

5447aec

Check if a daemon is disabled before restarting it on file changes. This ensures `pitchfork disable` is respected by the file watcher. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

jdx merged commit 1752e74 into main Jan 19, 2026
4 checks passed

jdx deleted the feat/file-watching branch January 19, 2026 17:48

jdx mentioned this pull request Jan 19, 2026

chore: release v1.1.0 #166

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