# Guard

Guard is a command line tool to easily handle events on file system modifications.

Repository: https://github.com/guard/guard
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/guard
Language: Ruby
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-07-16T07:46:14+00:00
Link (homepage): https://rubygems.org/gems/guard-livereload
Link (site_page): https://guides.rubygems.org/command-reference
Link (site_page): https://rubygems.org/pages/about

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 86/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 92, release rhythm 69, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5875, "days_push": 48, "days_rel": 48, "gap_med": 114.0, "n_releases_24m": 5}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 6442, forks 494 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:43.428099+00:00)

## What it is
Guard is a Ruby command-line tool that watches for file system modifications and runs custom rules or tasks in response. It has a large plugin ecosystem (300+ plugins) for tasks like re-running tests, reloading browsers, and automating build workflows.

## Use cases
- automatically re-run tests when source files change
- reload the browser when CSS or HTML files are modified
- automate repetitive development tasks on file changes
- build a responsive build system or development workflow
- monitor and restart services when configuration files change

## When to choose
- you develop in Ruby or Rails and want automated test runs on file changes
- you want a plugin-based file watcher with a large ecosystem
- you need to automate repetitive commands triggered by file modifications

## When to avoid
- you work outside the Ruby ecosystem and prefer native tooling like nodemon or watchexec
- you need a one-shot build tool rather than continuous file watching
- you want a GUI-based automation tool

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: cli, developer-tools, file-system, testing, workflow-automation
- domain: developer-tools, web-development
- platform: ruby, cli, cross-platform
- tags: file-watcher, task-automation, ruby-gem, plugin-ecosystem, livereload, build-automation, command-line, automation

## Member repositories
- guard/guard (main) score 86
- guard/guard-livereload (plugin) score 23
- guard/guard-rspec (plugin) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:43.428099+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:44:42.385031+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/guard/guard (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:43.428099+00:00, sha 814bfaf08459)
  - homepage: https://rubygems.org/gems/guard-livereload (fetched 2026-08-29T08:41:50.408564+00:00, sha 03ba57f7afdb)
  - site_page: https://guides.rubygems.org/command-reference (fetched 2026-08-29T08:41:50.417845+00:00, sha ef62154d6253)
  - site_page: https://rubygems.org/pages/about (fetched 2026-08-29T08:41:50.421512+00:00, sha e4248571fa5d)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.