# blacknon/hwatch

hwatch: alternative watch command with history, diff view, JSONL logging, and change hooks. since 2018.

Repository: https://github.com/blacknon/hwatch
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/hwatch
Language: Rust
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: rust, watch, tui, terminal-ui, monitoring, command-line
Last push: 2026-08-10T15:11:44+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 92/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 97, release rhythm 81, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3130, "days_push": 23, "days_rel": 126, "gap_med": 4, "n_releases_24m": 8}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1073, forks 28 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:28.817768+00:00)

## What it is
hwatch is a Rust-based alternative to the Unix watch command that repeatedly executes a command and records its output. It provides a TUI with execution history, diff views, JSONL logging, and hooks to run commands when changes occur.

## Use cases
- watch command output with history and diffs
- monitor a command and see what changed between runs
- log command execution results as JSONL
- run a hook command when watched output changes
- scroll through past outputs of a repeatedly run command
- view diffs of command output with ANSI colors preserved

## When to choose
- you need history and diffing of repeated command output, which plain watch lacks
- you want JSONL logs of command executions
- you need to trigger commands on output changes
- you want a modern, actively maintained watch replacement

## When to avoid
- you only need simple periodic command execution and minimal output
- you need remote/system metrics monitoring rather than command output watching
- official distro packaging for your distro is required and not yet available

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: monitoring, terminal-ui, developer-tools, logging
- domain: developer-tools, monitoring
- platform: windows, cli, cross-platform
- tags: watch-command, diff-view, command-history, tui, rust, l-logging, change-hooks, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- blacknon/hwatch (main) score 92

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:28.817768+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 2026-08-30T06:53:35.687129+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/blacknon/hwatch (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:28.817768+00:00, sha 87dbe4d0240d)
  - registry_crates: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/hwatch (fetched 2026-08-29T12:55:17.590756+00:00, sha 398b8f463688)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.