watchexec/watchexec
Some data may be outdated — see provenance labels.
Executes commands in response to file modifications observed · 2026-10-03
Health v2 · maintenance only
98/100
- Activity 97
- Release rhythm 98
- Longevity 100
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-10-21. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: 9
- age_days: 3684
- days_rel: 18
- days_push: 18
- n_releases_24m: 18
Adoption not part of the score
7211 stars · 206 forks observed · 2026-10-03
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded
Watchexec is a standalone command-line tool written in Rust that watches files and directories and runs a command whenever modifications are detected. It also ships as a Rust library for building custom file-watching tools.
Use cases
- automatically rerun tests when source files change
- restart a dev server on file save
- rebuild artifacts when code is modified
- run linters or syntax checkers on every edit
- trigger a build when js, css, or html files change
When to choose
- you repeatedly run the same command during development and want it automated
- you need a language-agnostic, standalone binary with no runtime dependency
- you want gitignore-aware watching across macOS, Linux, and Windows
- you need to restart long-running processes like dev servers on change
When to avoid
- you need a full task runner or build system rather than a change-triggered command executor
- you need in-process file watching inside a non-Rust application
- you need complex event pipelines or distributed file watching
Facets
cli-tool · maturity active
developer-tools cli workflow-automation developer-tools windows rust cli file-watcher hot-reload build-automation rust-library command-line automation linux macos
3 sources
- readme: https://github.com/watchexec/watchexec · fetched 2026-10-03 · 152401daed6e
- homepage: https://watchexec.github.io · fetched 2026-08-29 · 15aec845a7e0
- registry_crates: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/watchexec · fetched 2026-08-29 · 8b4118da7d64
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| watchexec/watchexec | main | 98 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="watchexec/watchexec")
Data as of 2026-10-19T08:05:51.212177+00:00 · Report a problem