Guard
Guard is a command line tool to easily handle events on file system modifications. observed · 2026-10-16
Health v2 · maintenance only
80/100
- Activity 84
- Release rhythm 62
- 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: 114.0
- age_days: 5923
- days_rel: 96
- days_push: 96
- n_releases_24m: 5
Adoption not part of the score
6433 stars · 494 forks observed · 2026-10-16
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded
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
cli-tool · maturity maintenance
cli developer-tools file-system testing workflow-automation developer-tools web-development ruby cli cross-platform file-watcher task-automation ruby-gem plugin-ecosystem livereload build-automation command-line automation
4 sources
- readme: https://github.com/guard/guard · fetched 2026-10-16 · 814bfaf08459
- homepage: https://rubygems.org/gems/guard-livereload · fetched 2026-08-29 · 03ba57f7afdb
- site_page: https://guides.rubygems.org/command-reference · fetched 2026-08-29 · ef62154d6253
- site_page: https://rubygems.org/pages/about · fetched 2026-08-29 · e4248571fa5d
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| guard/guard | main | 80 |
| guard/guard-livereload | plugin | 23 |
| guard/guard-rspec | plugin | 23 |
| guard/guard-jasmine | plugin | 32 |
| guard/guard-spork | plugin | 32 |
| guard/guard-minitest | plugin | 65 |
| guard/guard-bundler | plugin | 65 |
| guard/guard-test | plugin | 23 |
For agents
Data as of 2026-10-19T08:05:51.212177+00:00 · Report a problem