Chokidar Cheatsheet

from https://github.com/paulmillr/chokidar

Chokidar Initialization

// Initialize watcher.
const watcher = chokidar.watch('file, dir, glob, or array', {
  ignored: /(^|[\/\\])\../, // ignore dotfiles
  persistent: true
});
watcher
  .on('add', path => log(`File ${path} has been added`))
  .on('change', path => log(`File ${path} has been changed`))
  .on('unlink', path => log(`File ${path} has been removed`));

// More possible events.
watcher
  .on('addDir', path => log(`Directory ${path} has been added`))
  .on('unlinkDir', path => log(`Directory ${path} has been removed`))
  .on('error', error => log(`Watcher error: ${error}`))
  .on('ready', () => log('Initial scan complete. Ready for changes'))
  .on('raw', (event, path, details) => { // internal
    log('Raw event info:', event, path, details);
  });

Add/Remove/Stop Watches

watcher.add('new-file');
watcher.add(['new-file-2', 'new-file-3', '**/other-file*']);

var watchedPaths = watcher.getWatched();

await watcher.unwatch('new-file*');

// Stop watching. The method is async!
watcher.close().then(() => console.log('closed'));

Extended File Information

// 'add', 'addDir' and 'change' events also receive stat() results as second
// argument when available: https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats
watcher.on('change', (path, stats) => {
  if (stats) console.log(`File ${path} changed size to ${stats.size}`);
});

Chokidar Events

const watcher = chokidar.watch('file, dir, glob, or array', {
  ignored: /(^|[\/\\])\../, // ignore dotfiles
  persistent: true
});
watcher
  .on('add',        path => log(`file ${path} added`))
  .on('change',     path => log(`file ${path} changed`))
  .on('unlink',     path => log(`file ${path} removed`));
watcher
  .on('addDir',     path => log(`dir ${path} added`))
  .on('unlinkDir',  path => log(`dir ${path} removed`))
watcher
  .on('error',      error => { ... })
  .on('ready',      () => log('initial scan complete. ready'))
  .on('raw',        (event, path, details) => { /* internal */ });

Chokidar Options

See Chokidar API for descriptions.

  persistent: true,
  //
  ignored: '*.txt',
  ignoreInitial: false,
  followSymlinks: true,
  cwd: '.',
  disableGlobbing: false,
  //
  usePolling: false,
  interval: 100,
  binaryInterval: 300,
  alwaysStat: false,
  depth: 99,
  awaitWriteFinish: {
    stabilityThreshold: 2000,
    pollInterval: 100
  },
  //
  ignorePermissionErrors: false,
  atomic: true // or a custom 'atomicity delay', in milliseconds (default 100)
});