Go Watch: missing watch mode for the go
command. It's invoked exactly like go
, but also watches Go files and reruns on changes.
Currently requires Unix (MacOS, Linux, BSD). On Windows, runs under WSL.
Why not other runners, general-purpose watchers, etc:
- Go-specific, easy to remember.
- Ignores non-Go files by default.
- Better watcher: no unnecessary delays, not even a split second; uses the excellent https://github.com/rjeczalik/notify.
- Silent by default.
- No garbage files.
- Can properly clear the terminal on restart.
- Has hotkeys!
Make sure you have Go installed, then run this:
go install github.com/mitranim/gow@latest
For Go <= 1.15, you might need to run this instead:
go get -u github.com/mitranim/gow
The command above should download the source and compile the executable into $GOPATH/bin/gow
. Make sure $GOPATH/bin
is in your $PATH
so the shell can discover the gow
command. For example, my ~/.profile
contains this:
export GOPATH=~/go
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin
Alternatively, you can run the executable using the full path. At the time of writing, ~/go
is the default $GOPATH
for Go installations. Some systems may have a different one.
~/go/bin/gow
On MacOS, if installation fails with dylib-related errors, you may need to run xcode-select --install
or install Xcode. This is caused by gow
's dependencies, which depend on C. See #15.
The first argument to gow
, after the flags, can be any Go subcommand: build
, install
, tool
, you name it.
# Start and restart on change
gow run .
# Pass args to the program
gow run . arg0 arg1 ...
# Run subdirectory
gow run ./subdir
# Vet and re-vet on change; verbose mode is recommended
gow -v vet
# Clear terminal on restart
gow -c run .
# Specify file extension to watch
gow -e=go,mod,html run .
# Help
gow -h
Supported control codes with commonly associated hotkeys. Exact keys may vary between terminal apps. For example, ^-
in MacOS Terminal vs ^?
in iTerm2.
3 ^C kill subprocess or self with SIGINT
18 ^R kill subprocess with SIGTERM, restart
20 ^T kill subprocess with SIGTERM
28 ^\ kill subprocess or self with SIGQUIT
31 ^- or ^? print currently running command
Other input is forwarded to the subprocess as-is.
Many Go programs, such as servers, include template files, and want to recompile those templates on change.
Easy but slow way: use gow -e
.
gow -e=go,mod,html run .
This restarts your entire app on change to any .html
file in the current directory. Beware: if the app also generates files with the same extensions, this could cause an infinite restart loop. Ignore any output directories with -i
:
gow -e=go,mod,html -i=target run .
A smarter approach would be to watch the template files from inside the app and recompile them without restarting the entire app. This is out of scope for gow
.
For general purpose file watching, consider these excellent tools:
I'm receptive to suggestions. If this tool almost satisfies you but needs changes, open an issue or chat me up. Contacts: https://mitranim.com/#contacts