node-livereload

An implementation of the LiveReload server in Node.js. It's an alternative to the graphical http://livereload.com/ application, which monitors files for changes and reloads your web browser.

Example Usage

First, install the LiveReload browser plugins by visiting http://help.livereload.com/kb/general-use/browser-extensions.

To use livereload from the command line:

$ npm install -g livereload
$ livereload [path]

Or to use the api within a project:

$ npm install livereload

Then, simply create a server and fire it up.

livereload = require('livereload');
server = livereload.createServer();
server.watch(__dirname + "/public");

You can also use this with a Connect server:

connect = require('connect');
connect.createServer(
  connect.compiler({ src: __dirname + "/public", enable: ['less'] }),
  connect.staticProvider(__dirname + "/public")
).listen(3000);

livereload = require('livereload');
server = livereload.createServer({exts: ['less']});
server.watch(__dirname + "/public");

Using originalPath option:

// server.js
var server = livereload.createServer({
    originalPath: "http://domain.com"
});
server.watch('/User/Workspace/test');

$ node server.js

<!-- html -->
<head>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://domain.com/css/style.css">
</head>

When /User/Workspace/test/css/style.css modified, the stylesheet will be reload.

Command-line Options

The commandline options are

-p or --port to specify the listening port
-i or --interval to specify the listening interval in milliseconds. Default is 1000.

Specify the path when using the options.

$ livereload . -i 200

API Options

The createServer() method supports a few basic options, passed as a JavaScript object:

port is the listening port. It defaults to 35729 which is what the LiveReload extensions use currently.
exts is an array of extensions you want to observe. The default extensions are html, css, js, png, gif, jpg, php, php5, py, rb, erb, and "coffee."
applyJSLive tells LiveReload to reload JavaScript files in the background instead of reloading the page. The default for this is false.
applyCSSLive tells LiveReload to reload CSS files in the background instead of refreshing the page. The default for this is true.
exclusions lets you specify files to ignore. By default, this includes .git/, .svn/, and .hg/
originalPath Set URL you use for development, e.g 'http:/domain.com', then LiveReload will proxy this url to local path.
overrideURL override the stylesheet href with your set.

Limitations

Right now this is extremely simple. It relies on polling so there's a delay in refreshing the browser. It could be faster.

License