watch mode for browserify builds
Update any source file and your browserify bundle will be recompiled on thespot.
$ watchify main.js -o static/bundle.jsNow as you update files, static/bundle.js will be automaticallyincrementally rebuilt on the fly.
The -o option can be a file or a shell command (not available on Windows)that receives piped input:
watchify main.js -o 'exorcist static/bundle.js.map > static/bundle.js' -dwatchify main.js -o 'uglifyjs -cm > static/bundle.min.js'You can use -v to get more verbose output to show when a file was written and how long the bundling took (in seconds):
$ watchify browser.js -d -o static/bundle.js -v610598 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.23 seconds) at 8:31:25 PM610606 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.10 seconds) at 8:45:59 PM610597 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.14 seconds) at 8:46:02 PM610606 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.08 seconds) at 8:50:13 PM610597 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.08 seconds) at 8:58:16 PM610597 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.19 seconds) at 9:10:45 PMUse watchify with all the same options as browserify except that -o (or--outfile) is mandatory. Additionally, there are also:
Standard Options: --outfile=FILE, -o FILE This option is required. Write the browserify bundle to this file. If the file contains the operators `|` or `>`, it will be treated as a shell command, and the output will be piped to it. --verbose, -v [default: false] Show when a file was written and how long the bundling took (in seconds). --version Show the watchify and browserify versions with their module paths.Advanced Options: --delay [default: 100] Amount of time in milliseconds to wait before emitting an "update" event after a change. --ignore-watch=GLOB, --iw GLOB [default: false] Ignore monitoring files for changes that match the pattern. Omitting the pattern will default to "**/node_modules/**". --poll=INTERVAL [default: false] Use polling to monitor for changes. Omitting the interval will default to 100ms. This option is useful if you're watching an NFS volume.var watchify = require('watchify');
watchify(b, opts)
watchify is a browserify plugin, so it can be applied like any other plugin.However, when creating the browserify instance b, you MUST set the cacheand packageCache properties:
var b = browserify({ cache: {}, packageCache: {} });b.plugin(watchify);
var b = browserify({ cache: {}, packageCache: {}, plugin: [watchify]});
By default, watchify doesn't display any output, see events for more info.
b continues to behave like a browserify instance except that it caches filecontents and emits an 'update' event when a file changes. You should callb.bundle() after the 'update' event fires to generate a new bundle.Calling b.bundle() extra times past the first time will be much faster dueto caching.
Important: Watchify will not emit 'update' events until you've calledb.bundle() once and completely drained the stream it returns.
var fs = require('fs');var browserify = require('browserify');var watchify = require('watchify');var b = browserify({ entries: ['path/to/entry.js'], cache: {}, packageCache: {}, plugin: [watchify]});b.on('update', bundle);bundle();function bundle() { b.bundle() .on('error', console.error) .pipe(fs.createWriteStream('output.js')) ;}
options
You can to pass an additional options object as a second parameter ofwatchify. Its properties are:
opts.delay is the amount of time in milliseconds to wait before emittingan "update" event after a change. Defaults to 100.
opts.ignoreWatch ignores monitoring files for changes. If set to true,then **/node_modules/** will be ignored. For other possible values seeChokidar's documentation on "ignored".
opts.poll enables polling to monitor for changes. If set to true, thena polling interval of 100ms is used. If set to a number, then that amount ofmilliseconds will be the polling interval. For more info see Chokidar'sdocumentation on"usePolling" and "interval".This option is useful if you're watching an NFS volume.
var b = browserify({ cache: {}, packageCache: {} });// watchify defaults:b.plugin(watchify, { delay: 100, ignoreWatch: ['**/node_modules/**'], poll: false});
b.close()
Close all the open watch handles.
b.on('update', function (ids) {})
When the bundle changes, emit the array of bundle ids that changed.
b.on('bytes', function (bytes) {})
When a bundle is generated, this event fires with the number of bytes.
b.on('time', function (time) {})
When a bundle is generated, this event fires with the time it took to create thebundle in milliseconds.
b.on('log', function (msg) {})
This event fires after a bundle was created with messages of the form:
X bytes written (Y seconds)with the number of bytes in the bundle X and the time in seconds Y.
If your custom transform for browserify adds new files to the bundle in a non-standard way without requiring.You can inform Watchify about these files by emiting a 'file' event.
module.exports = function(file) { return through( function(buf, enc, next) { /* manipulating file content */ this.emit("file", absolutePathToFileThatHasToBeWatched); next(); } );};With npm do:
$ npm install -g watchifyto get the watchify command and:
$ npm install watchifyto get just the library.
rebuilds on OS X never trigger
It may be related to a bug in fsevents (see #250and stackoverflow).Try the --poll flagand/or renaming the project's directory - that might help.
watchify swallows errors
To ensure errors are reported you have to add a event listener to your bundle stream. For more information see (browserify/browserify#1487 (comment) and stackoverflow)
Example:
var b = browserify();b.bundle() .on('error', console.error) ...;- budo – a simple development server built on watchify
- errorify – a plugin to add error handling to watchify development
- watchify-request – wraps a
watchifyinstance to avoid stale bundles in HTTP requests - watchify-middleware – similar to
watchify-request, but includes some higher-level features
MIT
