watchify

What is watchify?

Watchify is a browserify plugin that enables fast incremental bundling. It watches your files and updates the bundle whenever any of the source files change, making it ideal for development environments where quick feedback is essential.

What are watchify's main functionalities?

Incremental Bundling

This feature allows you to set up a watch on your files so that any changes trigger a rebundling process. The code sample demonstrates how to use watchify with browserify to watch for changes in 'main.js' and update 'bundle.js' accordingly.

const watchify = require('watchify');
const browserify = require('browserify');
const fs = require('fs');

const b = browserify({
  entries: ['main.js'],
  cache: {},
  packageCache: {},
  plugin: [watchify]
});

b.on('update', bundle);
bundle();

function bundle() {
  b.bundle().pipe(fs.createWriteStream('bundle.js'));
}

Custom Watch Options

Watchify allows you to customize the watch options, such as setting a delay before rebundling. The code sample shows how to set a custom delay of 1000 milliseconds before the rebundling process starts.

const watchify = require('watchify');
const browserify = require('browserify');
const fs = require('fs');

const customOpts = {
  entries: ['main.js'],
  cache: {},
  packageCache: {},
  plugin: [watchify],
  delay: 1000 // Custom delay before rebundling
};

const b = browserify(customOpts);

b.on('update', bundle);
bundle();

function bundle() {
  b.bundle().pipe(fs.createWriteStream('bundle.js'));
}

Other packages similar to watchify

gulp-watch

Gulp-watch is a file watcher specifically designed for use with Gulp. It allows you to watch files and run Gulp tasks when changes are detected. Unlike watchify, which is tightly integrated with browserify, gulp-watch is more general-purpose and can be used with any Gulp task.

chokidar

Chokidar is a highly efficient file watcher that can be used to watch files and directories for changes. It is more flexible than watchify as it is not tied to any specific bundler and can be used in a variety of scenarios. However, it requires more setup to achieve the same functionality as watchify when used with browserify.

webpack

Webpack is a powerful module bundler that includes built-in file watching capabilities. It can be configured to watch files and recompile the bundle when changes are detected. While it offers more features and flexibility compared to watchify, it also comes with a steeper learning curve.

README

watchify

watch mode for browserify builds

Update any source file and your browserify bundle will be recompiled on the spot.

example

$ watchify main.js -o static/bundle.js

Now as you update files, static/bundle.js will be automatically incrementally 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' -d

watchify 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 -v
610598 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.23 seconds)
610606 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.10 seconds)
610597 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.14 seconds)
610606 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.08 seconds)
610597 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.08 seconds)
610597 bytes written to static/bundle.js (0.19 seconds)

usage

Use 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 (not available on
    Windows).

  --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: 600]

    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.

methods

var watchify = require('watchify');
var fromArgs = require('watchify/bin/args');

var w = watchify(b, opts)

Wrap a browserify bundle b with watchify, returning the wrapped bundle instance as w.

When creating the browserify instance b you MUST set these properties in the constructor:

var b = browserify({ cache: {}, packageCache: {} });
var w = watchify(b);

You can also just do:

var b = browserify(watchify.args);
var w = watchify(b);

By default, watchify doesn't display any output, see events for more info.

w is exactly like a browserify bundle except that caches file contents and emits an 'update' event when a file changes. You should call w.bundle() after the 'update' event fires to generate a new bundle. Calling w.bundle() extra times past the first time will be much faster due to caching.

opts.delay is the amount of time in milliseconds to wait before emitting an "update" event after a change. Defaults to 600.

opts.ignoreWatch ignores monitoring files for changes. If set to true, then **/node_modules/** will be ignored. For other possible values see Chokidar's documentation on "ignored".

opts.poll enables polling to monitor for changes. If set to true, then a polling interval of 100ms is used. If set to a number, then that amount of milliseconds will be the polling interval. For more info see Chokidar's documentation on "usePolling" and "interval". This option is useful if you're watching an NFS volume.

w.close()

Close all the open watch handles.

var w = fromArgs(args)

Create a watchify instance w from an array of arguments args. The required constructor parameters will be set up automatically.

events

w.on('update', function (ids) {})

When the bundle changes, emit the array of bundle ids that changed.

w.on('bytes', function (bytes) {})

When a bundle is generated, this event fires with the number of bytes.

w.on('time', function (time) {})

When a bundle is generated, this event fires with the time it took to create the bundle in milliseconds.

w.on('log', function (msg) {})

This event fires to 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.

install

With npm do:

$ npm install -g watchify

to get the watchify command and:

$ npm install watchify

to get just the library.

troubleshooting

rebuilds on OS X never trigger

It may be related to a bug in fsevents (see #250 and SO). Try the --poll flag and/or renaming the project's directory - that might help.

license

MIT