Install watchexec with Homebrew, apk, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• watchexec

Project history

The public GitHub repository dates to September 18, 2016, and the GitHub release feed records an early 1.5.0 release on November 23, 2016. The project has since grown from a standalone file-watcher command into what its citation metadata calls both a tool and a crate ecosystem, with the CLI, reusable library crates, event types, signal support, process supervision, ignore-file handling, project-origin helpers, and related utilities.

The current README emphasizes cross-platform behavior on OS X/macOS, Linux, Windows, and more, along with practical details that matter in real projects: recursive watching, coalescing editor save bursts, loading `.gitignore` and `.ignore`, process-group handling, exposing changed paths through environment variables or JSON on stdin, and avoiding any required language runtime. The 2026 citation metadata identifies version 2.5.1, released March 30, 2026, and credits Matt Green and Felix Saparelli.

Adoption history

watchexec's adoption is visible in both packaging breadth and downstream specialization. The upstream package list distinguishes first-party binary packages, distro packages, Homebrew and MacPorts, Windows packaging through Scoop and Chocolatey, and installation through Cargo or cargo-binstall. The README also lists downstreams such as cargo-watch, cargo-lambda, devenv.sh, dotter, ghciwatch, and Tectonic, showing that watchexec is used both as an executable and as infrastructure for other developer tools.

The repository page reports roughly seven thousand stars and more than one hundred releases, which is substantial for a general-purpose CLI watcher. More importantly, the project's anti-feature is part of its adoption story: it is intentionally not tied to Git, not tied to a language ecosystem, and not a wrapper requiring cryptic `xargs` pipelines.

How it is used

Common invocations are direct and task-shaped: watch JavaScript, CSS, and HTML files and run `npm run build`; restart `python server.py` when Python files change; run `make test` while ignoring `target`; send a signal instead of restarting; or emit JSON events to stdout for another program to consume. The CLI README documents extension filters, watch roots, ignore patterns, desktop notifications, timings, shell selection, process groups, and generated completions/manual pages.

In package-maintainer and developer workflows, watchexec is the lightweight alternative to writing a bespoke file watcher into each project. It can sit beside `make`, `just`, `systemfd`, cargo tools, static site generators, test runners, and local servers, providing the missing event loop while letting the existing command remain the source of truth.

Why package nerds care

watchexec matters to package nerds because it packages the hard part of cross-platform file watching into a small, reusable Rust tool with first-party binaries, distro packages, and library crates. It also reflects a modern CLI pattern: one executable for everyday use, but a crate ecosystem underneath for downstream tools that need event filtering, process supervision, and shell-independent process control.

Timeline

• 2016-09-18: GitHub repository created.
• 2016-11-23: Early 1.5.0 GitHub release published.
• 2020s: Project grows into a multi-crate ecosystem around the CLI and reusable watcher components.
• 2026-03-30: Citation metadata and releases identify CLI v2.5.1.
• 2026: Upstream package list documents first-party binaries plus Linux, macOS, Windows, Cargo, and Binstall distribution paths.

Related projects

• Related tools include entr, Watchman, cargo-watch, notify-rs, just, systemfd, checkexec, ghciwatch, and language-specific development servers. watchexec's role is the general-purpose command rerunner rather than the source-control-aware service role played by Watchman.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/watchexec/watchexec
• https://github.com/watchexec/watchexec
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/watchexec/watchexec/main/CITATION.cff
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/watchexec/watchexec/main/README.md
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/watchexec/watchexec/main/crates/cli/README.md
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/watchexec/watchexec/main/doc/packages.md