Alternatives to entr
Runs a command whenever the files you pipe into it change. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
entr
Runs a command whenever the files you pipe into it change.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as entr.
watchexec
Watches a folder and reruns a command whenever a file changes, for test loops, linting and rebuilds.
watchexec watches a whole folder instead of a piped file list, so new files are noticed, honours .gitignore and also runs on Windows.
viddy
Rerun a command and compare its output over time.
viddy reruns a command on a timer and keeps a searchable output history, rather than triggering on file changes as entr does.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Just
A command runner that saves project-specific commands in a justfile, without any of make's build-system baggage.
GNU Parallel
A command-line utility that runs shell commands and scripts in parallel across CPU cores or machines.
hyperfine
A benchmarking tool for shell commands that does the statistics properly: warmup runs, multiple samples and outlier detection.
hwatch
An alternative to the watch command that keeps a history of output and shows differences.
mprocs
A terminal UI tool that runs several commands in parallel and shows each one's output separately.
Pueue
A command-line task manager that queues shell commands and runs them in the background.
