Alternatives to watchexec
Watches a folder and reruns a command whenever a file changes, for test loops, linting and rebuilds. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
watchexec
Watches a folder and reruns a command whenever a file changes, for test loops, linting and rebuilds.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as watchexec.
entr
Runs a command whenever the files you pipe into it change.
entr runs a command when files piped into it change, composing with Unix pipes, but it watches a fixed list, misses newly created files and has no native Windows build.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
viddy
Rerun a command and compare its output over time.
Just
A command runner that saves project-specific commands in a justfile, without any of make's build-system baggage.
hyperfine
A benchmarking tool for shell commands that does the statistics properly: warmup runs, multiple samples and outlier detection.
GNU Parallel
A command-line utility that runs shell commands and scripts in parallel across CPU cores or machines.
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.
