REFLEX(1)

💖 REFLEX — ok so like, the manual but make it make sense 💖

bestie. you're reading the reflex manual page, section 1, from USER COMMANDS. it's a tiny little tool with main character energy and i'm about to tell you everything about it. no skips, no "you'll figure it out", we're doing the whole thing. 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

Reflex — run a command when files change. that's it. that's the whole vibe. 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

reflex [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]

literally just options and then a command. that's the whole shape of it. 💅

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so listen. Reflex is a small tool that watches a directory and reruns a command whenever certain files change. it's giving "i will personally babysit your filesystem and yell at your build the second something moves." 👑

and it is so good for automatically running your compile / lint / test tasks — like, the boring stuff you keep forgetting to do — and for reloading your application whenever the code changes. set it and forget it, fr fr. 🌸

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

here's the whole menu. every single one. i'm not gatekeeping anything. 🎀

• --all=True|False — include the files that are normally ignored (you know, the VCS and editor special files 👀). defaults to False.
• -c, --config=FILE — a configuration file that describes how to run reflex. or, if you're feeling spicy, pass - and it'll read the config straight from stdin. ✨
• -d, --decoration=DECORATION — how to decorate the command's output. the choices are none, plain, fancy. default is plain. 💅
• -g, --glob=GLOB_LIST — a shell glob expression to match filenames. (may be repeated. stack 'em up bestie.) 🌈
• -G, --inverse-glob=GLOB_LIST — a shell glob expression to exclude matching filenames. the inverse. the anti-glob. (may be repeated.) 🙈
• -R, --inverse-regex=REGEX — a regular expression to exclude matching filenames. (may be repeated.) 🚫
• --only-dirs=True|False — only match directories, not files. defaults to false.
• --only-files=True|False — only match files, not directories. defaults to false.
• -r, --regex=REGEX — a regular expression to match filenames. (may be repeated.) 🔥
• -e, --sequential=True|False — don't run multiple commands at the same time. one at a time, we wait our turn. defaults to false.
• -t, --shutdown-timeout=TIMEOUT — allow services this long to shut down. defaults to 500ms.
• -s, --start-service=True|False — this says "hey, this command is a long-running process, restart it whenever matching changes happen." defaults to false.
• --substitute=STRING — the substitution symbol that gets replaced with the filename inside a command. defaults to "{}".
• -v, --verbose=True|False — verbose mode: print out more info about what reflex is doing. nosy mode. i love it. defaults to false.

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✨ EXAMPLES ✨

okay now the fun part, the actual use cases. ⭐

print each .txt file if it changes:

reflex -r '\.txt$' echo {}

run make(1) if any of the .c files in this directory change:

reflex -g '*.c' make

build and run a server; rebuild and restart when .java files change:

reflex -r '\.java$' -s -- sh -c 'make && java bin/Server'

no cap, that last one is the whole "live reload" fantasy and it's just three flags deep. iconic. 👑

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🌟 and that's the page 🌟

this was reflex, version 0.2.0+git20181022.3d..., dated October 29, 2018. yes, an oldie but a goodie, and it's still serving. go watch some files, bestie, you've got this. 💖🦋✨🎀