Watch Inclusions

[Metaxona]

Search terms

Watch

Expected Behavior

I expected watch to watch the files changes on

• typedoc.json
• config.projectDocuments files
• readme -> when not none

Actual Behavior

changes made to the said files included above does not re-execute the build unless i quit watch mode and re-execute the command again

Steps to reproduce the bug

if this is not a normal behavior tag me on this issue so i can provide a repo that recreates this bug, if this is the normal behavior
converting this to a feature request would be the next choice

Environment

• Typedoc version: ^0.26.5
• TypeScript version: ^5.5.4
• Node.js version: v20.11.0
• OS: Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS x86 (Specifics: Ubuntu Server)

[Gerrit0]

This is expected as watch mode just uses typescript's watch with a hook to generate docs, there isn't any support for watching other changes. This is essentially the same limitation as what is preventing #1772

[Metaxona]

so currently there is no way to solve it?

[Gerrit0]

Correct, it isn't supported yet

[pjeby]

For anyone encountering this issue, you can work around it using the onchange package from npm, and a build script like this:

"watch-docs": "onchange --await-write-finish 3000 -i --kill \"*.md\"  \"guides/**/*.md\" \"typedoc.config.*\" \"typedoc/*\" -- typedoc --watch",

Of course you need to change the patterns and command line to something that makes sense for your project. (e.g. the typedoc/* part is to catch changes to my custom CSS, and you might not even have such a directory.)

The --await-write-finish bit says to wait 3 seconds after a change to these files to make sure you're not changing something else, to avoid continually killing and restarting the process (e.g. if you have a build step that writes to your .md files or custom.css.)

[shawninder]

If this isn't fixable, maybe a quick note about it in the docs would help?

[Gerrit0]

There is a note - https://typedoc.org/documents/Options.Other.html#watch

Note: This mode will only detect changes to files watched by the TypeScript compiler. Changes to other files (README.md, imported files with @include or @includeCode) will not cause a rebuild.