master/README.md

Guard [![Build Status](https://secure.travis-ci.org/guard/guard.png)](http://travis-ci.org/guard/guard)
=====

Guard is a command line tool that easily handle events on files modifications.

If you have any questions please join us on our [Google group](http://groups.google.com/group/guard-dev) or on `#guard` (irc.freenode.net).

Features
--------

* [FSEvent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FSEvents) support on Mac OS X 10.5+ (without RubyCocoa!, [rb-fsevent gem, >= 0.3.5](https://rubygems.org/gems/rb-fsevent) required).
* [Inotify](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inotify) support on Linux ([rb-inotify gem, >= 0.5.1](https://rubygems.org/gems/rb-inotify) required).
* [Directory Change Notification](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365261\(VS.85\).aspx) support on Windows ([rb-fchange, >= 0.0.2](https://rubygems.org/gems/rb-fchange) required).
* Polling on the other operating systems (help us to support more OS).
* Automatic & Super fast (when polling is not used) files modifications detection (even new files are detected).
* Growl notifications ([growlnotify](http://growl.info/documentation/growlnotify.php) & [growl gem](https://rubygems.org/gems/growl) required).
* Libnotify notifications ([libnotify gem](https://rubygems.org/gems/libnotify) required).
* Tested on Ruby 1.8.7, 1.9.2 && ree.

Install
-------

Install the gem:

``` bash
$ gem install guard
```

Add it to your Gemfile (inside the `development` group):

``` ruby
gem 'guard'
```

Generate an empty Guardfile with:

``` bash
$ guard init
```

You may optionally place a .Guardfile in your home directory to use it across multiple projects.

Add the guards you need to your Guardfile (see the existing guards below).

### On Mac OS X

Install the rb-fsevent gem for [FSEvent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FSEvents) support:

``` bash
$ gem install rb-fsevent
```

Install the Growl gem if you want notification support:

``` bash
$ gem install growl
```

And add them to your Gemfile:

``` ruby
gem 'rb-fsevent'
gem 'growl'
```

### On Linux

Install the rb-inotify gem for [inotify](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inotify) support:

``` bash
$ gem install rb-inotify
```

Install the Libnotify gem if you want notification support:

``` bash
$ gem install libnotify
```

And add them to your Gemfile:

``` ruby
gem 'rb-inotify'
gem 'libnotify'
```

### On Windows

Install the rb-fchange gem for [Directory Change Notification](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365261\(VS.85\).aspx) support:

``` bash
$ gem install rb-fchange
```

Install the Notifu gem if you want notification support:

``` bash
$ gem install rb-notifu
```

And add them to your Gemfile:

``` ruby
gem 'rb-fchange'
gem 'rb-notifu'
```

Usage
-----

Just launch Guard inside your Ruby / Rails project with:

``` bash
$ guard [start]
```

or if you use Bundler, to run the Guard executable specific to your bundle:

``` bash
$ bundle exec guard [start]
```

Guard will look for a Guardfile in your current directory. If it does not find one, it will look in your `$HOME` directory for a .Guardfile.

Command line options
--------------------

### `--clear` option

Shell can be cleared after each change:

``` bash
$ guard --clear
$ guard -c # shortcut
```

### `--notify` option

Notifications (growl/libnotify) can be disabled:

``` bash
$ guard --notify false
$ guard -n f # shortcut
```

Notifications can also be disabled globally by setting a `GUARD_NOTIFY` environment variable to `false`

### `--group` option

Only certain guards groups can be run (see the Guardfile DSL below for creating groups):

``` bash
$ guard --group group_name another_group_name
$ guard -g group_name another_group_name # shortcut
```

### `--debug` option

Guard can be run in debug mode:

``` bash
$ guard --debug
$ guard -d # shortcut
```

An exhaustive list of options is available with:

``` bash
$ guard help [TASK]
```

Signal handlers
---------------

Signal handlers are used to interact with Guard:

* `Ctrl-C` - Calls each guard's `#stop` method, in the same order they are declared in the Guardfile, and then quits Guard itself.
* `Ctrl-\` - Calls each guard's `#run_all` method, in the same order they are declared in the Guardfile.
* `Ctrl-Z` - Calls each guard's `#reload` method, in the same order they are declared in the Guardfile.

You can read more about [configure the signal keyboard shortcuts](https://github.com/guard/guard/wiki/Configure-keyboard-shortcuts) in the wiki.

Available Guards
----------------

A list of the available guards is present [in the wiki](https://github.com/guard/guard/wiki/List-of-available-Guards).

### Add a guard to your Guardfile

Add it to your Gemfile (inside the `development` group):

``` ruby
gem '<guard-name>'
```

Insert default guard's definition to your Guardfile by running this command:

``` bash
$ guard init <guard-name>
```

You are good to go, or you can modify your guards' definition to suit your needs.

Guardfile DSL
-------------

The Guardfile DSL consists of just three simple methods: `#guard`, `#watch` & `#group`.

Required:

* The `#guard` method allows you to add a guard with an optional hash of options.

Optional:

* The `#watch` method allows you to define which files are supervised by this guard. An optional block can be added to overwrite the paths sent to the guard's `#run_on_change` method or to launch any arbitrary command.
* The `#group` method allows you to group several guards together. Groups to be run can be specified with the Guard DSL option `--group` (or `-g`). This comes in handy especially when you have a huge Guardfile and want to focus your development on a certain part.

Example:

``` ruby
group 'backend' do
  guard 'bundler' do
    watch('Gemfile')
  end

  guard 'rspec', :cli => '--color --format doc' do
    # Regexp watch patterns are matched with Regexp#match
    watch(%r{^spec/.+_spec\.rb$})
    watch(%r{^lib/(.+)\.rb$})         { |m| "spec/lib/#{m[1]}_spec.rb" }
    watch(%r{^spec/models/.+\.rb$})   { ["spec/models", "spec/acceptance"] }
    watch(%r{^spec/.+\.rb$})          { `say hello` }

    # String watch patterns are matched with simple '=='
    watch('spec/spec_helper.rb') { "spec" }
  end
end

group 'frontend' do
  guard 'coffeescript', :output => 'public/javascripts/compiled' do
    watch(%r{^app/coffeescripts/.+\.coffee$})
  end

  guard 'livereload' do
    watch(%r{^app/.+\.(erb|haml)$})
  end
end
```

### Using a Guardfile without the `guard` binary

The Guardfile DSL can also be used in a programmatic fashion by calling directly `Guard::Dsl.evaluate_guardfile`.
Available options are as follow:

* `:guardfile`          - The path to a valid Guardfile.
* `:guardfile_contents` - A string representing the content of a valid Guardfile

Remember, without any options given, Guard will look for a Guardfile in your current directory and if it does not find one, it will look for it in your `$HOME` directory.

For instance, you could use it as follow:

``` ruby
gem 'guard'
require 'guard'

Guard.setup

Guard::Dsl.evaluate_guardfile(:guardfile => '/your/custom/path/to/a/valid/Guardfile')
# or
Guard::Dsl.evaluate_guardfile(:guardfile_contents => "
  guard 'rspec' do
    watch(%r{^spec/.+_spec\.rb$})
  end
")
```

### Listing defined guards/groups for the current project

You can list the defined groups and guards for the current Guardfile from the command line using `guard show` or `guard -T`:

``` bash
# guard -T

(global):
  shell
Group backend:
  bundler
  rspec: cli => "--color --format doc'
Group frontend:
  coffeescript: output => "public/javascripts/compiled"
  livereload
```

Create a new guard
------------------

Creating a new guard is very easy, just create a new gem (`bundle gem` if you use Bundler) with this basic structure:

```
.travis.yml  # bonus point!
CHANGELOG.md # bonus point!
Gemfile
guard-name.gemspec
Guardfile
lib/
  guard/
    guard-name/
      templates/
        Guardfile # needed for `guard init <guard-name>`
      version.rb
    guard-name.rb
test/ # or spec/
README.md
```

`Guard::GuardName` (in `lib/guard/guard-name.rb`) must inherit from `Guard::Guard` and should overwrite at least one of the five basic `Guard::Guard` instance methods.

Here is an example scaffold for `lib/guard/guard-name.rb`:

``` ruby
require 'guard'
require 'guard/guard'

module Guard
  class GuardName < Guard

    def initialize(watchers=[], options={})
      super
      # init stuff here, thx!
    end

    # =================
    # = Guard methods =
    # =================

    # If one of those methods raise an exception, the Guard::GuardName instance
    # will be removed from the active guards.

    # Called once when Guard starts
    # Please override initialize method to init stuff
    def start
      true
    end

    # Called on Ctrl-C signal (when Guard quits)
    def stop
      true
    end

    # Called on Ctrl-Z signal
    # This method should be mainly used for "reload" (really!) actions like reloading passenger/spork/bundler/...
    def reload
      true
    end

    # Called on Ctrl-\ signal
    # This method should be principally used for long action like running all specs/tests/...
    def run_all
      true
    end

    # Called on file(s) modifications
    def run_on_change(paths)
      true
    end

  end
end
```

Please take a look at the [existing guards' source code](https://github.com/guard/guard/wiki/List-of-available-Guards) for more concrete example and inspiration.

Alternatively, a new guard can be added inline to a Guardfile with this basic structure:

``` ruby
require 'guard/guard'

module ::Guard
  class InlineGuard < ::Guard::Guard
    def run_all
      true
    end

    def run_on_change(paths)
      true
    end
  end
end
```

Here is a very cool example by [@avdi](https://github.com/avdi) : http://avdi.org/devblog/2011/06/15/a-guardfile-for-redis

Development
-----------

* Source hosted at [GitHub](https://github.com/guard/guard).
* Report issues and feature requests to [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/guard/guard/issues).

Pull requests are very welcome! Make sure your patches are well tested. Please create a topic branch for every separate change you make. Please **do not change** the version in your pull-request.

For questions please join us on our [Google group](http://groups.google.com/group/guard-dev) or on `#guard` (irc.freenode.net).

Author
------

[Thibaud Guillaume-Gentil](https://github.com/thibaudgg)

Contributors
------

https://github.com/guard/guard/contributors