change default watch behavior

Author: atterpac

README.md

@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ type Config struct {
 type Ignore struct {
 	Dir          []string `toml:"dir"               yaml:"dir"`               // Directories to ignore, e.g. node_modules
 	File         []string `toml:"file"              yaml:"file"`              // Files to ignore
-	WatchedExten []string `toml:"watched_extension" yaml:"watched_extension"` // Extensions to watch; anything else is ignored. Empty watches all files.
+	WatchedExten []string `toml:"watched_extension" yaml:"watched_extension"` // Extensions to watch; anything else is ignored. Use "*" to watch all files; empty watches nothing.
 	IgnoreGit    bool     `toml:"git"               yaml:"git"`              // When true, .gitignore entries in the root are also ignored
 }
 

cmd/refresh/main.go

@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ func parseFlags(args []string) (cliFlags, error) {
 	fs.StringVar(&f.configPath, "f", "", "Config file to read (.toml or .yaml)")
 	fs.StringVar(&f.ignoreDir, "id", "", "Ignore directories (comma-separated)")
 	fs.StringVar(&f.ignoreFile, "if", "", "Ignore files (comma-separated)")
-	fs.StringVar(&f.ignoreExt, "ie", "", "Watched extensions (comma-separated)")
+	fs.StringVar(&f.ignoreExt, "ie", "*", "Watched extensions (comma-separated; \"*\" watches all, empty watches nothing)")
 	fs.IntVar(&f.debounce, "d", 1000, "Debounce time in milliseconds")
 	fs.BoolVar(&f.version, "v", false, "Print version")
 	fs.BoolVar(&f.gitIgnore, "git", false, "Read .gitignore in the root")

engine/config.go

@@ -47,9 +47,10 @@ func DefaultEngineConfig() Config {
 		LogLevel: "warn",
 		Debounce: 1000,
 		Ignore: Ignore{
-			Dir:       []string{".git", ".idea", ".node_modules", "vendor"},
-			File:      []string{".DS_Store", ".gitignore", ".gitkeep"},
-			IgnoreGit: true,
+			Dir:          []string{".git", ".idea", ".node_modules", "vendor"},
+			File:         []string{".DS_Store", ".gitignore", ".gitkeep"},
+			WatchedExten: []string{"*"},
+			IgnoreGit:    true,
 		},
 		ExecStruct: make([]process.Execute, 0),
 	}

engine/ignore.go

@@ -32,9 +32,17 @@ func (i *Ignore) shouldIgnore(path string) bool {
 }
 
 func (i *Ignore) isWatchedExtension(path string) bool {
-	// No configured filter means watch everything; this is the default config
-	// and the bare-CLI case, so it must reload rather than ignore every change.
+	// An empty filter means watch nothing: it is the off-switch users reach for
+	// by leaving watched_extension blank/commented out. Watch-all is opt-in via
+	// an explicit "*" entry (matched through patternMatch below), which the
+	// bare-CLI and default-config cases set so they still reload.
 	if len(i.WatchedExten) == 0 {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// "*" is the explicit watch-all token; match every path, including those
+	// without an extension.
+	if slices.Contains(i.WatchedExten, "*") {
 		return true
 	}
 

engine/ignore_test.go

@@ -77,15 +77,27 @@ func Test_isWatchedExtension(t *testing.T) {
 			wantIsWatched: false,
 		},
 		{
-			name:          "empty filter watches all extensions (default config)",
+			name:          "empty filter watches nothing (off-switch)",
 			path:          "/some/path/file.go",
 			watchedExten:  nil,
-			wantIsWatched: true,
+			wantIsWatched: false,
 		},
 		{
-			name:          "empty filter watches extensionless files too",
+			name:          "empty filter watches nothing, extensionless too",
 			path:          "/some/path/Makefile",
 			watchedExten:  nil,
+			wantIsWatched: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "star watches all extensions",
+			path:          "/some/path/file.go",
+			watchedExten:  []string{"*"},
+			wantIsWatched: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "star watches extensionless files too",
+			path:          "/some/path/Makefile",
+			watchedExten:  []string{"*"},
 			wantIsWatched: true,
 		},
 	}