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node-livereload

An implementation of the LiveReload server in Node.js. It's an alternative to the graphical http://livereload.com/ application, which monitors files for changes and reloads your web browser.

Example Usage

First, install the LiveReload browser plugins by visiting http://help.livereload.com/kb/general-use/browser-extensions.

To use livereload from the command line:

$ npm install -g livereload
$ livereload [path]

Or to use the api within a project:

$ npm install livereload

Then, simply create a server and fire it up.

livereload = require('livereload');
server = livereload.createServer();
server.watch(__dirname + "/public");

You can also use this with a Connect server:

connect = require('connect');
connect.createServer(
  connect.compiler({ src: __dirname + "/public", enable: ['less'] }),
  connect.staticProvider(__dirname + "/public")
).listen(3000);

livereload = require('livereload');
server = livereload.createServer({exts: ['less']});
server.watch(__dirname + "/public");

Options

The createServer() method supports a few basic options, passed as a JavaScript object:

  • port is the listening port. It defaults to 35729 which is what the LiveReload extensions use currently.
  • exts is an array of extensions you want to observe. The default extensions are html, css, js, png, gif, jpg, php, php5, py, rb, and erb
  • applyJSLive tells LiveReload to reload JavaScript files in the background instead of reloading the page. The default for this is false.
  • applyCSSLive tells LiveReload to reload CSS files in the background instead of refreshing the page. The default for this is true.
  • exclusions lets you specify files to ignore. By default, this includes .git/, .svn/, and .hg/

Limitations

Right now this is extremely simple. It relies on polling so there's a delay in refreshing the browser. It could be faster.

License

Copyright (c) 2010-2012 Joshua Peek and Brian P. Hogan.

Released under the MIT license. See LICENSE for details.