Server Modes

Git Watchtower supports three server modes to fit your workflow. Set the mode during the configuration wizard, in .watchtowerrc.json, or via CLI flags.

Static Site Mode (Default)

Serves static files with automatic live reload. Good for static HTML/CSS/JS sites, projects without a build step, and quick prototyping.

git-watchtower --mode static --static-dir public --port 3000

Live Reload

The static server includes automatic live reload powered by Server-Sent Events (SSE). When you save a file, all connected browsers refresh instantly.

How it works:

1. A small script is automatically injected into HTML pages
2. The script opens an SSE connection to /livereload
3. When files change in your static directory, the server notifies all browsers
4. Browsers automatically reload to show your changes

File watching behavior:

• Uses Node.js native fs.watch() with recursive watching
• Changes are debounced (100ms) to prevent rapid reloads during saves
• Press r to manually trigger a reload for all connected browsers

Ignored Files

The file watcher automatically ignores certain files to prevent unnecessary reloads:

Ignored	Reason
.git/ directory	Git internals change frequently during commits, fetches, etc.
.gitignore patterns	Respects your project’s ignore rules

If a .gitignore file exists in your static directory (or project root), those patterns are used to filter file change events. This means changes to node_modules/, build artifacts, log files, and other ignored paths won’t trigger reloads.

Supported .gitignore patterns:

• Simple filenames: foo.txt
• Wildcards: *.log, file?.txt
• Globstar: **/logs, logs/**/*.log
• Directory patterns: node_modules/, dist/
• Anchored patterns: /build (root only)
• Comments and blank lines are ignored

Custom Server Command Mode

Runs your own dev server command (next dev, npm run dev, vite, etc.).

git-watchtower --mode command --command "npm run dev"

Key	Action
l	View server logs
R	Restart the dev server

The server restarts automatically when you switch branches (configurable with --restart-on-switch / --no-restart-on-switch).

No Server Mode

Branch monitoring only. No dev server is started.

git-watchtower --no-server
# or
git-watchtower --mode none

Use this when:

• Watching AI agents push to multiple branches
• You have your own dev server running separately
• You only need branch monitoring and notifications