Watch folder support

[azcn2503]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
In previous releases of Beaker browser, it was possible to create a site from a local folder on my computer and for the browser to watch the folder for changes. It would be really nice if this feature was reintroduced so that when I build and export my local site (I am using Next.js) that the site updates automatically.

Describe the solution you'd like
Reintroduction of the watch folder for changes functionality.

Describe alternatives you've considered
I've considered recreating the site each time but that seems like a lot of manual effort and will cause the URL to change.

Additional context
Perhaps I am misunderstanding how the protocol is supposed to function and I should instead rely on a new Beaker API.

[pfrazee]

@azcn2503 I think this is a reasonable request. I'm currently leaning toward building a CLI toolset that could handle this.

[guybedford]

I'd still love to see this to be able to use Beaker as a replacement for a dev server in development workflows. If so, this would make it my primary development browser - since it saves having to run a local dev server.

Standalone tooling sounds like a great first step, but having this exposed through a UI directly in the browser with no console necessary would allow me to develop with JUST vscode and an editor, without maintaining a running CLI process as one has to for a dev server currently. Managing UI state around sync being off / on / out of sync sounds hard but doable to me... perhaps it can be considered as two separate features - CLI then an optional UI for it in the browser?

[pfrazee]

@guybedford yeah noted, I'm giving that serious consideration

[pfrazee]

Assigning to a milestone so I don't lose track of this but it probably won't ship with prerelease.3.

[pfrazee]

BTW I'm going to go ahead and get the folder-watching tool done in Beaker (no CLI). Stay tuned.

[pfrazee]

Okay this is mostly done. The only thing left to do is an auto-sync mode.

[pfrazee]

We're in business!

[azcn2503]

Thanks Paul, I have just pulled and built the latest source. This is indeed working! Great implementation.

[pfrazee]

@azcn2503 Appreciate it! I'm sure we'll have some rough edges to smooth over but this should be a good start