Livecoding for the Web, from your desktop editor!
I want instant feedback while coding on the Web. I want to livecode (like on livecodelab and livecoder.net) when I'm working on a project, not just to play around. As such, I want to use my desktop editor (emacs, vim, sublime, textmate, etc.), not a web-based editor like codemirror or ace.
Keen will serve a local directory via HTTP, watch for file (script, style) changes and update those files in the browser.
It works by serving up a wrapper at / that loads index.html from the local directory in an iframe. Whenever files referenced by <script> or <link rel="stylesheet"> tags change on disk, they are sent to the browser via socket.io. Scripts are then eval'd, and styles are updated.
Keen is a node.js module, written in coffescript, using socket.io.
Install it with npm install -g keen.
Run keen in a directory with an index.html, open your browser at http://localhost:9000.
Edit a script file included in the page, hit save, and watch it instantly reload.
Use with CoffeeScript, Sass, Compass, etc. in 'watch' mode for great justice. Use a Procfile to start them all.
keen
For now, keen only works with static content, because of the same origin policy. You can't run it with your node-based or rails or django app. I plan to fix this, but you will likely need to change your app slightly.
Warning: this is alpha software. Don't use it for anything other than development.