v2.7.0: Polling watch, run-as user, and bulk stop/restart

Pitchfork v2.7.0 adds a polling file-watch backend for networked filesystems, lets daemons run as a configured unix user, and introduces bulk stop/restart flags scoped to local or global config.

Added

• Polling and auto watch backends -- File watching is no longer limited to OS-native notifications. Each daemon can pick a backend with watch_mode, which is especially useful for NFS and other remote mounts where inotify/FSEvents miss events. (#353) - @gaojunran

  [daemons.api]
  run = "npm run dev"
  watch = ["src/**/*.ts", "package.json"]
  watch_mode = "auto"   # native | poll | auto (default: native)

  • native: OS-native notifications (inotify/FSEvents/ReadDirectoryChangesW)
  • poll: periodic filesystem scans
  • auto: prefer native, fall back to polling per-directory if native setup fails

  Polling cadence is controlled by a new setting:

  [settings.supervisor]
  watch_poll_interval = "500ms"   # default

  Note: settings.supervisor.watch_interval (default 10s) is now documented as the supervisor's watch-config refresh interval, not the filesystem scan rate. If you previously lowered it to detect changes faster, move that tuning to watch_poll_interval.

• Run daemons as a configured unix user -- Set a default user for the supervisor and override per-daemon. Values can be usernames or numeric UIDs. (#384) - @ConnerPetzold

  [settings.supervisor]
  run_user = "conner"
  
  [daemons.api]
  run = "npm run dev"           # runs as "conner"
  
  [daemons.postgres]
  run = "postgres -D /var/lib/postgres"
  user = "postgres"             # per-daemon override
  
  [daemons.low-port-web]
  run = "python -m http.server 80"
  user = "root"

  Precedence: per-daemon user → supervisor run_user → SUDO_UID/SUDO_GID when running under sudo → inherited supervisor identity.

• Bulk stop/restart by config scope -- pitchfork stop and pitchfork restart accept new flags to target every daemon defined in local or global config: (#385) - @gaojunran

  pitchfork stop -l       # all local daemons (pitchfork.toml)
  pitchfork stop -g       # all global daemons (~/.config/pitchfork/config.toml, /etc/pitchfork/config.toml)
  pitchfork restart -l
  pitchfork restart -g

  --all, --local, and --global are mutually exclusive, and the dependency-aware reverse stop order applies to all three.

• IPC version handshake -- The CLI now sends its version on connect, and the supervisor responds with its own. If they don't match, you'll get a clear warning telling you to run pitchfork supervisor start --force. The handshake is backward compatible — newer CLIs talking to older supervisors fall back to the legacy connect path and still surface the mismatch warning. (#354) - @gaojunran

Fixed

• TOML parse errors are no longer silent -- When a pitchfork.toml failed to parse, the error was previously printed to stderr and ignored, leaving daemons mysteriously missing. Parse failures now propagate as proper errors with the offending file path. (#386) - @gaojunran

Changed

• The documentation site has moved from pitchfork.jdx.dev to pitchfork.en.dev. (#389)

Full Changelog: v2.6.0...v2.7.0

💚 Sponsor pitchfork

pitchfork is built by @jdx at en.dev — an independent studio shipping developer tools like mise, aube, hk, pitchfork, and more. Development is sustained by sponsorships.

If pitchfork has a place in your dev workflow, please consider sponsoring at en.dev. Individual and company sponsorships are what keep the project healthy and moving forward.