quarto preview command ignores updates of dependent files (in this case bibliography .bib file)

[wlatendresse]

I have:

• searched the issue tracker for similar issues
• installed the latest version of Quarto CLI
• formatted my issue following the Bug Reports guide

Bug description

---
title: "Quarto preview ignores changes in dependencies"
author: "Waldemar la Tendresse"
lang: en
date: today
format:
  pdf:
    bibliography: references.bib

    colorlinks: true
    documentclass: article
    geometry: [top=25mm, bottom=20mm, left=25mm, right=20mm, heightrounded]
    papersize: a4

    footnotes-placement: section
---

# **Quarto is a great idea with far too many basic issues because it ignores basic TDD principles**

After you have understood the basics @quarto_basics you will start to create more complex document structures and will run into issues with bibliographies @quarto_biblio.

## **Steps to reproduce:**

[document.pdf](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/26961695/document.pdf)

## What's wrong?

**Expected behaviour:**
Quarto triggers rendering of the preview after a bibliography file update.

**What actually happens:**
Nothing.

```{python}
from datetime import datetime
print(f"The document was rendered on {datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')}")
```

Hack on

W. la Tendresse

\pagebreak

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a document that uses a .bib file. Alternatively save the attached .qmd and create a .bib file with both references used in the main document (unfortunately .bib bib files can not be attached here!) into any empty "project directory".
2. Execute "quarto preview <your_document>".
3. Change the contents of the referenced bibliography file (for example to correct typos).

If quarto worked correctly in for this simple example, the second bibliography reference (@quarto_biblio) should be rendered correctly after the bibliography file has been re-saved.

This issue might be a duplicate of #2795 but that is not clear without code review.

---

Following are the contents of the .bib file, that can not be attached:

@online{quarto_basics,
author = {{quarto.org}},
title = {Quarto markdown basics},
year = {2025},
url = {https://quarto.org/docs/authoring/markdown-basics.html},
urldate = {2025-01-21}
}

%@online{quarto_biblio,
% author = {{quarto.org}},
% title = {Quarto bibliography},
% year = {2025},
% url = {https://quarto.org/docs/output-formats/typst.html#bibliography},
% urldate = {2025-01-21}
%}

Actual behavior

quarto preview does not trigger a re-render when references .bib files are being updated.

Expected behavior

THe previewed document needs to be re-rendered upon change of dependent files (possibly with some configurable optional timeout value in case some other software that generates documents for quarto is misbehaving).

Your environment

• Any text editor
• OS: Linux Mint 22.3 - Cinnamon 64-bit

Quarto check output

Quarto 1.9.29
[✓] Checking environment information...
Quarto cache location: /home/mint/.cache/quarto
[✓] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
Pandoc version 3.8.3: OK
Dart Sass version 1.87.0: OK
Deno version 2.4.5: OK
Typst version 0.14.2: OK
[✓] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[✓] Checking Quarto installation......OK
Version: 1.9.29
Path: /opt/quarto/bin

[✓] Checking tools....................OK
TinyTeX: v2026.04
Chromium: (not installed)
Chrome Headless Shell: (not installed)
VeraPDF: (not installed)

[✓] Checking LaTeX....................OK
Using: TinyTex
Path: /home/mint/.TinyTeX/bin/x86_64-linux
Version: 2026

[✓] Checking Chrome Headless....................OK
Chrome: (not detected)

[✓] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[✓] Checking R installation...........(None)

  Unable to locate an installed version of R.
  Install R from https://cloud.r-project.org/

[✓] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
Version: 3.12.3
Path: /usr/bin/python3
Jupyter: 5.3.2
Kernels: python3

[✓] Checking Jupyter engine render....OK

[✓] Checking Julia installation...

[mcanouil]

@wlatendresse Could you upgrade at least to a stable release?
Could you clarify: your title states "quarto render" but you talked about "quarto preview"?
Does the example to reproduce needs all these options and computing ability via Python? Isn't a ten lines example enough to reproduce the issue?

---
title: "Quarto preview ignores changes in dependencies"
format:
  pdf:
    bibliography: references.bib
---

First @quarto_basics and second @quarto_biblio.

[mcanouil]

The other issue is about included file, but bibliography are not "included" they are processed.

I suspect the issue is only for single document which might not have "bibliography" as resource file to watch.

[wlatendresse]

@wlatendresse Could you upgrade at least to a stable release?

No, at least not at this moment. I am trying to write some ducuments right now. I will re-check the issue when I am able to do so. But judging from the existing issues I doubt that the issue is gone in the current version.

Could you clarify: your title states "quarto render" but you talked about "quarto preview"?
I actuelly referred to the "render process" of the preview command. Corrected.

Does the example to reproduce needs all these options and computing ability via Python? Isn't a ten lines example enough to reproduce the issue?

The Python code is needed to visually check the acutual time the document preview has been rendered.

[wlatendresse]

The other issue is about included file, but bibliography are not "included" they are processed.

I suspect the issue is only for single document which might not have "bibliography" as resource file to watch.

That's splitting hairs. If content in dependent documents changes, a document should be regenerated, especially if there's a "preview" command.

Libraries like Python's "inotify" exist that can implement such an event, triggering the generation of a new preview.

Ultimately, the same thing happens with the main document, except that, in the current behavior, all other (sub-)documents are simply ignored.

[mcanouil]

That's splitting hairs. If content in dependent documents changes, a document should be regenerated, especially if there's a "preview" command.

You've opened a separate issue while also commenting on the other one, so you've concluded they were different in the first place.

I'm only telling that internally those resources are not handled the same way at the same steps.
Nothing about the general "resources watching" mechanism.

[wlatendresse]

You've opened a separate issue while also commenting on the other one, so you've concluded they were different in the first place.

Otherwise, a more detailed review would have been necessary, for which I currently lack the time.

I simply find it extremely unfortunate that I encounter countless unnecessary bugs, regardless of the software I try to use, because methods that prevent such errors from occurring in the first place have been known for decades.

Unfortunately, too many programmers seem to prioritize a quick result over a thoroughly crafted one.

In my opinion, such behavior is a great waste of human time, which unfortunately no one measures.

[cscheid]

@wlatendresse I'm warning you in my capacity as project lead and moderator of this forum that your messages are off-topic, not constructive and we consider them to be a code of conduct violation.