# LSP-file-watcher-chokidar

A non-native file watcher implementation for [LSP](https://packagecontrol.io/packages/LSP) that enables support for the `workspace/didChangeWatchedFiles` LSP notification.

## Installation

* Install `LSP-file-watcher-chokidar` from Package Control
* Restart Sublime.

## Usage

Having this package installed alongside LSP enables the `workspace.didChangeWatchedFiles` capability and support for the `workspace/didChangeWatchedFiles` notification. The servers can also dynamically register file watchers.

For `LSP-*` packages that are within the `sublimelsp` organization it should be enough to just install this package and file watching should work without any extra configuration.

In other cases, it might "just work" (if the server registers watchers dynamically) or it might require manual configuration using the the `file_watcher` object on the [Client configuration](https://lsp.sublimetext.io/guides/client_configuration/) object.

`file_watcher` object properties:

| Name     | Optional | Description |
|:---------|:---------|:------------|
| patterns | No       | An array of `glob` patterns defining which files within the workspace should be watched. The patterns are relative to the workspace root. Example: `["{**/*.js,**/*.ts,**/*.json}"]`. See also [supported pattern syntax](https://microsoft.github.io/language-server-protocol/specifications/specification-3-17/#fileSystemWatcher). |
| events   | Yes      | An array with the type of events to watch. Default: `["create", "change", "delete"]` (all supported types). |
| ignores  | Yes      | An array of `glob` exclude patterns. By default this includes patterns from Sublime Text's `folder_exclude_patterns` and `file_exclude_patterns` settings and additionally the `'**/node_modules/**'` pattern. When overriding this option the defaults are not included anymore. |

## Implementation

Registering a watcher creates a new Node process behind the scenes. The current implementation creates at most one process for any number of registrations (even through different language servers).

The reason that this is implemented as a separate package, and not natively within the LSP package, is that this relies on a separate process that does the file watching and for the built-in implementation we would like to use a native API provided by Sublime Text that it [doesn't provide](https://github.com/sublimehq/sublime_text/issues/2669) at the moment. See the [LSP issue #892](https://github.com/sublimelsp/LSP/issues/892) for supporting it natively within the LSP package.