Git Prompt Watcher

An oh-my-zsh plugin that automatically updates your prompt when git status changes, using fswatch to monitor repository files in real-time.

It solves the problem of slow shell prompts in large Git repositories by avoiding shell-based file system scanning. Instead, it uses a dedicated, high-performance file system watcher (fswatch) to instantly detect changes and refresh the prompt on demand.

Features

• Real-time Prompt Updates: Your prompt refreshes instantly when you change branches, commit, or modify files.
• Efficient: Uses fswatch for low-latency monitoring, avoiding slow shell commands in your prompt.
• Git-Aware: Respects your .gitignore files and automatically re-indexes when they change.
• Stable: Won't clutter your jobs output or leave orphaned processes behind.
• Heavily Tested: A comprehensive test suite validates functionality in a real shell environment to guarantee reliability.

Requirements

• oh-my-zsh
• fswatch (e.g., brew install fswatch)
• A prompt that supports zle reset-prompt (like Starship, Powerlevel10k, etc.)
• macOS or Linux

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/shields/git-prompt-watcher.git ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/git-prompt-watcher

2. Add the plugin to your .zshrc:

   plugins=(... git-prompt-watcher)

3. Restart your shell.

How It Works

The plugin runs fswatch in the background to monitor key Git files (.git/index, .git/HEAD, .git/refs), your .gitignore files, and the working directory. When a change is detected, it sends a SIGUSR1 signal to the parent Zsh process, which triggers zle reset-prompt to redraw your prompt.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! The plugin is rigorously tested using a custom-built test suite in Rust. For more details on testing and development, please see CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See LICENSE for details.