FileWatch

FileWatch is a simple macOS menubar app that allows you to:

• Watch specific files and run shell scripts when they've been changed or modified
• Create menu items that launch shell scripts or open URLs
• Create global hotkeys that trigger running shell scripts or opening URLs

I use this for:

• Monitoring the podspecs of development pods to automatically pod update xcode projects that use them
• Launch vagrant instances
• Run ansible deployment and provisioning scripts
• Automatically upload dsyms to crashalytics
• Clean out xcode's DerivedData with a hotkey combo

Configuration

When you first run FileWatch it will create a ~/.filewatch/ directory and copy a sample configuration file to it, as well as some sample scripts. The sample configuration file should be fairly easy to understand, but below describes how the config file is structured.

The configuration is built up of items, any of which could be a file to watch, a script to run, a url to launch or a collection of other items.

Item Properties

Property	Type	Description
title	string	The title of the item. Required.
source	string	The path of the file that should be watched for changes. Optional.
url	string	The URL to open when the file changes, the user selects the menu item or the user presses the global hotkey for the item. Optional.
script	string	The path of the script to run when the file changes, the user selects the menu item or the user presses the global hotkey for the item. Optional.
enabled	bool	Determines if the item is enabled or not. Optional.
terminal	bool	Determines if the script is run iTerm2, instead of being run in a non-visual process. Optional.
hotkey	object	The global hotkey for the item. Optional.
items	array	An array of items that are children of this item, represented as a submenu in the app. Optional.

Changes to the config are automatically reloaded.

Hotkey Properties

Property	Type	Description
shift	bool	Require the shift key modifier. Optional.
control	bool	Require the control key modifier. Optional.
option	bool	Require the option key modifier. Optional.
command	bool	Require the command key modifier. Optional.
function	bool	Require the function key modifier. Note that this will supercede any other key modifier. Optional.
key	string	The keyboard character. See the table below for non-ascii keys. Required.

Known bug: The key property is based on a US keyboard and is ultimately mapped to a virtual keycode where the physical location of that key on the keyboard is important. For example, if you are using a non-US keyboard and the A key is in a different location, your hotkey definition for command+A might not work like you'd expect.

Hotkey Keys

In addition to the normal alphanumeric keys, use the following strings for special keys like up arrow, etc.

Key	String
Return	return
Tab	tab
Space	space
Backspace	backspace
Delete	delete
Escape	esc
F1	f1
F2	f2
F3	f3
F4	f4
F5	f5
F6	f6
F7	f7
F8	f8
F9	f9
F10	f10
F11	f11
F12	f12
Home	home
End	end
Page Up	pgup
Page Down	pgdn
Left Arrow	left
Right Arrow	right
Down Arrow	down
Up Arrow	up

Third Party Code

This uses the following third party libraries:

• DDHotKey by Dave DeLong
• VDKQueue by Bryan D K Jones