Watch directory

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## Unreleased
+
+### Changed
+
+- Smarter filesystem monitoring to avoid refreshes where nothing has changed
+
 ## [0.5.19] - 2026-01-04
 
 ### Added

pyproject.toml

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "google-re2>=1.1.20251105",
     "notify-py>=0.3.43",
     "pyperclip>=1.11.0",
+    "watchdog>=6.0.0",
 ]
 
 [tool.uv.workspace]

src/toad/directory_watcher.py

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+import asyncio
+from pathlib import Path
+import rich.repr
+
+from textual.message import Message
+from textual.widget import Widget
+
+
+from watchdog.events import (
+    FileSystemEvent,
+    FileSystemEventHandler,
+    FileCreatedEvent,
+    FileDeletedEvent,
+    FileMovedEvent,
+    DirCreatedEvent,
+    DirDeletedEvent,
+    DirMovedEvent,
+)
+from watchdog.observers import Observer
+
+
+class DirectoryChanged(Message):
+    """The directory was changed."""
+
+
+@rich.repr.auto
+class DirectoryWatcher(FileSystemEventHandler):
+    """Watch for changes to a directory, ignoring purely file data changes."""
+
+    def __init__(self, path: Path, widget: Widget) -> None:
+        """
+
+        Args:
+            path: Root path to monitor.
+            widget: Widget which will receive the `DirectoryChanged` event.
+        """
+        self._path = path
+        self._widget = widget
+        self._observer = Observer()
+        super().__init__()
+
+    def on_any_event(self, event: FileSystemEvent) -> None:
+        """Send DirectoryChanged event when the FS is updated."""
+        self._widget.post_message(DirectoryChanged())
+
+    def __rich_repr__(self) -> rich.repr.Result:
+        yield self._path
+        yield self._widget
+
+    def start(self) -> None:
+        """Start the watcher."""
+
+        self._observer.schedule(
+            self,
+            str(self._path),
+            recursive=True,
+            event_filter=[
+                FileCreatedEvent,
+                FileDeletedEvent,
+                FileMovedEvent,
+                DirCreatedEvent,
+                DirDeletedEvent,
+                DirMovedEvent,
+            ],
+        )
+        self._observer.start()
+
+    async def stop(self) -> None:
+        """Stop the watcher."""
+
+        def close() -> None:
+            """Close the observer in a thread."""
+            self._observer.stop()
+            self._observer.join(timeout=1)
+
+        await asyncio.to_thread(close)

src/toad/widgets/conversation.py

@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 from toad.acp.agent import Mode
 from toad.answer import Answer
 from toad.agent import AgentBase, AgentReady, AgentFail
+from toad.directory_watcher import DirectoryWatcher, DirectoryChanged
 from toad.history import History
 from toad.widgets.flash import Flash
 from toad.widgets.menu import Menu
@@ -321,6 +322,9 @@ def __init__(self, project_path: Path, agent: AgentData | None = None) -> None:
         self._turn_count = 0
         self._shell_count = 0
 
+        self._directory_changed = False
+        self._directory_watcher: DirectoryWatcher | None = None
+
     @property
     def agent_title(self) -> str | None:
         if self._agent_data is not None:
@@ -433,6 +437,11 @@ def add_focusable_terminal(self, terminal: Terminal) -> None:
         if not terminal.is_finalized:
             self._focusable_terminals.append(terminal)
 
+    @on(DirectoryChanged)
+    def on_directory_changed(self, event: DirectoryChanged) -> None:
+        event.stop()
+        self._directory_changed = True
+
     @on(Terminal.Finalized)
     def on_terminal_finalized(self, event: Terminal.Finalized) -> None:
         """Terminal was finalized, so we can remove it from the list."""
@@ -441,6 +450,9 @@ def on_terminal_finalized(self, event: Terminal.Finalized) -> None:
         except ValueError:
             pass
         self.prompt.project_directory_updated()
+        if self._directory_changed:
+            self._directory_changed = False
+            self.post_message(messages.ProjectDirectoryUpdated())
 
     @on(Terminal.AlternateScreenChanged)
     def on_terminal_alternate_screen_(
@@ -593,6 +605,8 @@ async def on_agent_ready(self) -> None:
     async def on_unmount(self) -> None:
         if self.agent is not None:
             await self.agent.stop()
+        if self._directory_watcher is not None:
+            await self._directory_watcher.stop()
         if self._agent_data is not None and self.session_start_time is not None:
             session_time = monotonic() - self.session_start_time
             await self.app.capture_event(
@@ -712,8 +726,12 @@ async def agent_turn_over(self, stop_reason: str | None) -> None:
             await self._loading.remove()
         self._agent_response = None
         self._agent_thought = None
-        self.post_message(messages.ProjectDirectoryUpdated())
-        self.prompt.project_directory_updated()
+
+        if self._directory_changed:
+            self._directory_changed = False
+            self.post_message(messages.ProjectDirectoryUpdated())
+            self.prompt.project_directory_updated()
+
         self._turn_count += 1
 
         if stop_reason != "end_turn":
@@ -1185,6 +1203,9 @@ async def watch_agent_ready(self, ready: bool) -> None:
         with suppress(asyncio.TimeoutError):
             async with asyncio.timeout(2.0):
                 await self.shell.wait_for_ready()
+        if ready:
+            self._directory_watcher = DirectoryWatcher(self.project_path, self)
+            self._directory_watcher.start()
         if ready and (agent_data := self._agent_data) is not None:
             welcome = agent_data.get("welcome", None)
             if welcome is not None: