Watch mode

Watch mode keeps an interactive review current while another person or process changes its source.

Watch Git or a patch file

Add --watch to diff, show, or a file-backed patch command:

mire diff main...HEAD --watch
mire show HEAD --watch
mire patch changes.diff --watch

The dedicated watch command is shorthand for a watched Git comparison:

mire watch main...HEAD -- src

Watch mode requires an interactive terminal. A patch read from standard input cannot be watched because there is no file to reload.

Preserve review position

After a refresh, Mire keeps the selected file, nearby logical row, selected finding, layout, and review filters when the new capture still contains their identities. If a row no longer exists, Mire chooses the nearest useful location rather than resetting the session to the top.

Watch a review file

Use --watch when another local process may import notes or when code may change under a source-backed review:

mire review review.json --watch

Mire watches both the review file and the Git source recorded by review init. A source edit captures the comparison again, classifies every finding, and atomically updates the review file.

External note writes are read before that transaction, and revision conflicts are retried on a later watch cycle.

Mire waits until the in-terminal editor is clean before applying an external update, so an incoming refresh does not replace unsaved note text.

Recover from source errors

Native filesystem notifications are debounced. Mire falls back to polling when the platform watcher is unavailable and performs periodic reloads to recover missed events.

If a watched source disappears or becomes temporarily invalid, Mire shows the error and continues watching. The session reloads after the source becomes valid again.

An invalid review file is a persistence error and closes the session instead of treating corrupted durable state as a temporary source failure.