Does fs.watch in Node.js listen to changes in hidden folders like .git?

Question

If I watch a directory that has a .git inside of it and run fs.watch, does that listen to changes within .git folder?

For example if I use:

 fs.watch(dir, { recursive: true }

Yes, it emits events for changes in hidden folders such as .git, .vscode, and others starting with a dot. I guess fs.watch just treats them as regular folders. — Yousaf Wazir
– Yousaf Wazir, Commented Nov 11 at 19:24

Yousaf Wazir · Accepted Answer · 2025-11-11 11:43:20Z

1

Yes fs watch listens to hidden folders.

I was running custom logic in a file system watcher with recursive: true. Since my watcher also observed the .git folder, running Git commands inside the watcher created a feedback loop: the Git commands modified the .git folder, which triggered the watcher again, and so on.

Fix: Ignore changes in the .git folder:

const watcher = fs.watch(dir, { recursive: true }, (eventType, filename) => {
  if (filename && (filename.startsWith(".git") || filename.includes(`${path.sep}.git`))) {
    console.log("Git folder changed, ignoring...");
    return;
  }

  throttledNotify();
});

Somewhere in throttledNotify i was running const stdout = await runGitCommand(["status", "--porcelain"], dir); which causes the infinite feedback loop

answered Nov 11 at 11:43

Yousaf Wazir

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