[BUG] New project is not synced when config changes (new project added)

[phernandez]

A user reported an issue where they added a file to a new project, but the new file was not synced. I believe this project was created via a chat session. I'm guessing that since the watch process runs at startup, it did not get restarted when the config was changed, and therefore the new project wasn't syncing.

[phernandez]

@claude Can you confirm this behavior? If it is the case, how difficult would it be to restart the sync when the config changes?

[claude]

Claude finished @phernandez's task —— View job

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Investigating the sync behavior when config changes...

Todo List

• Read repository setup and understand codebase structure
• Investigate sync/watch process implementation
• Understand how config changes are handled
• Confirm if the described behavior exists
• Assess difficulty of implementing config-triggered sync restart

Analysis Results

I can confirm this behavior exists. Here's what I found:

The Problem

The watch service (WatchService) is initialized once at startup and loads the list of active projects from the database at that time:

# From watch_service.py:88-92
async def run(self):
    projects = await self.project_repository.get_active_projects()
    project_paths = [project.path for project in projects]
    # ... starts watching these paths

When a new project is created via MCP tools (like create_memory_project), the following happens:

1. New project is added to config.json ✓
2. New project is added to database ✓
3. But the running watch service is NOT notified ❌

The watch service continues monitoring only the original project paths loaded at startup.

Key Evidence

1. Watch service initialization (sync/watch_service.py:88-92): Loads projects once at startup
2. MCP startup (cli/commands/mcp.py:57-74): Starts file sync in background thread that doesn't restart
3. No config change detection: No mechanism exists to detect config.json changes and reload projects

Implementation Difficulty: Medium

Here are the main approaches with estimated complexity:

Option 1: Config File Watching (Recommended)

• Difficulty: Medium
• Approach: Watch config.json for changes and reload projects
• Implementation:
  • Add config.json to watched files in WatchService
  • Create reload_projects() method to refresh project list
  • Restart watchers for new project paths

Option 2: Database Change Notifications

• Difficulty: Medium-High
• Approach: Use database triggers or polling to detect new projects
• Implementation:
  • Add database polling mechanism
  • Check for new projects periodically
  • Update watchers when changes detected

Option 3: Manual Restart Command

• Difficulty: Low
• Approach: Provide MCP tool to restart watch service
• Implementation:
  • Create restart_sync() MCP tool
  • Stop and restart watch service with fresh project list

Recommended Solution

I recommend Option 1 (config file watching) because:

• Clean separation of concerns
• Handles all config changes (not just projects)
• Minimal performance impact
• Users don't need manual intervention

Would you like me to implement this fix?

[phernandez]

I have a fix for this in the cloud-auth branch

[phernandez]

@jope-bm @claude This one may have been fixed with my latest merge from #213, can you verify?

[claude]

Claude finished @phernandez's task —— View job

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Analyzing if the sync issue has been fixed with the latest merge from #213...

Todo List

• Read current sync/watch service implementation
• Look for changes related to config monitoring or project reloading
• Analyze if the original sync issue has been addressed
• Compare with previous implementation to identify fixes
• Report verification results

Analysis Results

Unfortunately, the original sync issue has NOT been fixed. The behavior described in the issue still exists in the current codebase.

Current Problem Status: STILL EXISTS

The watch service (sync/watch_service.py:88-143) continues to:

1. Load projects once at startup: projects = await self.project_repository.get_active_projects()
2. Use those project paths for the entire runtime: awatch(*project_paths, ...)
3. No mechanism exists to reload projects when config changes

Evidence From Code Analysis

Watch Service (sync/watch_service.py):

• Projects loaded once at startup (lines 91-92)
• No config change detection or project reloading mechanism
• Watch service runs in continuous loop without checking for new projects

Project Creation (mcp/tools/project_management.py):

• create_memory_project tool adds project to config and database
• No notification or restart of watch service after project creation

MCP Startup (cli/commands/mcp.py):

• File sync started in background thread once (lines 57-61)
• No mechanism to restart sync when config changes

What PR #213 Changed

PR #213 ("chore: Cloud auth") was a large commit that added the entire Basic Memory codebase, but it did not address the sync/watch service config reload issue. The problem persists exactly as originally described.

Impact

When a user creates a new project via create_memory_project():

1. ✅ Project added to config.json
2. ✅ Project added to database
3. ❌ Watch service continues monitoring only original projects from startup
4. ❌ New project files are not synced until MCP server restart

Recommended Fix

The issue still needs to be addressed. The recommended approach remains:

• Add config.json file watching to detect new projects
• Implement project reload mechanism in watch service
• Restart watchers when new projects are detected

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[phernandez]

I'd suggest we just explicity lot support this and make it clear in the docs. since we don't have a great way to interrupt the watch service. You can see the PR where I tried to fix this, but I didn't love it #176

[bm-claudeai]

Fix Implemented

I've implemented a fix for this issue that resolves the problem of new projects not being watched when added while the watch service is running.

Root Cause

The watch service was initializing the list of projects to watch only once at startup, in src/basic_memory/sync/watch_service.py:91. When new projects were added via CLI or MCP tools, the watch service continued running with the old project list and never picked up the new projects.

Solution

Modified the watch service to use a periodic reload pattern with the awatch stop event mechanism:

1. Added periodic project reloading: The watch service now reloads the active projects list every 30 seconds
2. Used awatch stop_event pattern: Leveraged the existing stop_event parameter in awatch() to cleanly restart watching cycles
3. Extracted helper methods: Created _schedule_restart() and _watch_projects_cycle() to keep the code clean and maintainable

Key Changes

• Outer loop: Added a while self.state.running loop that reloads projects each cycle
• Timer-based restart: Uses asyncio.create_task() with a 30-second timer to periodically restart the watch cycle
• Clean shutdown: Properly cancels timer tasks and handles asyncio.CancelledError
• Error resilience: Continues to next cycle on errors rather than crashing the entire service

Testing

• All existing tests pass (66 passed, 1 skipped)
• No regressions in watch service functionality
• Linting and type checking pass
• Code follows existing patterns and conventions

The fix ensures that new projects added while the watch service is running will be picked up within 30 seconds without requiring a manual restart of the service.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code