Expand workspace watcher beyond gitignore

Author: pallyoung

packages/server/src/__tests__/fs/gitignore.test.ts

@@ -123,24 +123,25 @@ describe("createWatcherIgnoreFilter", () => {
     expect(filter(join(testDir, "file.txt"))).toBe(false);
   });
 
-  it("respects .gitignore rules", async () => {
+  it("does not apply .gitignore rules to watcher filtering", async () => {
     await writeFile(join(testDir, ".gitignore"), "*.log\n*.tmp\nbuild/");
 
     const filter = createWatcherIgnoreFilter(testDir);
-    expect(filter(join(testDir, "app.log"))).toBe(true);
-    expect(filter(join(testDir, "error.tmp"))).toBe(true);
+    expect(filter(join(testDir, "app.log"))).toBe(false);
+    expect(filter(join(testDir, "error.tmp"))).toBe(false);
+    expect(filter(join(testDir, "build", "bundle.js"))).toBe(false);
     expect(filter(join(testDir, "file.txt"))).toBe(false);
   });
 
-  it("keeps default watcher behavior when .gitignore exists", async () => {
+  it("keeps hard watcher ignores even when .gitignore exists", async () => {
     await writeFile(join(testDir, ".gitignore"), "*.log");
 
     const filter = createWatcherIgnoreFilter(testDir);
 
     expect(filter(join(testDir, ".git/config"))).toBe(false);
     expect(filter(join(testDir, "node_modules/package"))).toBe(true);
     expect(filter(join(testDir, ".playwright-mcp/page.yml"))).toBe(true);
-    expect(filter(join(testDir, "app.log"))).toBe(true);
+    expect(filter(join(testDir, "app.log"))).toBe(false);
     expect(filter(join(testDir, "src/index.ts"))).toBe(false);
   });
 });

packages/server/src/__tests__/fs/watcher.test.ts

@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ describe("WorkspaceWatcher", () => {
     expect(ignored?.(join(testDir, "src/index.ts"))).toBe(false);
   });
 
-  it("continues to respect .gitignore entries after tree visibility was relaxed", async () => {
+  it("does not let .gitignore shrink watcher coverage", async () => {
     await writeFile(join(testDir, ".gitignore"), "dist/\n*.log\n");
 
     new WorkspaceWatcher("test-workspace-id", testDir, broadcaster);
@@ -103,9 +103,10 @@ describe("WorkspaceWatcher", () => {
     const ignored = options?.ignored;
 
     expect(typeof ignored).toBe("function");
-    expect(ignored?.(join(testDir, "dist", "bundle.js"))).toBe(true);
-    expect(ignored?.(join(testDir, "debug.log"))).toBe(true);
+    expect(ignored?.(join(testDir, "dist", "bundle.js"))).toBe(false);
+    expect(ignored?.(join(testDir, "debug.log"))).toBe(false);
     expect(ignored?.(join(testDir, ".git", "index"))).toBe(false);
+    expect(ignored?.(join(testDir, "node_modules", "pkg", "index.js"))).toBe(true);
     expect(ignored?.(join(testDir, "src", "index.ts"))).toBe(false);
   });
 

packages/server/src/fs/gitignore.ts

@@ -85,25 +85,11 @@ export function createTreeVisibilityFilter(): (name: string) => boolean {
  * Returns a function suitable for chokidar's `ignored` option.
  */
 export function createWatcherIgnoreFilter(rootPath: string): (path: string) => boolean {
-  const gitignorePath = join(rootPath, ".gitignore");
-
-  if (!existsSync(gitignorePath)) {
-    // Default: ignore obvious noise, but keep .git metadata watched so git
-    // operations can trigger refreshes.
-    return (path: string) =>
-      DEFAULT_WATCHER_IGNORED_PATTERNS.some((p) => p.test(normalizePath(path)));
-  }
-
-  const gitignoreContent = readFileSync(gitignorePath, "utf-8");
-  const ig = ignore().add(gitignoreContent);
+  void rootPath;
 
-  return (path: string) => {
-    const normalizedPath = normalizePath(path);
-    if (DEFAULT_WATCHER_IGNORED_PATTERNS.some((p) => p.test(normalizedPath))) {
-      return true;
-    }
-
-    const relativePath = relativeToRoot(rootPath, path);
-    return isIgnoredByGitignore(ig, relativePath);
-  };
+  // Watcher coverage intentionally ignores .gitignore so frontend refreshes
+  // can react to generated files and other ignored paths. Keep only the
+  // hard-coded noise filters here.
+  return (path: string) =>
+    DEFAULT_WATCHER_IGNORED_PATTERNS.some((p) => p.test(normalizePath(path)));
 }