Refreshing

Refreshing is a Chrome extension for reloading file:// pages when their on-disk content changes.

How to use it

Because Chrome doesn't expose APIs that allow extensions to detect file changes on your filesystem, getting Refreshing to work requires running a small Node.js server in addition to having the extension installed. The extension asks the server to watch for file changes on its behalf.

Step 1: Install the extension

1. Open Chrome's extension menu (Chrome menu -> Tools -> Extensions).
2. Check the 'Developer mode' box in the upper right to expose the "Load unpacked extension..." button.
3. Click the 'Load unpacked extension...' button and choose the 'chrome-extension' folder of this repository with the file-picker
4. Refreshing is installed!

Step 2: Run the server

1. Execute something like this in a terminal: node node-server/server.js
2. The server is running!

Step 3: Use Refreshing

1. When viewing a file on your local filesystem (see that the protocol in your address bar is 'file://'), the refreshing icon will show up in the right of the address bar.
2. Click the refreshing icon then click start.
3. Refreshing is refreshing!