Disable browser open/refresh upon retype watch

[rdewit]

Currently retype opens/refreshes the browser window upon retype watch in a similar way that Create React App does this. In my case, this is a nuisance as my default browser (Firefox) is not my dev browser (Google Chrome) and Firefox opens a new tab every time retype watch is called.

Would it be possible to allow the dev to disable this feature via an env var (like CRA's BROWSER=none)?

[geoffreymcgill]

Hello. You can run retype build instead, which will just generate the website and you can decide when to start a web server.

You can start your own web server, or call retype run when you're ready.

The retype watch command is essentially a short cut for running the following commands in the following sequence:

1. retype init
2. retype build
3. retype run
4. Open in a browser

Hope this helps.

[geoffreymcgill]

An oversight on our part is the retype build --watch && retype serve --watch cannot be run in sequence, so yes, separate terminals would be required in that scenario. Far from ideal.

I don't want to add build functionality to retype serve command. The serve command nicely focuses and encapsulates the functionality to serve the generated website. Equally, the build command nicely focuses and encapsulates the functionality to build the project.

I can see how using the --watch flag in both commands can cause confusion, so I'm going look into whether renaming to something else would be better. Using --watch with the retype serve --watch command is essentially instructing the web server to live reload the clients. I'll put some time into this.

This does not solve my issue, as there does not seem to be a way to run a command that serves, watches and rebuilds, without opening the browser.

The API is in a better place now, but agreed, it still does not cleanly solve the original issue of this thread.

So, we are proposing to add two new features to v3.0:

1. New --no-open flag with -n alias on retype start. The following demonstrates using the two flags:

retype start --no-open # or,
retype start -n

I see that the --no-open flag is used within similar projects to Retype, so looks like everyone has landed on the same solution.

2. New start.open: false project config. The following demonstrates setting the config in your projects retype.yml file.

start:
  open: false

If open: false is set in your retype.yml project config, then calling retype start would not open the web browser.

The start.open config could also be customized with the --override flag. Obviously, this is not a super clean option, but it does allow for customization of the flags on an individual or per-call basis.

Hope this helps. Let me know what you think.

---

We are looking into the Port 3000 already in use errors and with some luck will have these fixed for the v3.0 final release. Thanks for reporting.

[DannyBen]

New --no-open flag with -n alias on retype start

Well... staying honest while knowing it might come off as abrasive - I think this whole thing got overcomplicated and over-engineered for no good reason.

I don't think this is the intuitive option. There is no reason to watch the target directory. The target only updates when the source updates.

Although having the option to disable the opening in the config file will help my use case, from UI perspective, it is not the place for it.
If I am sharing my repository with other users, some might want it to be different. Opening the browser is a CLI decision, not configuration decision. Even the same user might sometimes want to open and sometimes not.

I see that the --no-open flag is used within similar projects to Retype, so looks like everyone has landed on the same solution.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

While I am obviously not in favor of how it is designed now, I can understand the "this is how it is now and we want to get on with it" argument.

[geoffreymcgill]

I appreciate the your comments and for being straightforward. I do agree with much of your comments.

I think this whole thing got overcomplicated and over-engineered for no good reason.

Over-engineered? what? of course not. We never over-engineer. /s

I kid, I kid.

The original API annoyed me too. I think it would be easy to argue that it was under-engineered at the time. The original API didn't have enough granularity, extensibility, and future-proofness to handle scenarios that we just didn't think about early on.

Basically we have only made two simple renamings of retype watch to retype start and retype run to retype serve, plus separated the --watch functionality into user configurable flags.

We also added missing functionality to choose if Retype should trigger the system default web browser to open.

I see the benefits of the new API as:

1. 100% backwards compatible. Nothing will break if you upgrade your project to v3.0.
2. Super simple entry point. For 80%+ of users (probably more) the only thing you need to know is retype start.
3. Separation of Concerns. build is now responsible for building. serve is now responsible for serving.
4. more... I'll add here as I think of them

There is no reason to watch the target directory.

There are a few. We have seen scenarios where post-processes outside of Retype update or add to the build output and those changes were not being reflected in the clients. That is not necessarily a Retype issue, but now it is supported. There are also features we are thinking about for future Retype releases that could take advantage of watching the output directory for changes.

Another reason is just that we needed to modularize how the server was live-updating the clients. Previously, the logic was co-mingled with the build process and lacked single responsibility. Now we have a nice separation of concerns and the retype serve --watch flag was mostly just a handy byproduct of that refactoring.

from UI perspective, it is not the place for it.

Agreed. In your scenario, calling retype start -n would be the cleanest. The start.open project config is just another option that might be helpful to some users.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

The situation is more nuanced than right or wrong. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to perfect solution, or at least not yet.

With the new -n and --no-open flags and the start.open project config, there are clean options that should cover all scenarios.

The API can continue to evolve over time. None of this is forever. If better API ideas surface, we will remain flexible and open to make changes.

Hope this helps.

[geoffreymcgill]

We are making two changes on the retype serve cmd in Retype v3.0.0:

1. Removing the --open flag
2. Renaming --watch to --live

Here is the updated command matrix and descriptions:

Command (v3.0)	init	build	serve	--watch or -w	--live or -l	--no-open or -n
retype start	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
retype start -n	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
retype init	✅
retype build		✅
retype build --watch		✅		✅
retype serve			✅
retype serve --live			✅		✅

Command (v3.0)	Description
retype start	Build and serve the project using a local development only web server
retype start -n	Build and serve the project using a local development only web server, plus do not open a web browser.
retype init	Initialize the project with a new retype.yml project file.
retype build	Generate a static website from the project.
retype build --watch	Generate a static website from the project, watch for input file changes, and rebuild if any changes.
retype serve	Serve the website in a local development only web server.
retype serve --live	Serve the website in a local development only web server and live reload open browsers when a change in the project output is detected.

When the retype start command is called, if a retype.yml project config file is found, the init process is skipped. There is essentially no cost to init when running retype start.

[geoffreymcgill]

The "Port 3000 already in use" error has been fixed. See comment. @DannyBen Thanks for reporting.

Retype v3.0 should be released within the next 24 hours.

[DannyBen]

Any plans to incorporate this soon?
My workflow is:

1. Run retype watch
2. Be annoyed by the opened text browser
3. Press Q twice to quit the opened text browser
4. Relax
5. Start working
6. Think about how annoying that was
7. Relax
8. Go back to working

😝

[geoffreymcgill]

The commands proposed above will be available in Retype v3.0.

We will have a 3.0.0-preview release available first, so you'll be able to test the new commands and any required changes can be made before the locking in the 3.0.0 final release.

Hope this helps.

[geoffreymcgill]

My workflow is:

1. Run retype watch
2. Be annoyed by the opened text browser
3. Press Q twice to quit the opened text browser
4. Relax
5. Start working
6. Think about how annoying that was
7. Relax
8. Go back to working

New...

1. Run retype start -n
2. Start working

or, set:

start:
  open: false

then,

1. Run retype start
2. Start working