CyclicalFileWatcher
😼

A library for cyclical asynchronous file watching with subscription support.

Why CyclicalFileWatcher

Unlike another file watching solutions that rely on OS-level tools or native file system event hooks, CyclicalFileWatcher uses a simple polling mechanism to detect changes.

This approach:

• Works consistently across platforms and environments (e.g. Docker, network drives, cloud volumes).
• Requires no external dependencies, system utilities, or file system support.
• Gives you full control over polling intervals and error handling.

It’s ideal for scenarios where reliability and isolation from the underlying OS are more important than real-time change detection.

Usage

var fileWatcher = new CyclicalFileWatcher<FileObject>(configuration);

await fileWatcher.WatchAsync(parameters, cancellationToken);

await fileWatcher.SubscribeAsync(filePath, async _ =>
{
    Console.WriteLine("Subscription action executed");
}, cancellationToken);

var latestFile = await fileWatcher.GetLatestAsync(filePath, cancellationToken);

See the full example in src/CyclicalFileWatcher.Test/Program.cs

License

Released under MIT by @EvgenyHalzov.

• You can freely modify and reuse.
• The original license must be included with copies of this software.
• Please link back to this repo if you use a significant portion the source code.