chokidar
Minimal, efficient cross-platform file watching library for build tools and dev servers.
Dev workflow and config npm MIT
Used in agent projects
63
0.5% of 12,697 public repos built with AI coding agents
Rank in dev workflow and config
#29 of 88
by use in those projects
Downloads
171M
npm, last 7 days, chokidar
GitHub stars
12.2K
last push Oct 4, 2026
How chokidar is used
chokidar is a dependency in 63 of the 12,697 public GitHub projects set up for AI coding agents that we scanned (0.5%), #29 of 88 in dev workflow and config. The most used alternative there is dotenv. Projects that use it most often also use Zod (57.1%), Model Context Protocol SDK (JavaScript) (46.0%), tsx (41.3%).
Often used with chokidar
| Zod | 57.1% of chokidar projects · 3.4× more than average |
|---|---|
| Model Context Protocol SDK (JavaScript) | 46.0% of chokidar projects · 9.7× more than average |
| tsx | 41.3% of chokidar projects · 4.2× more than average |
| Vitest | 44.4% of chokidar projects · 3.6× more than average |
| better-sqlite3 | 31.7% of chokidar projects · 24.9× more than average |
| chalk | 31.7% of chokidar projects · 18.2× more than average |
| TypeScript | 81.0% of chokidar projects |
| Anthropic SDK | 25.4% of chokidar projects · 15.3× more than average |
By coding agent
| Claude Code | 1.3% of projects set up for it |
|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot | 1.1% of projects set up for it |
| Cursor | 1.0% of projects set up for it |
| OpenAI Codex | 2.7% of projects set up for it |
| Gemini CLI | 2.5% of projects set up for it |
Share of public repos configured for each agent that list chokidar as a dependency.
Install
| Package | npm install chokidar |
|---|---|
| Main stacks | TypeScript / JavaScript (49), Next.js (6), PHP (4), Python (3) |
| Example projects | getsentry/MobileBuildMCP, trypostit/trypost, s00d/nuxt-i18n-micro, avi12/youtube-downloader, richardsondx/checkmate |
Alternatives to chokidar
| Tool | Used in agent projects | Downloads / wk | GitHub stars | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| dotenv npm Load environment variables from .env files into process.env. |
2,001 (15.8%) | 189M | 20.5K | BSD-2-Clause |
| python-dotenv pypi Load environment variables from .env files in Python applications. |
828 (6.5%) | 156M | 8,898 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Husky npm Modern Git hooks manager for running tasks on git events. |
797 (6.3%) | 36.2M | 35.3K | MIT |
| lint-staged npm Run linters on git staged files to catch issues before commit. |
591 (4.7%) | 29.5M | 14.7K | MIT |
| concurrently npm Run multiple npm scripts concurrently for efficient development workflows. |
572 (4.5%) | 22.2M | 7,856 | MIT |
| cross-env npm Set environment variables across Windows, Mac and Linux in npm scripts. |
265 (2.1%) | 25.8M | 6,521 | MIT |
| Pydantic Settings pypi Settings management and configuration from environment variables using Pydantic. |
251 (2.0%) | 96.8M | 1,475 | — |
| Rich pypi Python library for rich text and beautiful formatting in terminal output. |
243 (1.9%) | 117M | 57.5K | MIT |