Reload plugin when using `jekyll serve`

Question

I'm developing a Jekyll plugin. When I run the jekyll serve command, site files are regenerated when I change any markdown, html, or plugin files, as expected. The problem I've found is that while markdown/HTML files are regenerated, the plugins themselves are not reloaded. I have to terminate jekyll serve and issue the command again for the plugin changes to go into effect. Is there a way to make it so that the plugins get reloaded automatically when changed?

This is for Jekyll 3.1.2.

You can search for Gulp serve and watch, it will do the trick. — David Jacquel, Apr 08 '16 at 21:31
@DavidJacquel thanks, I think I'll go that route and post my script once it is done. — Chris Hunt, Apr 09 '16 at 00:40
@VirtuaCreative, thank you. I don't know which version it was changed but `jekyll serve` includes auto-regeneration by default. My problem is that it doesn't reload plugins. — Chris Hunt, Apr 09 '16 at 00:42
Hmm... got it. I didn't know that. Have you tried [Prepos](https://prepros.io/)? I'm not sure it's gonna work, but you could try... — Virtua Creative, Apr 09 '16 at 00:45
No, I don't think this is gonna work. "In your site source root, make a _plugins directory. Place your plugins here. Any file ending in *.rb inside this directory will be loaded before Jekyll generates your site." [Source](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/plugins/#installing-a-plugin). The plugin will be loader before Jekyll generates the site. — Virtua Creative, Apr 09 '16 at 00:49

Chris Hunt · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-09T02:00:47.110

Based on the suggestion from @DavidJacquel and the gist I found here, I used Gulp with this gulpfile

'use strict';

var gulp = require('gulp'),
    express = require('express'),
    spawn = require('child_process').spawn;

var jekyll_file = process.platform === 'win32' ? 'jekyll.bat' : 'jekyll';

gulp.task('jekyll', () => {
  var jekyll = spawn(jekyll_file, ['build', '--incremental']);

  var output = '';
  jekyll.stdout.on('data', (t) => { output += t; });
  jekyll.stderr.on('data', (t) => { output += t; });

  jekyll.on('exit', (code) => {
    if (code)
      console.log(`Jekyll exited with code: ${code}\n${output}`);
    else
      console.log("Finished Jekyll build");
  });
});


gulp.task('serve', () => {
  var server = express();
  server.use(express.static('_site/'));
  server.listen(4000);
});

gulp.task('watch', () => {
  gulp.watch(['**/*.html', '**/*.md', '_plugins/*.rb', '!_site/**/*'], ['jekyll']);
});

gulp.task('default', ['jekyll', 'serve', 'watch']);

to get the desired effect. Also created issue here.

Reload plugin when using `jekyll serve`

1 Answers1