5browsersync

A lightweight, fast, and simple browser sync tool written in Go. Automatically reloads your browser or refreshes CSS when files change in your project directory. Designed for rapid development workflows with minimal configuration.

5browsersync is named after its inspiration: 5server from VSCode and BrowserSync which is a cool tool but I didn't want to install NPM and manage all that.

You can just download the binary from the releases page. No need to build it yourself unless you want to.

Features

• Automatic Browser Reload: Watches files and reloads the browser via WebSocket when changes are detected.
• CSS Hot Reload: Refreshes stylesheets without a full page reload.
• HTML Script Injection: Injects a sync script into served HTML files for seamless integration.
• Configurable via CLI: Flexible command-line options for directory, address, throttling, debounce, ignores, and more.
• Cross-platform: Runs anywhere Go is supported.
• Minimal Dependencies: Only uses fsnotify for file watching.

Installation

Download Binary

Download the binary from the releases page.

Build from Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/teamcoltra/5browsersync.git
   cd 5browsersync

2. Build the binary:

   go build -o 5browsersync ./cmd/5browsersync

3. (Optional) Install globally:

   go install ./cmd/5browsersync

Usage

Start the sync server in your project directory:

./5browsersync --dir . --open

• By default, serves files from the current directory and injects the sync script into HTML files.
• Automatically opens your default browser to the server address if --open is specified.

Configuration

Command-line flags:

Flag	Description	Default
--dir	Directory to serve and watch	.
--addr	Address to bind (host:port)	:8080
--open	Open browser on start	false
--throttle	Minimum ms between reloads	0
--latency	Artificial latency before reload	0s
--debounce	Debounce interval for file events	0s
--noinject	Disable HTML script injection	false
--ignores	Ignore patterns (can repeat)
--cors	Enable permissive CORS headers	false

Example:

./5browsersync --dir ./public --addr :3000 --open --ignores node_modules --debounce 200ms

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open issues or submit pull requests for bug fixes, features, or documentation improvements.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add new feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/my-feature)
5. Open a pull request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Zed Integration

Zed doesn't yet have a native task runner UI like VS Code, but it does support custom command-line tasks via .zed/tasks.json.

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Step-by-Step: Add a 5browsersync Task to Zed

1. Open your project in Zed

2. Create a .zed/tasks.json file in the root of your project if it doesn't already exist:

   mkdir -p .zed
   touch .zed/tasks.json

3. Add the following content to .zed/tasks.json:

   {
     "tasks": [
       {
         "name": "Start 5browsersync",
         "cmd": ["5browsersync", "--dir", ".", "--open"],
         "cwd": "${projectRoot}"
       }
     ]
   }

   • name: Will be the label shown in the task palette.
   • cmd: What Zed will execute.
   • cwd: The current working directory — using ${projectRoot} will always run it in the current project folder.

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How to Run It

• Press Cmd + Shift + P (or Ctrl + Shift + P on Windows/Linux) to open the Command Palette
• Type: Tasks: Run Task
• Select: Start 5browsersync

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Extra Tips

• You can change --dir to point to a subdirectory like public/ if that's where your files live.

• If you always want CORS or debounce, just add the flags in cmd, like:

  "cmd": ["5browsersync", "--dir", ".", "--open", "--cors", "--debounce", "300ms"]

• Make sure 5browsersync is in your system $PATH. You can test this by running 5browsersync --help in your terminal.

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Contact

For questions, suggestions, or support:

• GitHub Issues: https://github.com/teamcoltra/5browsersync/issues