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FileSystemObserver interface

Category
File APIs
Type
New or changed feature
Status
Enabled by default (Chrome 133)
Intent stage
Start incubating

Summary

The FileSystemObserver interface notifies websites of changes to the file system. Sites observe changes to files and directories, to which the user has previously granted permission, in the user's local device (as specified in WICG/file-system-access) or in the Bucket File System (as specified in whatwg/fs), and are notified of basic change info, such as the change type.

Motivation

Currently, for a given agent to know about modifications to the file system - made either by itself or from some external context - it must poll the file system to detect changes. This is inefficient and does not scale well. The FileSystemObserver interface makes it easier for a website to be notified of changes to the file system.

Standards & signals

Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d6YoPvk0rdNBQaZcoFP-V5u4CBjgahvmnVsZpbn0Gmo/edit?usp=sharing

Samples: https://developer.chrome.com/blog/file-system-observer#demo

Explainers: https://github.com/whatwg/fs/blob/main/proposals/FileSystemObserver.md

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