text: # instant – transparent live-reloading
  
  [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/fgnass/instant.png)](https://travis-ci.org/fgnass/instant)
  
  Instant is ultra lightweight live-reload implementation with a unique feature set:
  
  
  * Works in all browsers including mobile devices and IE6
  * No browser plugin required
  * Can be used as drop-in replacement for the express.static() middleware
  * Production mode with zero overhead
  * Automatic client code injection
  
  ## How it works
  
  All static files that are served by the middleware are added to a watch list. Whenever one of these files is modified the client gets notified an reloads the resource. CSS files are updated without reloading the whole page.
  
  Instant automatically injects a script-tag right before the closing `body` tag
  of any HTML page (including dynamic ones) in order to load the client code.
  
  The client uses
  [server-sent events](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server-sent_events) to
  listen for updates. Browsers that don't support EventSource will fall back to a
  [hidden iframe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_%28programming%29#Hidden_iframe).
  
  
  ## Usage
  
  ```js
  var express = require('express');
  var instant = require('instant');
  
  var app = express();
  app.use(instant(__dirname + '/static'));
  ```
  
  If `$NODE_ENV` is set to `production` or `{ bypass: true }` is passed as option, instant will behave just like `express.static()` with no additional overhead.
  
  ### Reloading dynamic files
  
  The instant middlware also exposes a `.reload()` function that can be called to
  reload arbitrary URLs. This can be useful if you want to reload scripts or
  stylesheets that have been processed/compiled on the fly.
  
  Note: If you don't want to server any static files at all you can safely omit
  the  `root` argument.
  
  ```js
  var express = require('express');
  var instant = require('instant');
  
  var app = express();
  var ins = instant();
  
  app.use(ins);
  
  app.get('/tick', function(req, res) {
    res.send('Current date: ' + new Date());
  });
  
  // Trigger a reload of the page every 10 seconds:
  setInterval(function() {
    ins.reload('/tick');
  }, 10000);
  ```
  
  ### Options
  
  The following options are supported:
  
  * __bypass__ If set to `true` instant will behave just like express.static(). Defaults to `process.env.NODE_ENV == 'production'`
  * __watch__ List of file extensions to watch. Defaults to `['html', 'js', 'css']`
  * __prefix__ A prefix to add to the URLs under which the client script and the EventSource are exposed. Defaults to `'/instant'`
  * __delay__ Amount of time in milliseconds to wait before triggering a reload. Defaults to `10`
  
  All other options like `etag`, `dotfiles`, `index`, etc. are passed on to [send](https://www.npmjs.com/package/send).
  
  ## instant(1)
  
  There is also an `instant` binary that can be used to spawn a development
  server in the current directory.
  The [instant-server](https://github.com/fgnass/instant-server) is packaged as
  speparate module and can be installed via npm:
  
  ```
  npm install -g instant-server
  ```
  
  ![screenshot](http://fgnass.github.io/images/instant.gif)
  
  ### The MIT License (MIT)
  
  Copyright (c) 2013-2015 Felix Gnass
  
  Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
  of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
  in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
  to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
  copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
  furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
  
  The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
  all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
  
  THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
  IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
  FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
  AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
  LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
  OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
  THE SOFTWARE.
  