Epic: Background Watcher

[ajianaz]

Goal

Add background file watching so Cora stays up-to-date without manual cora index.

Phased Approach

Phase 1: MCP Session Hook ✅ DONE

When cora serve starts, check for stale files and auto-reindex before accepting connections. Implemented in src/commands/serve.rs — execute_serve() auto-reindexes on startup.

Phase 2: Standalone cora watch

cora index --watch already exists (inotify-based). Remaining: standalone cora watch command with debounce, git-only mode, and filter support.

Remaining Tasks

• Promote cora index --watch to standalone cora watch command
• Add --debounce, --git-only, --filter flags
• Add MCP notification on reindex completion

[ajianaz]

Sub-issues

• Auto-reindex on cora serve startup (Phase 1) #434 — Auto-reindex on cora serve startup (Phase 1)
• Add cora query — simplified graph pattern DSL #435 — Add cora query — simplified graph pattern DSL

[ajianaz]

Phase 2 (v0.11.0 milestone)

• Implement cora watch — background file watcher (Phase 2) #436 — Implement cora watch — background file watcher

Cross-milestone dependencies

• Add cora query — simplified graph pattern DSL #435 depends on Wire up store_kg_edges() — populate edges table #429 (edges table must be populated)

[ajianaz]

Epic Complete

All core objectives achieved:

Phase 1: MCP Session Hook -- DONE

Auto-reindex on cora serve startup (implemented in src/commands/serve.rs).

Phase 2: Standalone cora watch -- DONE (PR #496)

• Poll-based file watching with configurable debounce interval (--interval)
• --git-only mode (only track files tracked by git)
• --filter glob pattern support
• Hidden directory filtering
• Auto-reindex on change detection

Remaining: MCP Notification

The "MCP notification on reindex completion" item is a nice-to-have enhancement. Filing as a separate issue if/when needed -- it does not block the core goal of keeping Cora up-to-date without manual cora index.

Closing this epic as complete.