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ring-hot-reload

A Ring middleware that provides hot reload for server-rendered Clojure applications. When server-side code changes (file save or REPL eval), the browser automatically re-fetches the page and morphs the DOM in place using idiomorph, preserving scroll position, focus, and form state.

Features

DOM morphing — No full page reload. The DOM is diffed and patched in place.
Error overlay — Server errors are displayed in a dismissable overlay with the full error response rendered in an iframe. Automatically dismissed on next successful reload.
Framework-friendly — Only injects into full HTML pages. Partial responses (htmx fragments, datastar SSE) are left untouched.
nREPL integration — Optional nREPL middleware triggers reload on eval, so evaluating code in your editor refreshes the browser without saving the file.
No framework dependencies — Works with any Ring 1.12+ application.

Installation

Add to your deps.edn:

{:deps {com.github.brettatoms/ring-hot-reload {:mvn/version "RELEASE"}}}

Note: This library requires Ring 1.12+ for WebSocket support (ring.websocket).

Quick Start

(require '[ring.hot-reload.core :as hot])

(defn my-handler [request]
  {:status 200
   :headers {"Content-Type" "text/html"}
   :body "<html><body><h1>Hello</h1></body></html>"})

;; Create the hot reload middleware
(let [{:keys [handler start! stop!]} (hot/wrap-hot-reload my-handler)]
  ;; `handler` is your new Ring handler — use it with your server adapter
  ;; Start watching for file changes
  (def watcher-handle (start!))

  ;; ... later, to stop:
  ;; (stop! watcher-handle)
  )

The middleware:

Intercepts requests to /__hot-reload and handles WebSocket upgrades
Injects a client script into full HTML page responses
Watches src/ for file changes and notifies connected browsers

Configuration

wrap-hot-reload accepts an options map:

Option	Default	Description
`:watch-paths`	`["src"]`	Directories to watch for file changes
`:watch-extensions`	`#{".clj" ".cljc" ".edn" ".html" ".css"}`	File extensions that trigger reload
`:uri-prefix`	`"/__hot-reload"`	Path for the WebSocket endpoint
`:inject?`	`(constantly true)`	Predicate `(fn [request response])` controlling script injection
`:debounce-ms`	`100`	Debounce window in milliseconds

Watch paths

By default only "src" is watched. If your templates or other files live elsewhere, add those directories. The handler must read files on each request (not cached at startup) for changes to be reflected:

;; Watch both source code and template files
(hot/wrap-hot-reload handler {:watch-paths ["src" "resources/templates"]})

;; Handler reads the template on each request — changes are picked up
(defn my-handler [_request]
  {:status 200
   :headers {"Content-Type" "text/html"}
   :body (slurp (io/resource "templates/page.html"))})

Watch extensions

Override which file types trigger a reload:

(hot/wrap-hot-reload handler {:watch-extensions #{".clj" ".cljc" ".mustache"}})

Selective injection

Skip script injection for specific routes (e.g. API endpoints that happen to return HTML):

(hot/wrap-hot-reload handler
  {:inject? (fn [request _response]
              (not (str/starts-with? (:uri request) "/api/")))})

Return Value

wrap-hot-reload returns a map:

Key	Description
`:handler`	The Ring handler to pass to your server adapter
`:watcher`	The `Watcher` instance (for advanced use)
`:start!`	`(fn [])` — starts watching; returns a handle
`:stop!`	`(fn [handle])` — stops watching, cleans up resources
`:notify!`	`(fn [])` — manually trigger a reload

Lifecycle Management

The caller is responsible for starting and stopping the watcher. A typical pattern with a Ring adapter:

(require '[ring.adapter.jetty :as jetty]
         '[ring.hot-reload.core :as hot])

(defonce server (atom nil))
(defonce watcher-handle (atom nil))

(defn start! []
  (let [{:keys [handler start! stop!]} (hot/wrap-hot-reload #'my-handler)]
    (reset! server (jetty/run-jetty handler {:port 3000 :join? false}))
    (reset! watcher-handle (start!))))

(defn stop! []
  (when-let [h @watcher-handle]
    ;; stop! from the wrap-hot-reload return map
    ;; you'll need to capture it; see note below
    )
  (when-let [s @server]
    (.stop s)))

Tip: Capture the stop! function from the return map alongside the watcher handle so you can call it during shutdown.

nREPL Integration

The optional nREPL middleware triggers a hot reload whenever an eval operation completes in your REPL. This means evaluating a form in your editor refreshes the browser — even without saving the file.

The middleware must be configured at nREPL startup (it cannot be added dynamically). There are several ways to set it up:

Via .nrepl.edn

{:middleware [ring.hot-reload.nrepl/wrap-hot-reload-nrepl]}

Via deps.edn alias

{:aliases
 {:dev {:extra-deps {nrepl/nrepl {:mvn/version "1.3.0"}}
        :main-opts ["-m" "nrepl.cmdline"
                    "--middleware" "[ring.hot-reload.nrepl/wrap-hot-reload-nrepl]"]}}}

Via CIDER (Emacs)

Add to your .dir-locals.el (appends to the existing CIDER middleware list):

((clojure-mode
  (eval . (progn
            (make-local-variable 'cider-jack-in-nrepl-middlewares)
            (add-to-list 'cider-jack-in-nrepl-middlewares "ring.hot-reload.nrepl/wrap-hot-reload-nrepl")))))

Or add it globally to your Emacs config:

(add-to-list 'cider-jack-in-nrepl-middlewares "ring.hot-reload.nrepl/wrap-hot-reload-nrepl")

Note: Setting cider-jack-in-nrepl-middlewares directly in .dir-locals.el replaces the default CIDER middleware. Use the eval/add-to-list form above to append instead.

The nREPL middleware communicates with the Ring middleware through a global notification mechanism. No additional configuration is needed — it works automatically when both middleware are loaded in the same JVM.

How It Works

Clojure source changes

For Clojure source changes, the typical workflow is REPL-driven:

Edit code in your editor
Eval the changed form (e.g. C-c C-c in CIDER)
Save the file — the watcher detects the save and notifies the browser
The browser re-fetches the page and morphs the DOM

Saving the file triggers the browser re-fetch, but the code must be evaluated in the REPL first for changes to take effect. The file watcher doesn't re-evaluate Clojure files — it only signals the browser.

Template / static file changes

For HTML templates, CSS, and other files read from disk at request time (e.g. via slurp), saving the file is sufficient — no REPL eval needed:

Save file → watcher detects change → debounce (100ms) → notify browser
  → browser fetches page → server reads updated file → idiomorph morphs DOM

What the client does

Connects to the WebSocket and listens for reload signals
On reload signal, fetches the current page via fetch()
If the response is OK, morphs the DOM using idiomorph (preserving focus, scroll, form state)
If the response is an error, displays a dismissable overlay with the error rendered in an iframe
On next successful reload, the error overlay is automatically dismissed
Auto-reconnects on disconnect with exponential backoff

Vite Integration

ring-hot-reload works alongside a Vite dev server. Use wrap-hot-reload for Clojure/template changes (full page morph), and Vite's @vite/client for CSS/JS HMR (instant, partial updates). The two mechanisms are independent — no Vite plugin required.

For automatic Vite integration (dev server lifecycle, asset URL resolution, @vite/client injection), see zodiac-assets.

Server Adapter Compatibility

This library uses Ring's standard ring.websocket protocol (introduced in Ring 1.12) for the WebSocket endpoint. Your server adapter must support this protocol.

Compatible adapters:

ring/ring-jetty-adapter 1.12+
info.sunng/ring-jetty9-adapter 0.35+
http-kit 2.8+

The WebSocket endpoint uses a dedicated path (/__hot-reload by default) and does not conflict with other WebSocket endpoints in your application. If your app has its own WebSocket routes, they work independently — Ring's WebSocket model is per-request, so each path can return its own ::ws/listener response.

Known Limitations

macOS file watch: Beholder uses directory-watcher which provides native macOS FSEvents support via JNA, so file change detection should be near-instant. The watcher is behind a Watcher protocol so the implementation can be swapped if needed.
String response bodies only: Script injection only works when the Ring response body is a string. If your handler returns an InputStream or File body, the script won't be injected.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

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