What causes "watchdog not installed. Run: pip install watchdog" in Graphify-Labs/graphify?

Install the dependency into the interpreter graphify runs under: pip install watchdog

Graphify-Labs/graphify · error · ImportError

watchdog not installed. Run: pip install watchdog

Error message

watchdog not installed. Run: pip install watchdog

What it means

graphify's live-watch feature (watch_for_changes / watch in graphify/watch.py) depends on the third-party 'watchdog' package to observe filesystem events. The function imports watchdog.observers lazily and converts an ImportError into a plain, actionable ImportError telling you to pip-install it. It fires only when the watchdog dependency is absent from the active interpreter, not when watching itself fails.

Solutions

Install the dependency into the interpreter graphify runs under: pip install watchdog
If graphify is a dependency of your project, add watchdog to your project's dependencies (or graphify's watch extra) so it is installed automatically
Verify the right environment: `python -m pip show watchdog` using the same python that runs graphify (e.g. graphify-out/.graphify_python)
If you do not need live watching, skip the watch API entirely — extraction and clustering do not require watchdog

Example fix

# before
graphify.watch.watch_for_changes(Path('.'), callback)  # ImportError: watchdog not installed

# after
# shell:
#   pip install watchdog
graphify.watch.watch_for_changes(Path('.'), callback)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import importlib.util

if importlib.util.find_spec('watchdog') is None:
    raise SystemExit('watchdog missing — pip install watchdog before enabling live watch')

graphify.watch.watch_for_changes(Path('.'), callback=on_change, debounce=2.0)

Try / catch

try:
    graphify.watch.watch_for_changes(Path('.'), callback=on_change)
except ImportError as e:
    if 'watchdog' in str(e):
        print('live watch disabled: install watchdog to enable')
    else:
        raise

Prevention

Declare watchdog as a dependency of any project that uses graphify's watch API
Pin/check optional extras at environment setup time (pip check / requirements lock) so the import cannot fail at runtime
Gate watch features behind a config flag so systems without watchdog degrade to manual /graphify --update runs

When it happens

Trigger: Calling graphify.watch.watch_for_changes(...) (or any CLI path that starts a file watcher) in an environment where `import watchdog` raises ImportError. The try block imports watchdog.observers.Observer, PollingObserver, and watchdog.events.FileSystemEventHandler; any failure of that import chain triggers the re-raise.

Common situations: Installing graphify without its watch extras, using a different virtualenv/interpreter than the one where watchdog was installed, or a CI container that never installs optional filesystem-watching dependencies.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Graphify-Labs/graphify@7fe58b0b0f (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7774e4399ed1477c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at graphify/watch.py:1838


def watch(watch_path: Path, debounce: float = 3.0) -> None:
    """
    Watch watch_path for new or modified files and auto-update the graph.

    For code-only changes: re-runs AST extraction + rebuild immediately (no LLM).
    For doc/paper/image changes: writes a needs_update flag and notifies the user
    to run /graphify --update (LLM extraction required).

    debounce: seconds to wait after the last change before triggering (avoids
    running on every keystroke when many files are saved at once).
    """
    try:
        from watchdog.observers import Observer
        from watchdog.observers.polling import PollingObserver
        from watchdog.events import FileSystemEventHandler
    except ImportError as e:
        raise ImportError("watchdog not installed. Run: pip install watchdog") from e

    last_trigger: float = 0.0
    pending: bool = False
    changed: set[Path] = set()

    # Load .graphifyignore patterns ONCE at startup so the handler does not
    # re-parse the file on every filesystem event. Watchdog's handler runs on
    # the observer thread and is invoked for every event the OS delivers
    # (Time Machine writes, Docker/Colima VM I/O, Spotlight indexing, …) —
    # without this short-circuit a busy volume can saturate a CPU core
    # discarding events one extension at a time. (gh-928)
    watch_root_for_ignore = watch_path.resolve()
    ignore_patterns = _load_graphifyignore(
        watch_root_for_ignore,
        gitignore=_read_build_gitignore(watch_path / _GRAPHIFY_OUT),
    )

    class Handler(FileSystemEventHandler):

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