chokidar breaking changes

6.0.0

37 breaking changes, first published October 19, 2026.

• Removed fs.watchFile
  Chokidar no longer uses fs.watchFile for polling; it uses its own stat polling loops. github.com
• Removed handler.js:EMPTY_FN
  EMPTY_FN was removed in chokidar 6.0.0 npmjs.com
• Removed handler.js:EventName
  EventName was removed in chokidar 6.0.0 npmjs.com
• Removed handler.js:EVENTS
  EVENTS was removed in chokidar 6.0.0 npmjs.com
• Removed handler.js:FsWatchContainer
  FsWatchContainer was removed in chokidar 6.0.0 npmjs.com
• Removed handler.js:IDENTITY_FN
  IDENTITY_FN was removed in chokidar 6.0.0 npmjs.com
• Removed handler.js:isFreeBSD
  isFreeBSD was removed in chokidar 6.0.0 npmjs.com
• Removed handler.js:isIBMi
  isIBMi was removed in chokidar 6.0.0 npmjs.com
• Removed handler.js:isLinux
  isLinux was removed in chokidar 6.0.0 npmjs.com
• Removed handler.js:isMacos
  isMacos was removed in chokidar 6.0.0 npmjs.com

And 27 more in this version.

5.0.0

6 breaking changes, first published November 25, 2025.

• Removed
  Node.js versions older than v20.19 are no longer supported; upgrade Node.js before using this release. github.com
• Removed FSWatcherKnownEventMap
  FSWatcherKnownEventMap was removed in chokidar 5.0.0 npmjs.com
• Configuration changed
  The package is now ESM-only, so CommonJS require() of it no longer works; users must use import. Node.js must be v20.19 or later, which supports loading ESM from CJS. github.com
• Signature changed FSWatcherEventMap
  Was type FSWatcherEventMap = FSWatcherKnownEventMap & {[k in Exclude<EventName, keyof FSWatcherKnownEventMap>]: EmitArgs;}; now interface FSWatcherEventMap. npmjs.com
• Signature changed handler.js:NodeFsHandler._handleDir
  Was _handleDir(dir: string, stats: Stats, initialAdd: boolean, depth: number, target: string, wh: WatchHelper, realpath: string): Promise<(() => void) | undefined>; now _handleDir(dir: string, stats: Stats, initialAdd: boolean, depth... npmjs.com
• Signature changed handler.js:NodeFsHandler._handleRead
  Was _handleRead(directory: string, initialAdd: boolean, wh: WatchHelper, target: Path, dir: Path, depth: number, throttler: Throttler): Promise<unknown> | undefined; now _handleRead(directory: string, initialAdd: boolean, wh: WatchHelper... npmjs.com

Check your code

These are the changes. To see which of them reach your code, scan a public repository, or have your coding agent call check_code with your manifest or lockfile over MCP. The API reads every change in every version, not only the newest. On Team and up, a fix pull request opens for the changes that reach a connected repository. Nothing merges or deploys.