browser-sync does not refresh page after changes with Gulp

Question

I'm new to Gulp and I wanted to make use of its automatic scss compiling and browser sync. But I can't get it to work.

I stripped everything down to leave only the contents of the example on the Browsersync website:

http://www.browsersync.io/docs/gulp/#gulp-sass-css

var gulp        = require('gulp');
var browserSync = require('browser-sync').create();
var sass        = require('gulp-sass');

// Static Server + watching scss/html files
gulp.task('serve', ['sass'], function() {

    browserSync.init({
        server: "./app"
    });

    gulp.watch("app/scss/*.scss", ['sass']);
    gulp.watch("app/*.html").on('change', browserSync.reload);
});

// Compile sass into CSS & auto-inject into browsers
gulp.task('sass', function() {
    return gulp.src("app/scss/*.scss")
        .pipe(sass())
        .pipe(gulp.dest("app/css"))
        .pipe(browserSync.stream());
});

gulp.task('default', ['serve']);

I can call gulp serve. The site is showing and I get a message from Browsersync. When I modify the HTML, the page is reloaded. When however I modify the scss, I can see this:

[BS] 1 file changed (test.css)
[15:59:13] Finished 'sass' after 18 ms

but I have to reload manually. What am I missing?

Answer 1

I also faced a similar problem when I was new to browser-sync usage, the command-line was saying "reloading browsers" but the browser was not refreshed at all, the problem was I had not included body tag in my HTML page where the browser-sync can inject script for its functionality, make sure your HTML page has body tag.

Answer 2

You can just inject the changes instead of having to force a full browser refresh on SASS compile if you like.

browserSync.init({
    injectChanges: true,
    server: "./app"
});

gulp.task('sass', function() {
    return gulp.src("app/scss/*.scss")
        .pipe(sass())
        .pipe(gulp.dest("app/css"))
        .pipe(browserSync.stream({match: '**/*.css'}));
});

Answer 3

This is because you're calling browserSync.reload on the html watch and not on the scss watch.

Try this:

gulp.watch("app/scss/*.scss", ['sass']).on('change', browserSync.reload);
gulp.watch("app/*.html").on('change', browserSync.reload);

Answer 4

This is what I use and it work's fine in sass or any other files

gulp.task('browser-sync', function () {
   var files = [
      '*.html',
      'css/**/*.css',
      'js/**/*.js',
      'sass/**/*.scss'
   ];

   browserSync.init(files, {
      server: {
         baseDir: './'
      }
   });
});

Answer 5

I include this on my html, right below the body tag. It works.

<script type='text/javascript' id="__bs_script__">//<![CDATA[
document.write("<script async src='http://HOST:3000/browser-sync/browser-sync-client.2.11.1.js'><\/script>".replace("HOST", location.hostname));//]]>
</script>

Answer 6

Ran into this same problem trying to reload php and js files and stream css files. I was able to use stream only by using a pipe method, which makes sense. Anyway, here's what worked for me:

gulp.watch(['./**/*.css']).on('change', function (e) {
    return gulp.src( e.path )
        .pipe( browserSync.stream() );
});

But, I actually prefer @pixie's answer modified:

gulp.task('default', function() {
    var files = [
            './**/*'
        ];
    browserSync.init({
        files : files,
        proxy : 'localhost',
        watchOptions : {
            ignored : 'node_modules/*',
            ignoreInitial : true
        }
    });
});

Answer 7

I also had the same issue. It worked when I called the reload method as a separate task.

gulp.task('browserSync', function() {
  browserSync.init(null, {
    server: {
      baseDir: './'
    },
  });
})

gulp.task('reload', function(){
    browserSync.reload()
})

gulp.task('watch', ['sass', 'css', 'browserSync'], function(){
   gulp.watch('*.html', ['reload']);
})

Answer 8

Sometimes when using the CLI you don't have the script inserted in your HTML main files so you should manually add this or use gulp.

    <!-- START: BrowserSync Reloading -->
    <script type='text/javascript' id="__bs_script__">
        //<![CDATA[
        document.write("<script async src='/browser-sync/browser-sync-client.js'><\/script>".replace("HOST", location.hostname));
        //]]>
    </script>
    <!-- END: BrowserSync Reloading -->