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title = "Get started"
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# Get started

`gw` is a simple program, that you can use to pull changes from a remote repository and run scripts on the change.

## Prerequisites

First, make sure, that `gw` is installed successfully and is in your PATH. If you don't have it, start with [Installation](/usage/installation):

```sh
$ gw --version
0.4.0
```

The other necessary part is a git repository to which you have pull access. It is recommended to use a repository that you know, but if you don't have one at hand, you can use the [daniel7grant/time](https://github.com/daniel7grant/time) repository. This is an example repository that is updated in every minute, so it is useful to test the auto update of `gw`. First clone this repository (if you are using your own, clone again), and enter the cloned directory:

```sh
git clone https://github.com/daniel7grant/time.git
cd time
```

## Pull files automatically

To get started, point `gw` to this local repository. By default it pulls the changes every minute. We can add the `--verbose` or `-v` flag to see when the changes occur:

```sh
gw /path/to/repo -v
```

If you are using your own repository, create a commit in a different place, and see how it gets automatically pulled (in the case of the `time` repo, there is a commit every minute). The verbose logs should print that a git pull happened:

```sh
$ gw /path/to/repo -v
# ...
2024-03-10T14:48:13.447Z [DEBUG] Checked out fc23d21 on branch main.
2024-03-10T14:48:13.447Z [INFO ] There are updates, pulling.
```

Also check the files or the `git log` to see that it the repository has been updated:

```sh
cat DATETIME  # it should contain the latest time
git log -1  # it should be a commit in the last minute
```

## Run scripts on pull

Pulling files automatically is useful but the `--script` or `-s` flag unlocks `gw`'s potential: it can run any kind of custom script if there are any changes. For a simple example, we can print the content of a file to the log with `cat`:

```sh
gw /path/to/repo -v --script 'cat DATETIME'
```

This will run every time there is a new commit, and after the pull it will print the file contents. You can see that the results are printed in the log:

```sh
$ gw /path/to/repo -v --script 'cat DATETIME'
# ...
2024-10-18T16:28:53.907Z [INFO ] There are updates, running actions.
2024-10-18T16:28:53.907Z [INFO ] Running script "cat" in /path/to/repo.
2024-10-18T16:28:53.913Z [DEBUG] [cat] 2024-10-18T16:28:00+0000
2024-10-18T16:28:53.913Z [INFO ] Script "cat" finished successfully.
```

You can add multiple scripts, which will run one after another. Use these scripts to build source files, restarts deployments and anything else that you can imagine.

For more information, see [Scripts](/usage/actions#scripts).

### Run subprocess, restart on pull

It is often enough to run scripts, but many times you also want to maintain a long-running process e.g. for web services. `gw` can help you with this, using the `--process` or `-p` flag. This will start a process in the background and restart it on pull.

For example starting a python web server:

```sh
$ gw /path/to/repo -v --process "python -m http.server"
# ...
2024-10-06T21:58:21.306Z [DEBUG] Setting up ProcessAction "python -m http.server" on change.
2024-10-06T21:58:21.306Z [DEBUG] Starting process: "python" in directory /path/to/repo.
2024-10-06T21:58:56.211Z [DEBUG] [python] Serving HTTP on 0.0.0.0 port 8000 (http://0.0.0.0:8000/) ...
```

This will run a python process in the background and stop and start it again if a git pull happened. Just wrap your deployment script with `gw` and see it gets updated every time you push to git.

For more information, see [Processes](/usage/actions#processes).

## Next steps

If you like `gw`, there are multiple ways to use it for real-life use-cases.

If you want to put the `gw` script in the background, you can:

- wrap into a [systemd unit](/usage/systemd), if you want to manage it with a single file;
- start in a [docker container](/usage/docker), if you already use Docker in your workflow;
- or run periodically with [cron](/usage/crontab), if you don't have shell access to the server.

If you are interested in some ideas on how to use `gw`:

- if you only need to pull files, see [PHP guide](/guides/php);
- if you are using a dynamic language (e.g. JavaScript, Python, Ruby), see [Guide for dynamic languages](/guides/dynamic) for example on running a process;
- if you are using a compiled language (e.g. TypeScript, Go, Rust), see [Guide for compiled languages](/guides/compiled) for example on compiling a program;
- if you use a `docker-compose.yaml`, see [Guide for docker-compose](guides/docker-compose);
- if you want to easily manage configuration files as GitOps, see [Configuration guide](/guides/configuration);
- for a full-blown example, check out [Netlify](/guides/netlify);
- and many other things, for the incomplete list [guides page](/guides).