Coverage Watch

Poll a Clover XML file and display a diff whenever coverage changes — useful for a live TDD feedback loop.

Command Information

• Signature: coverage:watch [--cloverName=] [--cloverDir=] [--interval=5]
• Category: Coverage

Options

Option	Default	Description
--cloverName	clover.xml	Clover XML file name to watch
--cloverDir	storage/app	Directory containing the Clover file
--interval	5	Polling interval in seconds

What It Does

The command reads the Clover file on startup and saves the initial coverage snapshot. It then re-reads the file every --interval seconds. When coverage numbers change — either because tests were re-run or because the file was regenerated — it prints a diff showing which files improved or regressed.

Press Ctrl+C to stop watching.

Examples

Watch with default settings

php artisan coverage:watch

Check every 2 seconds

php artisan coverage:watch --interval=2

Watch a custom Clover file

php artisan coverage:watch --cloverDir=build --cloverName=coverage.xml

TDD Workflow

Keep the watcher running in a terminal split while you write tests:

# Terminal 1 — run tests continuously
php artisan test --coverage-clover=storage/app/clover.xml --watch

# Terminal 2 — watch coverage change in real time
php artisan coverage:watch --interval=3

Related

• coverage:analyze — one-shot analysis
• coverage:generate-tests — scaffold missing tests