feat: reload edited buffer after Claude writes to disk

[kam-hak]

Problem

After Claude edits a file that's open in nvim, the buffer shows stale content until the user manually focuses it. Nvim's autoread only checks on focus/CursorHold events, so edits made by an external process (Claude CLI) don't appear immediately.

Fix

After PostToolUse fires, send a targeted checktime call via RPC for just the edited file's buffer. Other open buffers are not affected.

Test plan

• Have a file open in nvim, let Claude edit it — buffer updates without refocusing
• Have other files open — they remain unchanged
• Edit a file not open in nvim — no error, no effect

[kam-hak]

Self-review caught that vim.fn.bufnr(path) uses file-pattern matching (partial + regex), so paths with regex metacharacters like [, ], * could match the wrong buffer. Replaced with an explicit nvim_list_bufs() loop comparing canonical paths via fs_realpath, and scoped checktime to the matched buffer number. Pushed.

[Cannon07]

Hey! Just merged PRs #20 and #21 — thanks for the quick updates on both. PR #23 and #24 now has merge conflicts from the recent merges. Could you rebase it on top of the latest main and resolve the conflicts? Let me know if you need any help. Thanks!

[kam-hak]

Rebased onto main, squashed to a single commit.

Moved the buffer reload outside the DIFF_OPEN guard so it runs whether or not a preview was shown. Otherwise it gets skipped under visible_only mode or with a manually-closed tab.

[Cannon07]

Thanks for the PR!

I tested this on my end but wasn't able to reproduce the stale buffer issue — the buffer seems to reload correctly after Claude edits, even without this change. Could you share the exact steps to reproduce the stale buffer (which file layout, split/tab setup, etc.)

Once I can reproduce the issue, I'd be happy to move forward with this. Thanks!

[crisecheverria]

This happened to me when having a buffer open and then opening claude code inside neovim using :vsplit | term and did an edit via claude code on the opened file. It only updated the buffer when I changed focus from neovim to another app and return into neovim, otherwise i had to run :e to see the change.

[Cannon07]

Thanks for the repro @crisecheverria!

Adding TermLeave to your checktime autocmd should fix it:

vim.o.autoread = true
vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd({ "FocusGained", "BufEnter", "CursorHold", "TermLeave" }, {
  command = "checktime",
})

I'll update the Recommended companion settings in the README to include TermLeave.

Adding TermLeave to your checktime autocmd should fix it as a workaround for now. We're also looking at integrating this into the plugin directly (this PR) so it works out of the box.

[Cannon07]

Hey @kam-hak, Happy to merge this in.

That said, the codebase has changed quite a bit since your last rebase. The buffer reload logic would need to go into core-post-tool.sh instead of claude-close-diff.sh.

Would you be up for rebasing again, or would you prefer I take over from here and integrate the change? Either way works — the nvim_list_bufs + fs_realpath approach is solid.

[kam-hak]

Hey @kam-hak, Happy to merge this in.

That said, the codebase has changed quite a bit since your last rebase. The buffer reload logic would need to go into core-post-tool.sh instead of claude-close-diff.sh.

Would you be up for rebasing again, or would you prefer I take over from here and integrate the change? Either way works — the nvim_list_bufs + fs_realpath approach is solid.

Hey! Yea sorry this is stale now. I wouldn't be able to do this for about a week so please feel free to integrate/merge, or i can do it around Friday if you end up being busy.