Edit Content in an Existing Site

Content editing in static sites often requires manual rebuilds and browser refreshes after every change. MyLittleContentEngine's dotnet watch integration provides instant live reload, automatically detecting markdown changes and refreshing your browser for immediate feedback.

The Editing Workflow

Start the development server with file watching:

dotnet watch

Expected output:

dotnet watch 🔥 Hot reload enabled. For a list of supported edits, see https://aka.ms/dotnet/hot-reload.
dotnet watch 💡 Press Ctrl+R to restart.
Using launch settings from B:\Website\Properties\launchSettings.json...
2025-12-09 12:57:22 info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[14] Now listening on: http://localhost:5131
2025-12-09 12:57:22 info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0] Application started. Press Ctrl+C to shut down.
2025-12-09 12:57:22 info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0] Hosting environment: Development
2025-12-09 12:57:22 info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0] Content root path: B:\Website\

Open your site in a browser and position it side-by-side with your code editor. Make changes to any markdown file in your Content directory, then save. The console will show:

dotnet watch ⌚ File updated: .\Content\guides\edit-content-existing-site.md
dotnet watch ⌚ No C# changes to apply.

The "No C# changes to apply" message indicates we don't have a code change, but our content will still be refreshed in the browser.

Hot Reload vs. Full Restart

Most content changes trigger hot reload (fast, browser auto-refreshes):

  • Editing markdown content
  • Modifying existing frontmatter values
  • Updating images and static assets in the Content directory
  • Changes to frontmatter that affect navigation structure
  • Adding or removing content files
  • Adjusting Razor pages

Some changes require a full restart (stop with Ctrl+C, then rerun dotnet watch):

  • Modifying Program.cs
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