---
title: Build watch paths · Cloudflare Pages docs
description: When you connect a git repository to Pages, by default a change to any file in the repository will trigger a Pages build. You can configure Pages to include or exclude specific paths to specify if Pages should skip a build for a given path. This can be especially helpful if you are using a monorepo project structure and want to limit the amount of builds being kicked off.
lastUpdated: 2024-10-25T02:06:25.000Z
source_url:
  html: https://3600593d.preview.developers.cloudflare.com/pages/configuration/build-watch-paths/index.md
  md: https://3600593d.preview.developers.cloudflare.com/pages/configuration/build-watch-paths/
---

When you connect a git repository to Pages, by default a change to any file in the repository will trigger a Pages build. You can configure Pages to include or exclude specific paths to specify if Pages should skip a build for a given path. This can be especially helpful if you are using a monorepo project structure and want to limit the amount of builds being kicked off.

## Configure paths

To configure which paths are included and excluded:

1. In **Overview**, select your Pages project.
2. Go to **Settings** > **Build** > **Build watch paths**. Pages will default to setting your project’s includes paths to everything (\[\*]) and excludes paths to nothing (`[]`).

The configuration fields can be filled in two ways:

* **Static filepaths**: Enter the precise name of the file you are looking to include or exclude (for example, `docs/README.md`).
* **Wildcard syntax:** Use wildcards to match multiple path directories. You can specify wildcards at the start or end of your rule.

Wildcard syntax

A wildcard (`*`) is a character that is used within rules. It can be placed alone to match anything or placed at the start or end of a rule to allow for better control over branch configuration. A wildcard will match zero or more characters.For example, if you wanted to match all branches that started with `fix/` then you would create the rule `fix/*` to match strings like `fix/1`, `fix/bugs`or `fix/`.

For each path in a push event, build watch paths will be evaluated as follows:

* Paths satisfying excludes conditions are ignored first
* Any remaining paths are checked against includes conditions
* If any matching path is found, a build is triggered. Otherwise the build is skipped

Pages will bypass the path matching for a push event and default to building the project if:

* A push event contains 0 file changes, in case a user pushes a empty push event to trigger a build
* A push event contains 3000+ file changes or 20+ commits

## Examples

### Example 1

If you want to trigger a build from all changes within a set of directories, such as all changes in the folders `project-a/` and `packages/`

* Include paths: `project-a/*, packages/*`
* Exclude paths: \`\`

### Example 2

If you want to trigger a build for any changes, but want to exclude changes to a certain directory, such as all changes in a docs/ directory

* Include paths: `*`
* Exclude paths: `docs/*`

### Example 3

If you want to trigger a build for a specific file or specific filetype, for example all files ending in `.md`.

* Include paths: `*.md`
* Exclude paths: \`\`
