Grunt watch task reports stale file changes after external edits

Grunt watch task reports stale file changes after external edits

The goal is to determine whether Grunt's watch task returns stale file-system cache results after a watched file is modified externally, and whether the delayed notification is intentional or an unresolved invalidation bug.

Grunt's watch task is expected to emit file events promptly, but the built-in cache may persist across modifications and only refresh on task restart. Behavior may differ between Grunt 0.9.x and 1.x, and third-party plugins can maintain separate caches, so symptoms may not be consistent across configurations. The documentation does not clearly define the cache invalidation contract.

Is the stale-cache behavior a documented limitation of Grunt watch, does it vary by Grunt major version, and can plugin-specific caches explain inconsistent change notifications?