diff --git a/jdownie/repo/repo b/jdownie/repo/repo
index eef130c..8fc0196 100755
--- a/jdownie/repo/repo
+++ b/jdownie/repo/repo
@@ -8,12 +8,34 @@ import shutil
 import json
 import time
 from pathlib import Path
+import os
+
+def get_latest_git_mtime(repos: dict) -> float:
+  max_mtime = 0.0
+  for k, info in repos.items():
+    repo_path = os.path.expanduser(info.get("path"))
+    if not repo_path:
+      continue
+    git_dir = os.path.join(repo_path, ".git")
+    try:
+      mtime = os.path.getmtime(git_dir)
+      max_mtime = max(max_mtime, mtime)
+    except (FileNotFoundError, NotADirectoryError):
+      continue
+  return max_mtime
+
+def is_repo_status_outdated(repos):
+  latest_mtime = get_latest_git_mtime(repos)
+  last_mtime = 0
+  if os.path.exists(filepath("mtime")):
+    with open(filepath("mtime"), "rt") as fin:
+      content = fin.read().strip()
+      print(f"content: {content}")
+      last_mtime = float(content)
+  print(f"{latest_mtime} {last_mtime}")
+  return latest_mtime > last_mtime
 
 def to_keycap(ch: str) -> str:
-  """
-  Converts a single character (0-9, #, *) into a keycap emoji.
-  Returns the original character if not valid for keycaps.
-  """
   if ch in '0123456789#*':
     return ch + '\uFE0F\u20E3'
   else:
@@ -157,10 +179,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
   elif sys.argv[1] == "status":
     dat = dict()
     cache_file = filepath("status")
-    if is_file_recent(cache_file):
-      with open(cache_file, "rt") as fin:
-        dat = json.load(fin)
-    else:
+    if is_repo_status_outdated(cfg):
       for k in r:
         path = os.path.expanduser( cfg[k]["path"] )
         if os.path.exists( path ):
@@ -193,6 +212,11 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
           dat[k] = props
       with open(cache_file, "wt") as fout:
         json.dump(dat, fout, indent = 2)
+      with open(filepath("mtime"), "wt") as fout:
+        fout.write(str(get_latest_git_mtime(cfg)))
+    else:
+      with open(cache_file, "rt") as fin:
+        dat = json.load(fin)
     ml = 0
     for k in dat:
       ml = len(k) if len(k) > ml else ml