A method and apparatus for performing an action in response to a file system event is provided. According to one aspect, sets of “event listeners” are associated with a file hierarchy and/or the nodes thereof. Each event listener contains a set of “event handlers.” Each event handler corresponds to a separate type of event that may occur relative to the file hierarchy's nodes. When an event is going to occur relative to the hierarchy or a node thereof, all event listeners that are associated with that hierarchy/node are inspected to determine whether those event listeners contain any event handlers that correspond to the event's type. Those event handlers that correspond to the event's type are placed in an ordered list of event handlers to be invoked. As the event handlers in the list are invoked, programmatic mechanisms that correspond to those event handlers are executed to perform customized user-specified actions.