Claude Code Hooks: Automating Your Development Workflow

Every developer has tasks they repeat endlessly. Run linter after changes. Update documentation when code changes. Run tests before committing. Format code before saving. These repetitive tasks eat into your day, one small interruption at a time. Claude Code hooks turn these manual steps into automatic workflows.

What Are Hooks?

Hooks are scripts that execute automatically when certain events occur. Think of them as triggers: "When X happens, do Y." Claude Code supports several hook points that let you inject custom behavior into your workflow.

The power of hooks lies in their consistency. A hook runs every time, without fail. No forgetting to run the linter. No skipping tests because you're in a hurry. The automation ensures quality without requiring willpower.

Common Hook Use Cases

Pre-Commit Quality Gates

Before any commit reaches your repository, hooks can verify that code meets your standards:

• Linting: Catch style violations before they enter the codebase
• Type checking: Ensure TypeScript or other typed languages compile cleanly
• Test running: Verify tests pass before code is committed
• Secret scanning: Prevent accidental commits of API keys or passwords

Post-Change Automation

After Claude makes changes, hooks can handle follow-up tasks:

• Auto-formatting: Apply Prettier, Black, or gofmt automatically
• Documentation updates: Regenerate API docs from code comments
• Dependency checks: Verify no new vulnerabilities were introduced
• Build verification: Ensure the project still compiles

Setting Up Your First Hook

Hooks live in your project's configuration. Here's a simple example that runs ESLint after every file change:

hooks:
  post-change:
    - command: npx eslint --fix .
      description: "Auto-fix linting issues"

This configuration tells Claude Code: "After I make any changes, run ESLint with auto-fix." The result is clean code without manual intervention.

Advanced Hook Patterns

Conditional Execution

Not every hook should run on every change. Use conditions to target specific scenarios:

• Only run TypeScript checks when .ts files change
• Only regenerate docs when source files are modified
• Skip expensive tests on documentation-only changes

Chained Hooks

Multiple hooks can run in sequence, each building on the previous:

1. Format code
2. Run linter
3. Execute tests
4. Generate documentation
5. Commit if all pass

Failure Handling

When a hook fails, you have options. Stop everything and alert the developer. Auto-fix if possible and continue. Log the failure but proceed anyway. The right choice depends on the hook's purpose and your workflow requirements.

Best Practices

Keep Hooks Fast

Slow hooks break flow. If a hook takes more than a few seconds, developers will resent it. Either make it faster or run it asynchronously. Background hooks can notify you of issues without blocking your work.

Make Hooks Idempotent

Running a hook twice should produce the same result as running it once. This prevents cascading changes and makes debugging easier. If formatting code produces different output each time, something is wrong.

Document Your Hooks

New team members need to understand what automation is in place. Document what each hook does, why it exists, and how to bypass it when necessary. Hooks should help, not mystify.

Real-World Examples

The Full-Stack Project

A typical web application might use hooks for:

• Frontend: ESLint, Prettier, TypeScript compilation
• Backend: Go vet, security scanning, API doc generation
• Database: Migration validation, seed data verification
• Integration: Docker build verification, health checks

The Open Source Library

Library maintainers benefit from hooks that:

• Verify examples in documentation actually work
• Check that public API hasn't changed unexpectedly
• Ensure changelog entries exist for notable changes
• Validate that version numbers are updated correctly

Getting Started

Start small. Pick one repetitive task that annoys you - maybe running the linter or formatting code. Create a hook for it. Live with it for a week. Once you see the benefit, add another. Build your automation gradually, learning what works for your specific workflow.

The goal isn't to automate everything. It's to automate the right things - the tasks that interrupt your flow, the checks that you sometimes forget, the quality gates that should never be skipped. Let hooks handle the boring parts so you can focus on the interesting ones.