Git Hooks

Overview

Git hooks are scripts that Git runs automatically at defined points in its lifecycle, such as before a commit or after a push is received. Client-side hooks (like pre-commit and commit-msg) enforce local quality checks, while server-side hooks (like pre-receive) enforce policy on shared repositories. Hooks live in .git/hooks, are not committed by default, and must be executable to run.

Syntax / Usage

Create an executable script named after the hook event. A non-zero exit code aborts the operation for "pre" hooks.

# Hooks live in the repository's hooks directory
ls .git/hooks/            # sample hooks end in .sample

# Create a pre-commit hook
cat > .git/hooks/pre-commit <<'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
npm run lint || exit 1
EOF
chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-commit

# Share hooks with the team by pointing Git at a tracked directory
git config core.hooksPath .githooks

Examples

Block commits that fail linting or tests with a pre-commit hook:

#!/bin/sh
# .githooks/pre-commit
npm run lint && npm test
# exit code propagates: non-zero aborts the commit

Enforce a commit-message convention with commit-msg:

#!/bin/sh
# .githooks/commit-msg — $1 is the path to the message file
grep -qE '^(feat|fix|docs|chore): ' "$1" || {
  echo "Message must start with feat:, fix:, docs:, or chore:"
  exit 1
}

Bypass hooks intentionally for an emergency commit:

git commit --no-verify -m "hotfix: skip checks"

Common Mistakes

• Forgetting chmod +x, so the hook is silently ignored
• Expecting hooks in .git/hooks to be shared—they are not tracked or pushed
• Writing slow pre-commit hooks that frustrate developers into using --no-verify
• Relying only on client-side hooks for security, which anyone can skip
• Not setting core.hooksPath to distribute team hooks from a tracked folder

See Also

commit git-workflows remote