Claude Code Hooks: Automate Your Workflow with Event-Driven Commands (2026)

Claude Code hooks are custom shell commands that execute automatically when specific events happen during your Claude Code session. Think of them as automated responses to Claude Code's actions -- when it writes a file, you can auto-format it. When it creates a commit, you can auto-run tests. When it finishes a task, you can send a notification.

Why hooks matter

Without hooks, you manually run formatting, testing, and verification after Claude Code makes changes. With hooks, all of that happens automatically. Your workflow becomes:

• Tell Claude Code what to build
• Claude Code writes the code
• Hooks auto-format, auto-test, auto-lint -- all in the background
• You review clean, tested output

This eliminates entire categories of manual work from your development process.

How hooks work

Hooks are configured in your Claude Code settings file (~/.claude/settings.json or project-level .claude/settings.json). Each hook specifies:

• Event: When to trigger (before/after file write, commit, etc.)
• Command: The shell command to execute
• Matcher (optional): File patterns to filter which events trigger the hook

Common hook patterns

Auto-format on file save

When Claude Code writes a TypeScript file, automatically run Prettier:

``json { "hooks": { "afterFileWrite": [ { "command": "npx prettier --write $FILE", "matcher": "*/.{ts,tsx,js,jsx}" } ] } } `

Auto-lint after edits

Run ESLint on every file Claude Code modifies:

`json { "hooks": { "afterFileWrite": [ { "command": "npx eslint --fix $FILE", "matcher": "*/.{ts,tsx}" } ] } } `

Run tests before commit

Prevent commits if tests fail:

`json { "hooks": { "beforeCommit": [ { "command": "npm test" } ] } } `

Custom notification on completion

Send yourself a notification when Claude Code finishes a long task:

`json { "hooks": { "afterResponse": [ { "command": "osascript -e 'display notification "Claude Code finished" with title "Done"'" } ] } } `

Available hook events

|-------|---------------|

Event	When it fires
afterFileWrite	After Claude Code writes or edits a file
beforeCommit	Before Claude Code creates a git commit
afterResponse	After Claude Code finishes responding
beforeToolUse	Before Claude Code uses any tool

Best practices

Keep hooks fast. Slow hooks block Claude Code. Auto-formatting a single file is fine. Running your entire test suite on every file save is not.

Use matchers. Don't run TypeScript hooks on CSS files. Matchers let you scope hooks to relevant file types.

Test hooks manually first. Before adding a hook, run the command manually to make sure it works. A broken hook can disrupt your entire workflow.

Use project-level settings. Put hooks in your project's .claude/settings.json so they're specific to that project and shared with your team.

Advanced: chaining hooks

You can run multiple commands on the same event:

`json { "hooks": { "afterFileWrite": [ { "command": "npx prettier --write $FILE", "matcher": "*/.ts" }, { "command": "npx eslint --fix $FILE", "matcher": "*/.ts" } ] } } `

Hooks run in order. If one fails, subsequent hooks for that event are skipped.

Getting started

• Open your project's .claude/settings.json` (create it if it doesn't exist)
• Add a simple hook -- start with auto-formatting
• Test it by asking Claude Code to write a file
• Verify the hook fired by checking the output

Hooks are one of the features that separate basic Claude Code usage from power usage. Once you set them up, you never go back.