Claude Code Hooks: A Complete Guide to Automating Your AI Coding Workflow
· 8 min read
Claude Code Hooks: A Complete Guide to Automating Your AI Coding Workflow
If you've been using Claude Code for more than a week, you've probably noticed a pattern: you keep telling it the same things. "Run prettier after editing." "Don't touch the .env file." "Run the tests before you stop." These aren't complex instructions — they're rules. And rules shouldn't depend on an LLM remembering to follow them.
That's exactly what Claude Code hooks solve. They're deterministic automation that runs at specific points in Claude Code's lifecycle, executed by the harness itself — not by Claude. If you configure a hook to format code after every edit, it will format code after every edit. No exceptions. No "I forgot."