Hooks

Actions that fire automatically at the right moment.

Everything so far still needs someone to ask. A hook doesn't. It's an action wired to a moment: when X happens, do Y, automatically, every time. The motion-sensor light of the agent world, where nobody flips a switch, you just walk up and it turns on.

Hooks matter because prompts and rules are requests, and requests can be forgotten, by you or occasionally by the agent. A hook is a guarantee. “Format every file after editing” as a rule is a polite suggestion; as a hook, it is physics.

Each hook attaches to one named moment from a fixed menu the tool publishes. You can't invent new moments, only decide what happens at the existing ones. Claude Code's menu, grouped (skim, don't memorize):

(Cursor publishes its own menu with its own names, so check the tool you're using. Both lists keep growing.)

The distinction that unlocks everything: “pre” hooks can intervene, where the tool pauses and your hook can approve, warn, or block. “Post” hooks can only observe, since the thing already happened; they watch and record. Safety lives in pres; bookkeeping lives in posts.

Most people meet hooks inside a plugin: installed by someone else, working silently. But the day you think “I wish this happened automatically every time,” you know what to ask for. Tell your agent to set up a hook for it.

AI Clubhouse · Vibe Coding Guide