Hooks Manager Skill

Version: 1.0.0 Category: Enforcement Type: Conversational (generates configuration) Duration: 1-3 minutes

Purpose

CLAUDE.md rules are advisory -- Claude can ignore them. Hooks are mechanical -- they execute automatically and cannot be bypassed. This skill detects a project's tech stack and available linters, then generates a .claude/settings.json with PostToolUse (lint) and PreToolUse (security) hooks configured.

"The difference between 'I told it not to' and 'it physically cannot' is everything."

Execution Steps

Step 1: Locate Hook Scripts

Determine the path to the Artifex hooks directory. Check in order:

1. ~/.claude/hooks/ (if installed via installer)
2. The Artifex repo's hooks/ directory (if running from source)

Verify both post-write-lint.sh and pre-command-security.sh exist and are executable. If not found, report the issue and offer to create them.

Set HOOKS_DIR to the resolved path for use in settings.json.

Step 2: Detect Tech Stack

Use Glob and file existence checks to identify the project's technologies:

File/Pattern	Technology	Linter to check
package.json, *.js, *.ts, *.jsx, *.tsx	JavaScript/TypeScript	biome, eslint
*.py, pyproject.toml, setup.py, requirements.txt	Python	ruff, flake8
*.sh, *.bash	Shell scripts	shellcheck
*.go, go.mod	Go	go vet
Cargo.toml, *.rs	Rust	cargo clippy

For each detected technology, check if the corresponding linter is installed:

command -v biome >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "biome available" || echo "biome not found"
command -v eslint >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "eslint available" || echo "eslint not found"
command -v ruff >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "ruff available" || echo "ruff not found"
command -v flake8 >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "flake8 available" || echo "flake8 not found"
command -v shellcheck >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "shellcheck available" || echo "shellcheck not found"
command -v go >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "go available" || echo "go not found"
command -v cargo >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "cargo available" || echo "cargo not found"

Step 3: Present Detection Results

Show the user what was detected:

Tech Stack Detection
====================

Detected technologies:
  - JavaScript/TypeScript (found package.json, *.ts files)
  - Shell scripts (found *.sh files)

Available linters:
  - eslint (for JS/TS) ........... installed
  - biome (for JS/TS) ............ not found
  - shellcheck (for shell) ....... installed
  - ruff (for Python) ............ not applicable

Hooks to configure:
  1. PostToolUse: Auto-lint after Write/Edit
     - Will run eslint on JS/TS files
     - Will run shellcheck on shell scripts
  2. PreToolUse: Security guard on Bash commands
     - Blocks catastrophic deletes (rm -rf /, ~, $HOME)
     - Blocks force-push to main/master
     - Blocks reading .env files
     - Blocks chmod 777
     - Blocks pipe-to-shell (curl | sh)

Step 4: Check Existing Configuration

Read .claude/settings.json if it exists. If it already has hooks configured:

• Show the current hook configuration
• Ask the user whether to merge (add new hooks alongside existing) or replace
• Never silently overwrite existing hooks

If .claude/settings.json does not exist, note that it will be created.

Step 5: Generate Configuration

Create or update .claude/settings.json with the hooks configuration:

{
  "hooks": {
    "PostToolUse": [
      {
        "matcher": "Write|Edit",
        "hook": "HOOKS_DIR/post-write-lint.sh $TOOL_INPUT_FILE $TOOL_OUTPUT_FILE"
      }
    ],
    "PreToolUse": [
      {
        "matcher": "Bash",
        "hook": "HOOKS_DIR/pre-command-security.sh $TOOL_INPUT"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Replace HOOKS_DIR with the actual resolved path from Step 1.

If existing settings have other keys (not hooks), preserve them when writing.

Step 6: Verify Installation

After writing the configuration:

1. Confirm .claude/settings.json was written successfully
2. Show the final configuration to the user
3. Explain what each hook does

Step 7: Suggest Missing Linters

If any detected technology has no linter available, suggest installation:

Technology	Recommended linter	Install command
JavaScript/TypeScript	biome	npm install --save-dev @biomejs/biome
JavaScript/TypeScript	eslint	npm install --save-dev eslint
Python	ruff	pip install ruff or brew install ruff
Python	flake8	pip install flake8
Shell	shellcheck	brew install shellcheck or apt install shellcheck
Go	go vet	Included with Go installation
Rust	cargo clippy	rustup component add clippy

Customization

If the user asks to customize, support these operations:

Add a security rule

Ask for:

1. The command pattern to block (regex)
2. The explanation message

Then edit pre-command-security.sh to add the new check before the final exit 0:

# User-defined rule: <description>
if echo "$COMMAND" | grep -qE '<pattern>'; then
  block "<explanation>"
fi

Remove a security rule

Show the current rules in pre-command-security.sh and ask which to remove. Comment out or delete the corresponding if block.

Add a linter

Ask for:

1. The file extension(s)
2. The linter command
3. The arguments

Then edit post-write-lint.sh to add a new case in the run_lint() function.

Disable lint for a file type

Remove or comment out the corresponding case in post-write-lint.sh.

Rules

1. Never silently overwrite existing configuration. Always show what will change and ask for confirmation.
2. Preserve existing settings.json keys. Only modify the hooks section.
3. Use absolute paths in hook commands. Relative paths break when the working directory changes.
4. The lint hook always exits 0. Lint results are advisory feedback, not gates.
5. The security hook exits 1 to block. Security violations are hard stops.
6. Suggest but do not auto-install linters. The user decides what to install.