Husky - Git Hooks Made Easy

Husky is a tool that makes Git hooks easy to use and manage. It allows you to run scripts automatically before commits, pushes, and other Git operations, helping you enforce code quality, run tests, and maintain consistent standards across your team.

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📦 Installation

Install husky via npm, yarn, or pnpm:

npm install --save-dev husky
# or
yarn add --dev husky
# or
pnpm add --save-dev husky

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🔧 Basic Usage

1. Initialize Husky

npx husky init

This creates a .husky directory with a sample pre-commit hook.

2. Create Your First Hook

Add a pre-commit hook to run linting:

echo "npm run lint" > .husky/pre-commit

3. Configure Package Scripts

Add helpful scripts to your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "prepare": "husky",
    "lint": "eslint .",
    "test": "vitest run"
  }
}

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✨ Advanced Features

Multiple Hooks

Create different hooks for different Git operations:

# Pre-commit: lint and format
echo "npm run lint && npm run format" > .husky/pre-commit

# Pre-push: run tests
echo "npm test" > .husky/pre-push

# Commit-msg: validate commit message
echo "npx commitlint --edit $1" > .husky/commit-msg

Bypass Hooks Temporarily

Sometimes you need to skip hooks:

git commit --no-verify -m "emergency fix"

Integration with lint-staged

Combine Husky with lint-staged for optimal performance:

npm install --save-dev lint-staged

Add to package.json:

{
  "lint-staged": {
    "*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}": ["eslint --fix", "prettier --write"],
    "*.{json,md}": ["prettier --write"]
  }
}

Update .husky/pre-commit:

npx lint-staged

Custom Hook Scripts

Create more complex hooks with shell scripts:

#!/bin/sh
. "$(dirname "$0")/_/husky.sh"

# Run type checking
npm run type-check || exit 1

# Run tests for changed files
npm run test:changed || exit 1

echo "✅ All checks passed!"

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📚 Best Practices

• Keep Hooks Fast: Only run checks on staged files to avoid slowing down commits
• Use lint-staged: Process only changed files for better performance
• Document Your Hooks: Add comments explaining what each hook does
• Team Alignment: Ensure all team members understand and agree on hook policies
• Graceful Failures: Provide clear error messages when hooks fail
• CI/CD Integration: Run the same checks in your CI pipeline as backup

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🎯 Common Use Cases

Enforce Code Quality

.husky/pre-commit

npm run lint
npm run format:check
npm run type-check

Prevent Bad Commits

.husky/commit-msg

npx commitlint --edit $1

Run Tests Before Push

.husky/pre-push

npm run test:coverage

Automatic Dependency Updates

.husky/post-merge

npm install

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📖 Official Documentation

For more details, check out the Husky official documentation.