Lefthook

The fastest polyglot Git hooks manager out there

A Git hooks manager for Node.js, Ruby, Python and many other types of projects.

Fast. It is written in Go. Can run commands in parallel.
Powerful. It allows to control execution and files you pass to your commands.
Simple. It is single dependency-free binary which can work in any environment.

Install

With Go (>= 1.23):

go install github.com/evilmartians/lefthook@latest

With NPM:

npm install lefthook --save-dev

For Ruby:

gem install lefthook

For Python:

pip install lefthook

Installation guide with more ways to install lefthook: apt, brew, winget, and others.

Usage

Configure your hooks, install them once and forget about it: rely on the magic underneath.

TL;DR

# Configure your hooks
vim lefthook.yml

# Install them to the git project
lefthook install

# Enjoy your work with git
git add -A && git commit -m '...'

More details

Configuration for lefthook.yml config options.
Usage for lefthook CLI options, supported ENVs, and usage tips.
Discussions for questions, ideas, suggestions.

Why Lefthook

Parallel execution

Gives you more speed. Example

pre-push:
  parallel: true

Flexible list of files

If you want your own list. Custom and prebuilt examples.

pre-commit:
  commands:
    frontend-linter:
      run: yarn eslint {staged_files}
    backend-linter:
      run: bundle exec rubocop --force-exclusion {all_files}
    frontend-style:
      files: git diff --name-only HEAD @{push}
      run: yarn stylelint {files}

Glob and regexp filters

If you want to filter list of files. You could find more glob pattern examples here.

pre-commit:
  commands:
    backend-linter:
      glob: "*.rb" # glob filter
      exclude: '(^|/)(application|routes)\.rb$' # regexp filter
      run: bundle exec rubocop --force-exclusion {all_files}

Execute in sub-directory

If you want to execute the commands in a relative path

pre-commit:
  commands:
    backend-linter:
      root: "api/" # Careful to have only trailing slash
      glob: "*.rb" # glob filter
      run: bundle exec rubocop {all_files}

Run scripts

If oneline commands are not enough, you can execute files. Example.

commit-msg:
  scripts:
    "template_checker":
      runner: bash

Tags

If you want to control a group of commands. Example.

pre-push:
  commands:
    packages-audit:
      tags: frontend security
      run: yarn audit
    gems-audit:
      tags: backend security
      run: bundle audit

Support Docker

If you are in the Docker environment. Example.

pre-commit:
  scripts:
    "good_job.js":
      runner: docker run -it --rm <container_id_or_name> {cmd}

Local config

If you a frontend/backend developer and want to skip unnecessary commands or override something into Docker. Description.

# lefthook-local.yml
pre-push:
  exclude_tags:
    - frontend
  commands:
    packages-audit:
      skip: true

Direct control

If you want to run hooks group directly.

$ lefthook run pre-commit

Your own tasks

If you want to run specific group of commands directly.

fixer:
  commands:
    ruby-fixer:
      run: bundle exec rubocop --force-exclusion --safe-auto-correct {staged_files}
    js-fixer:
      run: yarn eslint --fix {staged_files}

$ lefthook run fixer

Optional output

If you don't want to see supporting information:

skip_output:
  - meta #(version and which hook running)
  - success #(output from runners with exit code 0)

evilmartians / lefthook

readme

Lefthook

Install

Usage

TL;DR

More details

Why Lefthook

Parallel execution

Flexible list of files

Glob and regexp filters

Execute in sub-directory

Run scripts

Tags

Support Docker

Local config

Direct control

Your own tasks

Optional output

Guides

Examples

Articles