Workshop Intermediate

Git Hooked

Approved

Session Description

Git hooks make for a great help in OSS maintenance and are a very practical and useful tool that a lot of organisations in the software industry can benefit from adopting but I feel there's a lack a conversation or a lack of exposure around them.

This workshop will cover how git handles hooks internally (alongwith an overview of git internals), how to write your own hooks, the pre-commit framework, a bingo of common problems you might face setting up your own hooks or sharing them and demonstrations of how I've adopted pre-commit hooks in professional settings as well as fun experiments I've done on my own personal workflows (meta-hooks, fun TUI updates).

Introduction to git hooks
- What git hooks are and why they matter
- Local vs. server-side hooks (brief overview, focus on local)
- Real-world examples of hooks in action
- Going over Git internals relevant to hooks: how Git executes them, what chaining/limitations exist.
Exploring built-in hooks
- Tour of the .git/hooks directory
- Demo: activating a sample hook
Hands-on with Pre-Commit hooks
- Writing a simple custom hook
- Adding checks for commit messages, file changes, or secrets
- Sharing hooks across a team
Other useful hooks
- Exploring the uses for commit-msg , pre-push and post-merge
Leveraging the ecosystem
- Introduction to pre-commit framework (multi-language support, shareable configs)
- Using Husky for JavaScript/Node projects
- Comparing custom hooks vs. ecosystem tools
Building complex hooks
- Either pick from a prepared list of fun/useful hook ideas or add support for a project you already use
Putting It All Together
- Designing a hook strategy for your workflow/team
- Where hooks fit in modern CI practices
- Resources to go further

Key Takeaways

What Git hooks are and how they fit into development workflows
Hands-on experience writing and customizing Git hooks
How you can integrate hooks into team projects with frameworks like pre-commit or Husky
Explore creative and practical applications to make workflows smoother

By covering projects that enable you to go beyond default IDE code-formatting and linting in general functionalities as well as in specific field examples, the workshop aims to get folks aware about adopting existing pre-commit hooks as well as to start thinking creatively in this space about how they can make hooks to work within their own specific contexts and software practices.

References

https://git-scm.com/book/ms/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Hooks

Session Categories

Engineering practice - productivity, debugging

Which track are you applying for?

Main track

Speakers

Akshit Tyagi

SWE Intern | LambdaTest

I am a final-year undergrad at JIIT Noida with experience working in the software industry as a backend engineer and contributing to open-source projects where I've got to work with git hooks extensively (working in a workflow that has them, helping adopt workflows to include them, and also contributing pre-commit hook support to projects without them). He also volunteers at FOSS United, OSDC and at conferences like PyCon India and PyDelhi Conf while also occasionally giving talks at open-source meetups.

Reviews

This doesn't seem to be enough content to fill a full workshop time

Reviewer #1 Not Sure

Good for a talk. I'm not sure if we're reviewing workshop proposals too.

Reviewer #2 Approved

Can do this as a short lightning talk instead.

Reviewer #3 Approved

This is an interesting workshop proposal. Hooks have umpteen applications. It would have helped if the proposal had given examples of what would be covered during the workshop, as a reference for potential attendees. Not having this leaves things to imagination, and is a shortcoming in the proposal, but this can be remedied by getting the proposer for an update.

The longer timeline is useful as attendees can actually try out stuff during the workshop. Trying out things in bash, python and node, plus debugging with multiple cases should utilize the time effectively.

Reviewer #4 Approved