Git Hooks — The Missing Tutorial

Automate stuff? That’s what programming should be about

Using Git Hooks is just like having automated robots who do whatever you want, when a command is run in Git.

Now, since you should be running Git anyway (unless you are running some other version control software) so it is like you’ve got slaves working for you for free! How great is that!

Photo by Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition on Unsplash

Difficulty: Beginner | Easy | Normal | Challenging

Prerequisites:

• The tutorial is designed for the Mac, and refers to commands using Mac OS
• Be able to use VIM to make changes to a file (Guide HERE)
• Have some familiarity with Git (Common commands are HERE)
• Have a reason to automate something along with your Git commands (although some suggestions are listed below)

Terminology

Git: Git is a distributed version-control system for tracking changes in source code during software development

Git Hooks: Programs you can use to tigger actions at points in Git’s execution

Script: A program which is carried out by another program

Vim: This is a contraction of Vi and IMproved. That is, it is a clone (with additions) of the vi text editor for Unix. In other words, it is a command-line interface for creating and manipulating files

The uses of Git Hooks

Git Hooks allow you to run scripts as commands are run using Git from the command line.

There are loads of opportunities to use this, and get automation working for you.

Here are some ideas:

Enforce preconditions for merging

Make all programmers working on a repository complete their TODOs before committing. No putting off work until tomorrow!

Enforce the format…