Prompt-Based Hooks - Claude Code
Use Claude itself to handle hook logic instead of shell scripts.
Prompt-based hooks let Claude evaluate the event with a short prompt, making allow/deny decisions that are too nuanced for pure shell scripts.
What it does
Instead of a shell command, you provide a prompt. Claude Code sends the event context to a lightweight model call, and the response shapes the hook's decision. The model can reason about the content of a prompt or tool call, not just regex-match it. This opens up semantic policies - "block this if it looks like a destructive production action".
When to use it
- Policies that require judgment ("is this prompt about the production DB?").
- Content classification that a regex can't do reliably.
- Advisory hooks that suggest improvements rather than block.
- Cases where the event context is too complex for simple checks.
Gotchas
- Prompt-based hooks add model latency to every fire. Pick a cheap, fast model.
- Non-determinism is a feature and a bug - the same event might decide differently twice.
- For safety-critical policy, pair with a deterministic shell hook for defense in depth.
Official docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/hooks.md#prompt-based-hooks
Technical content at the intersection of AI and development. Building with AI agents, Claude Code, and modern dev tools - then showing you exactly how it works.
Was this helpful?
Related Guides
Related Tools
Claude Code
Anthropic's agentic coding CLI. Runs in your terminal, edits files autonomously, spawns sub-agents, and maintains memory...
View ToolCodeburn
Interactive TUI dashboard that shows exactly where your Claude Code and Cursor tokens are going, in real time.
View Tool
Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic's flagship reasoning model. Best-in-class for coding, long-context analysis, and agentic workflows. 1M token c...
View ToolConductor
Mac app for running parallel Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor agents in isolated workspaces. Watch every agent work at onc...
View ToolRelated Videos
Generate Videos in Codex + Claude Code with This...
Check out HeyGen! https://heygen.1stcollab.com/developersdigest The video introduces HeyGen, an AI video generation platform with a rich API and a CLI that lets developers create, fetch, and manipula...
10x Design in Claude Code and Codex
Try Higgsfield: https://higgsfield.ai/s/higgsfield-general-campaign-developersdigest-juDMTi AI coding agents can build entire websites in minutes, but the default results often still look generic and...
Self Improving Applications with Claude Code & Codex
Build a Self‑Improving Next.js App: Supabase + Vercel Eve + GitHub Issues + Agent Loops Check out Supabase: https://supabase.plug.dev/1wWOTGS The video demonstrates how to build and deploy a self-im...
Related Posts
Claude Outages Are a Workflow Design Problem
Claude outages and 529 overloads expose whether your AI coding workflow has checkpoints, receipts, model-switch paths, a...
Claude Opus 4.8 Is an Agent Honesty Release
Claude Opus 4.8 looks like a benchmark bump, but the developer story is better honesty, dynamic workflows, and effort co...
Hookyard Shows Why Claude Code Hooks Need a Package Manager
Claude Code hooks are powerful, but discovery and install still feel like manual JSON surgery. The Hookyard prototype sh...
Anthropic Sonnet 4.5 in Claude Code
Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4.5 isn't just another model increment. The company claims they've observed it maintaining foc...
Make Your Coding Agents Talk: Voice Summaries with the Rime CLI
The Rime CLI streams natural-sounding text-to-speech straight from your terminal, so Claude Code, Codex, Devin, and Open...
How to Make Claude Code 10x Better at Design: Image and Video Assets From the Agent Loop
Claude Code and Codex can build a website in minutes, but the result often looks generic and obviously AI-generated. Hig...
