How to use Husky for Git hooks
Łukasz Holeczek
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Husky simplifies Git hook management by installing hooks automatically through npm, ensuring all team members use the same pre-commit and pre-push validations. As the creator of CoreUI, a widely used open-source UI library, I’ve implemented Husky in collaborative development workflows throughout my 25 years of development experience. The most effective approach is installing Husky via npm and configuring hooks in package.json or dedicated hook files. This method ensures hooks work consistently across all developers without manual .git/hooks setup.
Install Husky and configure hooks through npm scripts for automatic team-wide enforcement.
npm install --save-dev husky
npx husky init
Then create a pre-commit hook:
npx husky add .husky/pre-commit "npm run lint && npm test"
Your package.json should include:
{
"scripts": {
"prepare": "husky install",
"lint": "eslint .",
"test": "jest"
},
"devDependencies": {
"husky": "^8.0.0"
}
}
Here npx husky init creates the .husky directory and sets up the installation script. The prepare script runs automatically after npm install, installing hooks for all team members. The husky add command creates a pre-commit hook that runs linting and tests before each commit. If either command fails, the commit aborts. This ensures code quality standards apply uniformly across the team without relying on developers to manually configure local hooks.
Best Practice Note:
This is the Git hook management we enforce in CoreUI repositories for consistent code quality across contributors. Keep hooks fast to avoid slowing down commits, use lint-staged to only check modified files, and provide a –no-verify escape hatch documentation for emergency commits while maintaining hook enforcement as the default workflow.
