---
title: Pre-commit
summary: Format staged files before each commit, with a hook, lint-staged, husky or pre-commit.
group: Usage
order: 4
---

Formatting on commit keeps the main branch formatted without anybody remembering to run anything. The one rule: format only what is staged, and stage the result.

## A git hook, with nothing else

```sh [.githooks/pre-commit]
#!/bin/sh
set -eu

tidy up --staged
```

That is the whole hook. `--staged` asks git which files are in the index, formats only those, and stages what it rewrote, so the commit holds the formatted version. A commit that touches no formattable file does nothing and succeeds.

A hook in `.git/hooks` is not committed, so every clone needs it again. Keep them in the repository instead:

```sh
$ mkdir .githooks
$ git config core.hooksPath .githooks
$ chmod +x .githooks/pre-commit
```

`core.hooksPath` still has to be set once per clone, so put that line in whatever your project uses to set itself up.

## hk

[hk](https://hk.jdx.dev) runs linters and formatters as git hooks, from one `hk.pkl` file. It stashes the unstaged work before a commit, so a step only sees what you staged, then stages what the step rewrote and puts the rest back.

There is no tidy builtin, so declare the step yourself:

```pkl [hk.pkl]
amends "package://github.com/jdx/hk/releases/download/v2.11.1/hk@2.11.1#/Config.pkl"

steps {
  ["tidy"] = new Step {
    glob = List(
      "*.js", "*.jsx", "*.mjs", "*.cjs", "*.ts", "*.tsx", "*.mts", "*.cts",
      "*.css", "*.scss", "*.less", "*.html", "*.vue", "*.hbs",
      "*.json", "*.jsonc", "*.json5", "*.yaml", "*.yml", "*.toml",
      "*.md", "*.markdown", "*.graphql", "*.xml", "*.svg"
    )
    check = "tidy check {{files}}"
    fix = "tidy up {{files}}"
  }
}
```

```sh
$ hk install
```

`git commit` now runs the step, rewrites what it must, and stages the result. The same step answers `hk check` and `hk fix`, so CI runs `hk check` and gets the same thing the hook does.

<!-- prettier-ignore -->
> **Do not pass `--staged` inside an hk step.** hk already decided which files
> the step gets, and `{{files}}` is that list. Asking tidy to go back to git
> would fight it: a step that is meant to see only part of the index would
> format all of it.

The `glob` list is what gives hk a file set per step, which is how it runs steps in parallel. Trim it to the languages your repository actually has.

## lint-staged

```json [package.json]
{
  "lint-staged": {
    "*": "tidy up"
  }
}
```

`lint-staged` stages what the command rewrote, so nothing else is needed. The `*` pattern is safe: tidy leaves alone any file whose name it does not recognise.

If tidy is the only thing in your `lint-staged` config, `tidy up --staged` does the same job with nothing installed.

With husky:

```sh [.husky/pre-commit]
npx lint-staged
```

## pre-commit

```yaml [.pre-commit-config.yaml]
repos:
  - repo: local
    hooks:
      - id: tidy
        name: tidy
        entry: tidy up
        language: system
        pass_filenames: true
```

`language: system` uses the `tidy` already on the machine, so everyone needs it installed. Until there are prebuilt binaries, that means a cargo build on each developer's machine.

## Check instead of write

A hook that rewrites files during a commit can surprise people, because the commit is not quite what they staged. The quieter alternative refuses the commit and leaves the fix to them:

```sh [.githooks/pre-commit]
#!/bin/sh
set -eu

if ! tidy check --staged; then
	echo
	echo "Run: tidy up --staged"
	exit 1
fi
```

## Do not drop CI

A pre-commit hook is a convenience, not a guarantee: `git commit --no-verify` skips it, and so does any commit made outside the working copy. Keep the [CI check](/docs/ci/) as the thing that actually holds the line.