grok-build-upstream-mirror/crates/codegen/xai-grok-pager/docs/custom-hooks.md

Custom Hooks Guide

Hooks let you run custom scripts or HTTP requests at key moments during a Grok session — for example, before or after a tool runs, when a session starts or ends, or when the agent sends a notification.

They are perfect for automation, safety checks, logging, notifications, and integrating with your own tools.

Why Use Hooks?

Common use cases:

• Safety guards: Block dangerous commands like rm -rf / before they execute.
• Audit logging: Record every tool use or session to a file or external service.
• Notifications: Send a Slack/Discord message when a long-running task finishes.
• Auto-formatting: Run cargo fmt or prettier automatically after edits.
• Environment setup: Export secrets or set variables at session start.
• Custom workflows: Trigger builds, tests, or deployments on specific events.

Quick Start

1. Create the hooks directory:

   mkdir -p ~/.grok/hooks
   

2. Create a simple hook file, e.g. ~/.grok/hooks/session-start.json:

   {
     "hooks": {
       "SessionStart": [
         {
           "hooks": [
            { "type": "command", "command": "echo \"🚀 Grok session started in $(pwd)\"" }
           ]
         }
       ]
     }
   }
   

3. Start (or restart) a Grok session. The hook runs automatically on SessionStart.

   Try it: press Ctrl+L on non–VS Code family (or run /hooks anywhere — preferred on VS Code / Cursor / Windsurf / Zed) and check the Hooks tab to confirm it's loaded.

Hook Locations

Hooks are discovered from several places (all are merged):

Scope	Path	Trusted?	Notes
Global	~/.grok/hooks/*.json	Always	Best for personal hooks
Global	~/.claude/settings.json	Always	Claude Code compatibility
Project	<project>/.grok/hooks/*.json	Requires trust	Per-repo automation
Project	<project>/.claude/settings.json	Requires trust	Claude compatibility
Plugin	Bundled inside installed plugins	Per-plugin	Shared team hooks

Trusting a project: Open the hooks modal (Ctrl+L on non–VS Code family, or /hooks on any terminal including VS Code family) or run /hooks-trust (the same folder-trust gate as --trust, recorded in ~/.grok/trusted_folders.toml) the first time you open a project with hooks. This prevents untrusted repos from running arbitrary code.

The Hook JSON Format

Each .json file can define multiple hooks:

{
  "hooks": {
    "PreToolUse": [
      {
        "matcher": "Bash",
        "hooks": [
          { "type": "command", "command": "bin/safety-check.sh", "timeout": 10 }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "PostToolUse": [
      {
        "hooks": [
          { "type": "command", "command": "bin/log-activity.sh" }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Key fields:

• Event name (top-level key): SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, PreToolUse, PostToolUse, Stop, Notification, SessionEnd, etc.
• matcher (optional): Regex tested against the event's match value — the tool name on tool events, and per-event values elsewhere (see the user guide's Hooks chapter). Empty = match everything.
• type: "command" (run a script or shell one-liner) or "http" (POST the event to a URL).
• command: Path to executable (relative to the JSON file) or inline shell command.
• timeout: Seconds before killing the hook (default: 5, or 600 for Stop/SubagentStop gates). Hooks fail open on timeout.

Tool name aliases: Claude-style names like Bash, Edit, Read automatically match Grok's internal names (run_terminal_cmd, search_replace, read_file).

Writing Hook Scripts

Input

The full event is sent as JSON on stdin. Example for a PreToolUse hook:

{
  "hookEventName": "pre_tool_use",
  "sessionId": "abc-123",
  "cwd": "/Users/you/project",
  "workspaceRoot": "/Users/you/project",
  "toolName": "run_terminal_cmd",
  "toolInput": { "command": "npm test" },
  "timestamp": "2026-04-14T12:00:00Z"
}

Output (for blocking hooks like PreToolUse)

Write JSON to stdout:

• Allow: {"decision": "allow"}
• Deny: {"decision": "deny", "reason": "Unsafe command detected"}

Exit codes (behavior differs by hook type):

• 0 — success / allow (for blocking hooks)
• 2 — explicit deny (PreToolUse) or block-stop with stderr as feedback (Stop/SubagentStop; see Stop Decision Control in the user guide)
• Any other (including timeout/crash/missing env var) — fail-open: the failure is logged and shown in the hook scrollback, but the tool call is not blocked. To block a tool call, return JSON {"decision":"deny","reason":"..."} on stdout.

Passive hooks

For events like SessionStart or PostToolUse, stdout is ignored. Just exit 0 on success.

Useful Environment Variables

Grok injects the following variables into every hook process:

• GROK_HOOK_EVENT — the event name (e.g. pre_tool_use, session_start, post_tool_use)
• GROK_HOOK_NAME — the full configured name of this hook
• GROK_SESSION_ID — the current session identifier
• GROK_WORKSPACE_ROOT — absolute path to the workspace root

For hooks provided by plugins, the following are also set:

• GROK_PLUGIN_ROOT — absolute path to the plugin's installation directory
• GROK_PLUGIN_DATA — absolute path to the plugin's writable data directory

These runner- and plugin-injected variables always take precedence. Attempts to override the reserved runner keys via the env field are stripped at load time (with a warning logged). For plugin hooks, GROK_PLUGIN_ROOT and GROK_PLUGIN_DATA similarly override any user-supplied values for those keys.

Custom Environment Variables (env field)

Each handler can declare additional env vars to inject into the child process:

{
  "type": "command",
  "command": "bin/check.sh",
  "env": {
    "MY_API_TOKEN": "secret-here",
    "LOG_LEVEL": "debug"
  }
}

Values must be strings — JSON numbers and bools currently fail to parse (wrap them in quotes if you need them).

For plugin hooks, the plugin adapter additionally injects GROK_PLUGIN_ROOT and GROK_PLUGIN_DATA. These keys override any user-declared values for the same names (the plugin contract is non-negotiable).

Variable Substitution

command and url strings support $VAR and ${VAR} substitution at config-load time:

{
  "type": "command",
  "command": "${HOME}/.config/grok-hooks/check.sh"
}

Lookup order for each reference:

1. The handler's own env map.
2. The current process environment (the env Grok itself sees).

If a reference is unset in both, it's preserved verbatim (e.g. ${UNSET} stays as the literal string). The runtime sh -c branch may resolve it later if the var becomes set; otherwise the runner refuses to spawn with a clear "required env var(s) not set" error.

For HTTP hooks specifically, url is also re-expanded at request time (immediately before SSRF validation), so plugin-injected vars like ${GROK_PLUGIN_ROOT}/check resolve against the plugin's actual path.

Parameter-expansion modifiers

POSIX parameter-expansion forms — ${VAR:-default}, ${VAR-default}, ${VAR:=x}, ${VAR:?msg}, ${VAR:+x}, ${VAR%pat}, ${VAR#pat}, ${VAR/pat/repl}, ${VAR:N:M} — are never expanded at load time and are left verbatim for the runtime sh -c branch to handle. This avoids subtle divergences between the load-time expander and POSIX shell semantics (notably, the empty-string behaviour of :-).

If your hook command contains shell metacharacters (spaces, pipes, &&, redirects, $, etc.), the runner routes it through sh -c and you get full shell-expansion semantics. If your command is a bare path with no metachars, the runner spawns it directly — but $VAR / ${VAR} references in the path are still resolved at load time so direct-exec paths like ${HOME}/bin/check.sh work without needing to be wrapped in sh -c.

What is NOT expanded

• matcher is a regex ($ is the regex anchor for end-of-line). It is never env-expanded — substituting $VAR would silently change the regex's semantics and likely produce an invalid pattern. If you need a dynamic matcher, generate the JSON file at write time.
• timeout is numeric, so there is nothing to expand.
• The values of the env map itself — these are stored verbatim and passed to the child as-is, so "BAR": "${HOME}/x" injects the literal string ${HOME}/x into the child's environment.

Managing Hooks in the TUI

Press Ctrl+L on non–VS Code family (or run /hooks anywhere) to open the Hooks & Plugins modal.

In the Hooks tab you can:

• l — Reload all hooks
• a — Add a custom hook by path (great for testing)
• e — Enable/disable
• r — Remove
• Space — Expand groups

Hooks from ~/.grok/hooks/ appear under Global, project ones under Project, etc.

HTTP Hooks

Instead of a local script, call a remote endpoint:

{ "type": "http", "url": "https://hooks.example.com/grok-event", "timeout": 15 }

The full event envelope is POSTed as JSON. Useful for webhooks, analytics, or serverless functions.

Best Practices

1. Keep hooks fast — long-running hooks block the UI (use background & or async where possible).
2. Use explicit deny to block — hooks fail-open on any error (timeout, crash, missing env var, etc.), so a hook that crashes will not block the tool call. To enforce policy, your hook must run to completion and emit {"decision":"deny","reason":"..."} on stdout.
3. Use absolute paths or relative to hook file — scripts in bin/ next to the JSON are portable.
4. Test with Ctrl+L (non–VS Code family) / /hooks — verify loading and matching before relying on them.
5. Version control project hooks — commit .grok/hooks/ (but never secrets).

Security Notes

• Global hooks (~/.grok/...) run with your user permissions — treat them like shell scripts.
• Project hooks require explicit trust (run /hooks-trust or use the modal) to prevent supply-chain attacks from malicious repos.
• HTTP hooks send session data — only use trusted endpoints.

Troubleshooting

• Hook not running? → Press Ctrl+L on non–VS Code family (or run /hooks anywhere) to see if it's loaded and matched.
• Project hooks ignored? → Trust the project first.
• Script not found? → Check the path is relative to the .json file and executable (chmod +x).
• See errors? → Check the pager logs (usually in the tracing pane or ~/.grok/logs).

More Examples

See the built-in examples in the xai-grok-hooks crate:

• Safe Shell Guard
• No Recursive Grep — hard-blocks grep -r/grep -R/rgrep (OOM guard)
• Session Audit Log
• Tool Activity Logger

Copy them to ~/.grok/hooks/ and customize.

Full Reference

For the complete event list, matcher semantics, trust model, and advanced details, see the Hooks user guide.

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Happy hooking! If you build something cool, consider sharing it as a plugin.