Pre and Post Hooks: Automate Everything Around Your Sync

Hooks are shell commands that run automatically at specific points during a sync operation. ConfigSync supports four hook points: before a push, after a push, before a pull, and after a pull. They let you extend the sync process with any automation you need.

A common pattern: before pushing, a hook captures a list of installed VS Code extensions. After pulling on a new machine, another hook installs those extensions. The sync handles your config files; hooks handle everything else.

Hooks are defined in your ConfigSync configuration as arrays of shell commands:

Each hook point accepts multiple commands. They execute in order, one after another.

Pre-hooks and post-hooks behave differently when a command fails:

This design mirrors git hooks. Pre-hooks act as gates — if your pre_push linting step fails, the push does not proceed. Post-hooks are best-effort — if a post_pull installation step fails, your config files are already restored and you can fix the issue manually.

ConfigSync sets several environment variables that are available inside hook scripts:

This lets you write hooks that behave differently per context. For example, a post_pull hook could skip installing production dependencies when the active environment is development.

Here are hooks that solve real problems developers face when syncing between machines:

For teams, hooks enforce standards and automate onboarding. Here is a setup where pre_push validates configs and post_pull installs team dependencies:

When a new developer joins the team, they pull the shared configuration and the post_pull hooks automatically install the team's Brewfile, set up git hooks, and verify that required tools are present. No onboarding wiki needed.