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Hook Candidate

Rule ID: content-hook-candidate

Detect instructions that should be automated as hooks instead of prose instructions
Severity info (auto)
Autofix llm
Since v0.7.0

Research Basis

Identifies instructions that should be automated as hooks instead of prose instructions (e.g., "always run tests before committing").

Instructions like "run tests before every commit" are advisory — the model follows them probabilistically. A pre-commit hook runs deterministically, every time, without fail. When an instruction describes a mechanical, automatable action, it should be a hook.

As one practitioner put it: "The hook does not forget. It does not reason. It does not skip." Instruction files should focus on judgment calls and context-dependent decisions that only the model can make. Automatable actions belong in hooks.

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