Git Hooks and Husky: Automatically Enforcing Code Quality

Git hooks are executable scripts in .git/hooks/ that run automatically at specific Git events. The most important for code quality: pre-commit (runs before a commit is created) and pre-push (runs before pushing).

The problem with native hooks: .git/hooks/ isn't committed to the repository, so every developer must install hooks manually.

Husky solves this by storing hooks in .husky/ (committed to the repo) and auto-installing them via an npm prepare script.

lint-staged runs linters only on staged files (not the entire project), making hooks fast even in large codebases.

Recommended setup for Symfony projects:

1. pre-commit: lint-staged with PHP CS Fixer (PSR-12), ESLint, Stylelint
2. commit-msg: commitlint with Conventional Commits config
3. pre-push: PHPUnit test suite
4. post-merge: Auto-run composer install / npm install when lockfiles change

CI/CD pipelines serve as the final safety net — hooks can be bypassed with --no-verify, but pipelines cannot.