Hooks

Hooks let you observe, control, and extend the agent loop using custom scripts. Define hooks in hooks.json files at the project or user level, or install them through plugins from Customize. Hooks are spawned processes that communicate over stdio using JSON in both directions. They run before or after defined stages of the agent loop and can observe, block, or modify behavior.

With hooks, you can:

• Run formatters after edits
• Add analytics for events
• Scan for PII or secrets
• Gate risky operations (e.g., SQL writes)
• Control subagent (Task tool) execution
• Inject context at session start

Hook categories

Hooks fall into three categories based on what triggers them:

Agent hooks (Cmd+K/Agent Chat) fire during an agent session:

• sessionStart / sessionEnd - Session lifecycle management
• preToolUse / postToolUse / postToolUseFailure - Generic tool use hooks (fires for all tools)
• subagentStart / subagentStop - Subagent (Task tool) lifecycle
• beforeShellExecution / afterShellExecution - Control shell commands
• beforeMCPExecution / afterMCPExecution - Control MCP tool usage
• beforeReadFile / afterFileEdit - Control file access and edits
• beforeSubmitPrompt - Validate prompts before submission
• preCompact - Observe context window compaction
• stop - Handle agent completion
• afterAgentResponse / afterAgentThought - Track agent responses

Tab hooks (inline completions) fire for autonomous Tab operations:

• beforeTabFileRead - Control file access for Tab completions
• afterTabFileEdit - Post-process Tab edits

App lifecycle hooks fire outside any agent session:

• workspaceOpen - Fires when Cursor opens a workspace and on every workspace folder change. Can return additional plugin paths to load for the current workspace.

These separate hook surfaces let you apply different policies to autonomous Tab operations, user-directed Agent operations, and workspace startup.

Cloud agent support

Cloud agents run command-based hooks from your repository. If you have hooks defined in .cursor/hooks.json at the root of your project, cloud agents pick them up and run them during their work.

On Enterprise plans, cloud agents also run team hooks and enterprise-managed hooks configured through the web dashboard.

Cloud agents sometimes begin in a read-only environment for early exploratory turns. Hooks do not run during those turns. They start once the agent has a writable environment.

Supported hooks

The following hooks run in cloud agents:

Hooks not available in cloud agents

Some hooks don't apply to cloud agents due to differences in the execution environment:

Configuration sources

Cloud agents load hooks from these sources:

• Project hooks (.cursor/hooks.json in your repo): Loaded and run during cloud agent work.
• Team hooks (Enterprise): Distributed from the dashboard and run in cloud agents.
• Enterprise hooks (Enterprise): System-wide managed hooks run in cloud agents.

User-level hooks (~/.cursor/hooks.json) are not available in cloud agents. Cloud agent VMs don't have access to your local home directory configuration.

Execution type limits

Cloud agents run command-based hooks only. Prompt-based hooks require authentication wiring between the hook and the agent loop, which isn't available in the cloud execution environment.

Quickstart

Create a hooks.json file. You can create it at the project level (<project>/.cursor/hooks.json) or in your home directory (~/.cursor/hooks.json). Project-level hooks apply only to that specific project, while home directory hooks apply globally.

{  "version": 1,  "hooks": {    "afterFileEdit": [{ "command": "./hooks/format.sh" }]  }}

#!/bin/bash# Read input, do something, exit 0cat > /dev/nullexit 0

chmod +x ~/.cursor/hooks/format.sh

Cursor watches hooks config files and reloads them automatically. Your hook runs after every file edit.

Hook Types

Hooks support two execution types: command-based (default) and prompt-based (LLM-evaluated).

Command-Based Hooks

Command hooks execute shell scripts that receive JSON input via stdin and return JSON output via stdout.

{  "hooks": {    "beforeShellExecution": [      {        "command": "./scripts/approve-network.sh",        "timeout": 30,        "matcher": "curl|wget|nc"      }    ]  }}

Exit code behavior:

• Exit code 0 - Hook succeeded, use the JSON output
• Exit code 2 - Block the action (equivalent to returning permission: "deny")
• Other exit codes - Hook failed, action proceeds (fail-open by default)

Prompt-Based Hooks

Prompt hooks use an LLM to evaluate a natural language condition. They're useful for policy enforcement without writing custom scripts.

{  "hooks": {    "beforeShellExecution": [      {        "type": "prompt",        "prompt": "Does this command look safe to execute? Only allow read-only operations.",        "timeout": 10      }    ]  }}

Features:

• Returns structured { ok: boolean, reason?: string } response
• Uses a fast model for quick evaluation
• $ARGUMENTS placeholder is auto-replaced with hook input JSON
• If $ARGUMENTS is absent, hook input is auto-appended
• Optional model field to override the default LLM model

Examples

{  "version": 1,  "hooks": {    "sessionStart": [      {        "command": "./hooks/session-init.sh"      }    ],    "sessionEnd": [      {        "command": "./hooks/audit.sh"      }    ],    "beforeShellExecution": [      {        "command": "./hooks/audit.sh"      },      {        "command": "./hooks/block-git.sh"      }    ],    "beforeMCPExecution": [      {        "command": "./hooks/audit.sh"      }    ],    "afterShellExecution": [      {        "command": "./hooks/audit.sh"      }    ],    "afterMCPExecution": [      {        "command": "./hooks/audit.sh"      }    ],    "afterFileEdit": [      {        "command": "./hooks/audit.sh"      }    ],    "beforeSubmitPrompt": [      {        "command": "./hooks/audit.sh"      }    ],    "preCompact": [      {        "command": "./hooks/audit.sh"      }    ],    "stop": [      {        "command": "./hooks/audit.sh"      }    ],    "beforeTabFileRead": [      {        "command": "./hooks/redact-secrets-tab.sh"      }    ],    "afterTabFileEdit": [      {        "command": "./hooks/format-tab.sh"      }    ]  }}

TypeScript stop automation hook

Choose TypeScript when you need typed JSON, durable file I/O, and HTTP calls in the same hook. This Bun-powered stop hook tracks per-conversation failure counts on disk, forwards structured telemetry to an internal API, and can automatically schedule a retry when the agent fails twice in a row.

{  "version": 1,  "hooks": {    "stop": [      {        "command": "bun run .cursor/hooks/track-stop.ts --stop"      }    ]  }}

Set AGENT_TELEMETRY_URL to the internal endpoint that should receive run summaries.

Python manifest guard hook

Python shines when you need rich parsing libraries. This hook uses pyyaml to inspect Kubernetes manifests before kubectl apply runs; Bash would struggle to parse multi-document YAML safely.

{  "version": 1,  "hooks": {    "beforeShellExecution": [      {        "command": "python3 .cursor/hooks/kube_guard.py"      }    ]  }}

Install PyYAML (for example, pip install pyyaml) wherever your hook scripts run so the parser import succeeds.

Partner Integrations

We partner with ecosystem vendors who have built hooks support with Cursor. These integrations cover security scanning, governance, secrets management, and more.

MCP governance and visibility

Code security and best practices

Dependency security

Agent security and safety

Secrets management

For more details about our hooks partners, see the Hooks for security and platform teams blog post.

Configuration

Define hooks in a hooks.json file. Configuration can exist at multiple levels. All matching hooks from every source run; when responses conflict, higher-priority sources take precedence during merge:

~/.cursor/├── hooks.json└── hooks/    ├── audit.sh    └── block-git.sh

• Enterprise (MDM-managed, system-wide):
  • macOS: /Library/Application Support/Cursor/hooks.json
  • Linux/WSL: /etc/cursor/hooks.json
  • Windows: C:\\ProgramData\\Cursor\\hooks.json
• Team (Cloud-distributed, enterprise only):
  • Configured in the web dashboard and synced to all team members automatically
• Project (Project-specific):
  • <project-root>/.cursor/hooks.json
  • Project hooks run in any trusted workspace and are checked into version control with your project
• User (User-specific):
  • ~/.cursor/hooks.json

Priority order (highest to lowest): Enterprise → Team → Project → User

The hooks object maps hook names to arrays of hook definitions. Each definition currently supports a command property that can be a shell string, an absolute path, or a relative path. The working directory depends on the hook source:

• Project hooks (.cursor/hooks.json in a repository): Run from the project root
• User hooks (~/.cursor/hooks.json): Run from ~/.cursor/
• Enterprise hooks (system-wide config): Run from the enterprise config directory
• Team hooks (cloud-distributed): Run from the managed hooks directory

For project hooks, use paths like .cursor/hooks/script.sh (relative to project root), not ./hooks/script.sh (which would look for <project>/hooks/script.sh).

Configuration file

This example shows a user-level hooks file (~/.cursor/hooks.json). For project-level hooks, change paths like ./hooks/script.sh to .cursor/hooks/script.sh:

{  "version": 1,  "hooks": {    "sessionStart": [{ "command": "./session-init.sh" }],    "sessionEnd": [{ "command": "./audit.sh" }],    "preToolUse": [      {        "command": "./hooks/validate-tool.sh",        "matcher": "Shell|Read|Write"      }    ],    "postToolUse": [{ "command": "./hooks/audit-tool.sh" }],    "subagentStart": [{ "command": "./hooks/validate-subagent.sh" }],    "subagentStop": [{ "command": "./hooks/audit-subagent.sh" }],    "beforeShellExecution": [{ "command": "./script.sh" }],    "afterShellExecution": [{ "command": "./script.sh" }],    "afterMCPExecution": [{ "command": "./script.sh" }],    "afterFileEdit": [{ "command": "./format.sh" }],    "preCompact": [{ "command": "./audit.sh" }],    "stop": [{ "command": "./audit.sh", "loop_limit": 10 }],    "beforeTabFileRead": [{ "command": "./redact-secrets-tab.sh" }],    "afterTabFileEdit": [{ "command": "./format-tab.sh" }],    "workspaceOpen": [{ "command": "./register-workspace-plugins.sh" }]  }}

The Agent hooks (sessionStart, sessionEnd, preToolUse, postToolUse, postToolUseFailure, subagentStart, subagentStop, beforeShellExecution, afterShellExecution, beforeMCPExecution, afterMCPExecution, beforeReadFile, afterFileEdit, beforeSubmitPrompt, preCompact, stop, afterAgentResponse, afterAgentThought) apply to Cmd+K and Agent Chat operations. The Tab hooks (beforeTabFileRead, afterTabFileEdit) apply specifically to inline Tab completions. The app lifecycle hook (workspaceOpen) fires when a workspace opens and on workspace folder changes, independent of any agent session.

Global Configuration Options

Per-Script Configuration Options

Matcher Configuration

Matchers let you filter when a hook runs. Which field the matcher applies to depends on the hook:

{  "hooks": {    "preToolUse": [      {        "command": "./validate-shell.sh",        "matcher": "Shell"      }    ],    "subagentStart": [      {        "command": "./validate-explore.sh",        "matcher": "explore|shell"      }    ],    "beforeShellExecution": [      {        "command": "./approve-network.sh",        "matcher": "curl|wget|nc "      }    ]  }}

• subagentStart: The matcher runs against the subagent type (e.g. explore, shell, generalPurpose). Use it to run hooks only when a specific kind of subagent is started. The example above runs validate-explore.sh only for explore or shell subagents.
• beforeShellExecution: The matcher runs against the shell command string. Use it to run hooks only when the command matches a pattern (e.g. network calls, file deletions). The example above runs approve-network.sh only when the command contains curl, wget, or nc .

Available matchers by hook:

• preToolUse / postToolUse / postToolUseFailure: Filter by tool type. Values include Shell, Read, Write, Grep, Delete, Task, and MCP tools using the MCP:<tool_name> format.
• subagentStart / subagentStop: Filter by subagent type (generalPurpose, explore, shell, etc.).
• beforeShellExecution / afterShellExecution: Filter by the shell command text; the matcher is matched against the full command string.
• beforeReadFile: Filter by tool type (TabRead, Read, etc.).
• afterFileEdit: Filter by tool type (TabWrite, Write, etc.).
• beforeSubmitPrompt: Matched against the value UserPromptSubmit.
• stop: Matched against the value Stop.
• afterAgentResponse: Matched against the value AgentResponse.
• afterAgentThought: Matched against the value AgentThought.

Team Distribution

Hooks can be distributed to team members using project hooks (via version control), MDM tools, or Cursor's cloud distribution system.

Project Hooks (Version Control)

Project hooks are the simplest way to share hooks with your team. Place a hooks.json file at <project-root>/.cursor/hooks.json and commit it to your repository. When team members open the project in a trusted workspace, Cursor automatically loads and runs the project hooks.

Cloud agents also load these project hooks when they work on your repository in the cloud.

Project hooks:

• Are stored in version control alongside your code
• Automatically load for all team members in trusted workspaces
• Can be project-specific (e.g., enforce formatting standards for a particular codebase)
• Require the workspace to be trusted to run (for security)

MDM Distribution

Distribute hooks across your organization using Mobile Device Management (MDM) tools. Place the hooks.json file and hook scripts in the target directories on each machine.

User home directory (per-user distribution):

• ~/.cursor/hooks.json
• ~/.cursor/hooks/ (for hook scripts)

Global directories (system-wide distribution):

• macOS: /Library/Application Support/Cursor/hooks.json
• Linux/WSL: /etc/cursor/hooks.json
• Windows: C:\\ProgramData\\Cursor\\hooks.json

Note: MDM-based distribution is fully managed by your organization. Cursor does not deploy or manage files through your MDM solution. Ensure your internal IT or security team handles configuration, deployment, and updates in accordance with your organization's policies.

Cloud Distribution (Enterprise Only)

Enterprise teams can use Cursor's native cloud distribution to automatically sync hooks to all team members. Configure hooks in the web dashboard. Cursor automatically delivers configured hooks to all client machines when team members log in.

Cloud distribution provides:

• Automatic synchronization to all team members (every thirty minutes)
• Operating system targeting for platform-specific hooks
• Centralized management through the dashboard

Enterprise administrators can create, edit, and manage team hooks from the dashboard without requiring access to individual machines.

Contact sales to get Enterprise cloud hook distribution.

Reference

Common schema

Input (all hooks)

All hooks receive a base set of fields in addition to their hook-specific fields:

{  "conversation_id": "string",  "generation_id": "string",  "model": "string",  "model_id": "string",  "model_params": [{ "id": "string", "value": "string" }],  "hook_event_name": "string",  "cursor_version": "string",  "workspace_roots": ["<path>"],  "user_email": "string | null",  "transcript_path": "string | null"}

Hook events

preToolUse

Called before any tool execution. This is a generic hook that fires for all tool types (Shell, Read, Write, MCP, Task, etc.). Use matchers to filter by specific tools.

// Input{  "tool_name": "Shell",  "tool_input": { "command": "npm install", "working_directory": "/project" },  "tool_use_id": "abc123",  "cwd": "/project",  "model": "claude-opus-4-7-thinking-max",  "model_id": "claude-opus-4-7",  "model_params": [    { "id": "thinking", "value": "true" },    { "id": "context", "value": "1m" },    { "id": "effort", "value": "max" }  ],  "agent_message": "Installing dependencies..."}// Output{  "permission": "allow" | "deny",  "user_message": "<message shown in client when denied>",  "agent_message": "<message sent to agent when denied>",  "updated_input": { "command": "npm ci" }}

postToolUse

Called after successful tool execution. Useful for auditing, analytics, and injecting context.

// Input{  "tool_name": "Shell",  "tool_input": { "command": "npm test" },  "tool_output": "{\"exitCode\":0,\"stdout\":\"All tests passed\"}",  "tool_use_id": "abc123",  "cwd": "/project",  "duration": 5432,  "model": "claude-opus-4-7-thinking-max",  "model_id": "claude-opus-4-7",  "model_params": [    { "id": "thinking", "value": "true" },    { "id": "context", "value": "1m" },    { "id": "effort", "value": "max" }  ]}// Output{  "updated_mcp_tool_output": { "modified": "output" },  "additional_context": "Test coverage report attached."}

postToolUseFailure

Called when a tool fails, times out, or is denied. Useful for error tracking and recovery logic.

// Input{  "tool_name": "Shell",  "tool_input": { "command": "npm test" },  "tool_use_id": "abc123",  "cwd": "/project",  "error_message": "Command timed out after 30s",  "failure_type": "timeout" | "error" | "permission_denied",  "duration": 5000,  "is_interrupt": false}// Output{  // No output fields currently supported}

subagentStart

Called before spawning a subagent (Task tool). Can allow or deny subagent creation.

// Input{  "subagent_id": "abc-123",  "subagent_type": "generalPurpose",  "task": "Explore the authentication flow",  "parent_conversation_id": "conv-456",  "tool_call_id": "tc-789",  "subagent_model": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514",  "is_parallel_worker": false,  "git_branch": "feature/auth"}// Output{  "permission": "allow" | "deny",  "user_message": "<message shown when denied>"}

subagentStop

Called when a subagent completes, errors, or is aborted. Can trigger follow-up actions.

// Input{  "subagent_type": "generalPurpose",  "status": "completed" | "error" | "aborted",  "task": "Explore the authentication flow",  "description": "Exploring auth flow",  "summary": "<subagent output summary>",  "duration_ms": 45000,  "message_count": 12,  "tool_call_count": 8,  "loop_count": 0,  "modified_files": ["src/auth.ts"],  "agent_transcript_path": "/path/to/subagent/transcript.txt"}// Output{  "followup_message": "<auto-continue with this message>"}

The followup_message field enables loop-style flows where subagent completion triggers the next iteration. Follow-ups are subject to the same configurable loop limit as the stop hook (default 5, configurable via loop_limit).

beforeShellExecution / beforeMCPExecution

Called before any shell command or MCP tool is executed. Return a permission decision.

// beforeShellExecution input{  "command": "<full terminal command>",  "cwd": "<current working directory>",  "sandbox": false}// beforeMCPExecution input{  "tool_name": "<tool name>",  "tool_input": "<json params>"}// Plus either:{ "url": "<server url>" }// Or:{ "command": "<command string>" }// Output{  "permission": "allow" | "deny" | "ask",  "user_message": "<message shown in client>",  "agent_message": "<message sent to agent>"}

afterShellExecution

Fires after a shell command executes; useful for auditing or collecting metrics from command output.

// Input{  "command": "<full terminal command>",  "output": "<full terminal output>",  "duration": 1234,  "sandbox": false}

afterMCPExecution

Fires after an MCP tool executes; includes the tool's input parameters and full JSON result.

// Input{  "tool_name": "<tool name>",  "tool_input": "<json params>",  "result_json": "<tool result json>",  "duration": 1234}

afterFileEdit

Fires after the Agent edits a file; useful for formatters or accounting of agent-written code.

// Input{  "file_path": "<absolute path>",  "edits": [{ "old_string": "<search>", "new_string": "<replace>" }]}

beforeReadFile

Called before Agent reads a file. Use for access control to block sensitive files from being sent to the model.

// Input{  "file_path": "<absolute path>",  "content": "<file contents>",  "attachments": [    {      "type": "file" | "rule",      "file_path": "<absolute path>"    }  ]}// Output{  "permission": "allow" | "deny",  "user_message": "<message shown when denied>"}

beforeTabFileRead

Called before Tab (inline completions) reads a file. Enable redaction or access control before Tab accesses file contents.

Key differences from beforeReadFile:

• Only triggered by Tab, not Agent
• Does not include attachments field (Tab doesn't use prompt attachments)
• Useful for applying different policies to autonomous Tab operations

// Input{  "file_path": "<absolute path>",  "content": "<file contents>"}// Output{  "permission": "allow" | "deny"}

afterTabFileEdit

Called after Tab (inline completions) edits a file. Useful for formatters or auditing of Tab-written code.

Key differences from afterFileEdit:

• Only triggered by Tab, not Agent
• Includes detailed edit information: range, old_line, and new_line for precise edit tracking
• Useful for fine-grained formatting or analysis of Tab edits

// Input{  "file_path": "<absolute path>",  "edits": [    {      "old_string": "<search>",      "new_string": "<replace>",      "range": {        "start_line_number": 10,        "start_column": 5,        "end_line_number": 10,        "end_column": 20      },      "old_line": "<line before edit>",      "new_line": "<line after edit>"    }  ]}// Output{  // No output fields currently supported}

beforeSubmitPrompt

Called right after user hits send but before backend request. Can prevent submission.

// Input{  "prompt": "<user prompt text>",  "attachments": [    {      "type": "file" | "rule",      "file_path": "<absolute path>"    }  ]}// Output{  "continue": true | false,  "user_message": "<message shown to user when blocked>"}

afterAgentResponse

Called after the agent has completed an assistant message.

// Input{  "text": "<assistant final text>"}

afterAgentThought

Called after the agent completes a thinking block. Useful for observing the agent's reasoning process.

// Input{  "text": "<fully aggregated thinking text>",  "duration_ms": 5000}// Output{  // No output fields currently supported}

stop

Called when the agent loop ends. Can optionally auto-submit a follow-up user message to keep iterating.

// Input{  "status": "completed" | "aborted" | "error",  "loop_count": 0}

// Output{  "followup_message": "<message text>"}

• The optional followup_message is a string. When provided and non-empty, Cursor will automatically submit it as the next user message. This enables loop-style flows (e.g., iterate until a goal is met).
• The loop_count field indicates how many times the stop hook has already triggered an automatic follow-up for this conversation (starts at 0). The default limit is 5 auto follow-ups per script, configurable via the loop_limit option. Set loop_limit to null to remove the cap. The same limit applies to subagentStop follow-ups.

sessionStart

Called when a new composer conversation is created. This hook runs as fire-and-forget; the agent loop does not wait for or enforce a blocking response. Use it to set up session-specific environment variables or inject additional context.

// Input{  "session_id": "<unique session identifier>",  "is_background_agent": true | false,  "composer_mode": "agent" | "ask" | "edit"}

// Output{  "env": { "<key>": "<value>" },  "additional_context": "<context to add to conversation>"}

sessionEnd

Called when a composer conversation ends. This is a fire-and-forget hook useful for logging, analytics, or cleanup tasks. The response is logged but not used.

// Input{  "session_id": "<unique session identifier>",  "reason": "completed" | "aborted" | "error" | "window_close" | "user_close",  "duration_ms": 45000,  "is_background_agent": true | false,  "final_status": "<status string>",  "error_message": "<error details if reason is 'error'>"}

// Output{  // No output fields - fire and forget}

preCompact

Called before context window compaction/summarization occurs. This is an observational hook that cannot block or modify the compaction behavior. Useful for logging when compaction happens or notifying users.

// Input{  "trigger": "auto" | "manual",  "context_usage_percent": 85,  "context_tokens": 120000,  "context_window_size": 128000,  "message_count": 45,  "messages_to_compact": 30,  "is_first_compaction": true | false}

// Output{  "user_message": "<message to show when compaction occurs>"}

workspaceOpen

Fires once when Cursor opens a workspace and again on every workspace folder change. Skipped when the window has zero workspace folders. Runs in the Cursor desktop app and CLI.

// Input{  "hook_event_name": "workspaceOpen",  "cursor_version": "string",  "workspace_roots": ["<absolute path>"],  "user_email": "string | null"}// Output{  "pluginPaths": ["<absolute path>", "..."]}

Environment Variables

Hook scripts receive environment variables when executed:

Session-scoped environment variables from sessionStart hooks are passed to all subsequent hook executions within that session.

Troubleshooting

How to confirm hooks are active

There is a Hooks tab in Customize and a Hooks output channel to debug configured and executed hooks and see errors.

If hooks are not working

• Cursor watches hooks.json files and reloads them on save. If hooks still do not load, restart Cursor.
• Check that relative paths are correct for your hook source:
  • For project hooks, paths are relative to the project root (e.g., .cursor/hooks/script.sh)
  • For user hooks, paths are relative to ~/.cursor/ (e.g., ./hooks/script.sh or hooks/script.sh)

Exit code blocking

Exit code 2 from command hooks blocks the action (equivalent to returning permission: "deny"). This matches Claude Code behavior for compatibility.