Install pre-commit with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• pre-commit

Project history

pre-commit began in 2014 to replace copied, project-specific Git-hook scripts with reusable hooks that could be shared across repositories and implemented in different languages. Anthony Sottile has been the principal maintainer.

Version 1.0.0 in 2017 formalized semantic versioning and introduced the modern top-level-map configuration format. The project continued broadening language support and refining isolated toolchain installation, reaching the 4.x series in 2024.

Adoption history

pre-commit became broadly distributed across Linux and macOS package managers in addition to its native Python installation routes. Its language adapters let repositories consume hooks implemented in ecosystems such as Python, Node, Ruby, Go, Rust, Docker, and others without requiring every toolchain to be managed directly by each project.

The framework's configuration convention and reusable hook repositories made it a common integration point for formatters, linters, security checks, and repository-policy tools. It is also routinely run in CI against all files, complementing its local Git-hook role.

How it is used

A project places .pre-commit-config.yaml at its repository root, listing hook repositories, pinned revisions, and selected hooks. Running pre-commit install writes the Git hook, after which configured checks run during commits or other selected Git stages.

pre-commit run --all-files is commonly used for initial adoption and CI. pre-commit autoupdate refreshes configured hook revisions, while the framework caches isolated hook environments for reuse.

Why package nerds care

pre-commit describes itself as a multi-language package manager for hooks. That framing is important to package enthusiasts: it resolves hook repositories and revisions, creates isolated environments, bootstraps supported runtimes where possible, and reuses cached installations.

Its ecosystem separates the orchestration framework, hook-provider repositories, and project-local YAML policy. This makes heterogeneous developer tooling reproducible without forcing an application's primary dependency manager to own every linter or formatter.

Timeline

• 2014: Version 0.1.0 was released.
• 2017: Version 1.0.0 adopted semantic versioning and introduced the modern configuration structure.
• 2024: Version 4.0.0 removed the deprecated python_venv language alias and updated hook-stage naming.
• 2025: Version 4.1.0 added Julia hook support.

Related projects

• pre-commit/pre-commit-hooks is the official collection of general-purpose hooks released alongside the framework.
• pre-commit.ci applies the same configuration in hosted continuous integration.
• Individual formatter, linter, and security-tool repositories can publish hooks through a .pre-commit-hooks.yaml manifest.

Sources

• https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit
• https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
• https://pre-commit.com/
• source_facts.package-manager