Git Hooks Setup - DevDaily AI

DevDaily can automatically capture work snapshots using git hooks, ensuring you never lose context when switching branches or making commits.

Overview

Git hooks allow DevDaily to silently record your work state at key moments:

post-commit: Captures a snapshot after every commit
post-checkout: Captures a snapshot when switching branches

These snapshots power context recovery, work history search, and cross-project summaries.

Git hooks are opt-in and respect existing hooks by appending DevDaily calls instead of overwriting.

Installation

Interactive Setup

The easiest way to install git hooks is via the interactive setup:

devdaily init --git-hooks

This will:

Check if you’re in a git repository
Detect existing hooks in .git/hooks/ or your custom core.hooksPath
Install or append DevDaily hooks
Set journal.gitHooks: true in your config

Manual Installation

You can also manually create hook files:

#!/bin/sh
# DevDaily auto-snapshot — captures work state after each commit
# Installed by: devdaily init --git-hooks
# Remove this file to disable post-commit snapshots

# Only run if devdaily is installed
if ! command -v devdaily >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  exit 0
fi

# Run snapshot in background so it doesn't slow down commits
(devdaily snapshot --light --tag auto:post-commit 2>/dev/null &)

exit 0

#!/bin/sh
# DevDaily auto-snapshot — captures work state when switching branches
# Installed by: devdaily init --git-hooks
# Remove this file to disable post-checkout snapshots
#
# Arguments from git:
#   $1 = previous HEAD ref
#   $2 = new HEAD ref
#   $3 = 1 if branch checkout, 0 if file checkout

PREV_REF="$1"
NEW_REF="$2"
IS_BRANCH_CHECKOUT="$3"

# Only run on branch checkouts (not file checkouts)
if [ "$IS_BRANCH_CHECKOUT" != "1" ]; then
  exit 0
fi

# Skip if refs are the same (no actual branch change)
if [ "$PREV_REF" = "$NEW_REF" ]; then
  exit 0
fi

# Only run if devdaily is installed
if ! command -v devdaily >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  exit 0
fi

# Run snapshot in background so it doesn't slow down checkout
(devdaily snapshot --light --tag auto:post-checkout --note "Switched branch" 2>/dev/null &)

exit 0

Make them executable:

chmod +x .git/hooks/post-commit
chmod +x .git/hooks/post-checkout

Configuration

Control git hooks behavior in your .devdaily.json:

.devdaily.json

{
  "journal": {
    "autoSnapshot": true,
    "gitHooks": true,
    "hooks": {
      "postCommit": true,
      "postCheckout": true
    },
    "quiet": true
  }
}

journal.autoSnapshot

boolean

default:"true"

Master switch for all automatic snapshots (including hooks)

journal.gitHooks

boolean

default:"false"

Enable git hooks for automatic snapshots. Set to true after running devdaily init --git-hooks.

journal.hooks.postCommit

boolean

default:"true"

Capture snapshot after each commit

journal.hooks.postCheckout

boolean

default:"true"

Capture snapshot when switching branches

journal.quiet

boolean

default:"true"

Suppress snapshot messages (recommended for hooks to avoid noise)

How It Works

Post-Commit Hook

After every git commit, DevDaily captures:

Current branch and commit hash
Commit message and author
Files changed and diff stats
Timestamp and tags (auto:post-commit)

The snapshot runs in the background using a subshell, so it doesn’t slow down your commit:

(devdaily snapshot --light --tag auto:post-commit 2>/dev/null &)

Post-Checkout Hook

When you switch branches (git checkout or git switch), DevDaily captures:

Previous and new branch names
Current working state
Uncommitted changes
Timestamp and note (“Switched branch”)

The post-checkout hook only runs for branch checkouts, not file checkouts (like git checkout -- file.txt).

Existing Hooks

If you already have git hooks, DevDaily will append its calls instead of overwriting:

Before Installation

.git/hooks/post-commit

#!/bin/sh
# Your existing post-commit hook
echo "Running custom post-commit logic..."
./scripts/my-custom-script.sh

After Installation

.git/hooks/post-commit

#!/bin/sh
# Your existing post-commit hook
echo "Running custom post-commit logic..."
./scripts/my-custom-script.sh

# DevDaily auto-snapshot
if command -v devdaily >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  (devdaily snapshot --light --tag auto:post-commit 2>/dev/null &)
fi

This ensures compatibility with tools like Husky, pre-commit, and custom scripts.

Uninstalling Hooks

To remove DevDaily git hooks:

devdaily init --remove-hooks

This will:

Remove standalone DevDaily hooks completely
Remove appended DevDaily sections from mixed hooks
Leave other hook logic intact
Set journal.gitHooks: false in config

Manual Removal

If hooks were fully managed by DevDaily:

rm .git/hooks/post-commit
rm .git/hooks/post-checkout

If hooks were appended to existing files, manually edit and remove the section between:

# DevDaily auto-snapshot
...
fi

Custom Hooks Path

If you use a custom git hooks directory (via core.hooksPath):

git config core.hooksPath .githooks

DevDaily will automatically detect and use that path:

devdaily init --git-hooks
# Installs to .githooks/ instead of .git/hooks/

Performance

Git hooks use light snapshots (--light flag) which:

Skip PR and ticket fetching (fast, local-only)
Run in the background (non-blocking)
Capture only essential data (commits, branches, files)
Complete in ~50-200ms on average repositories

You won’t notice any slowdown in git commit or git checkout.

Snapshot Storage

Snapshots are stored in your local journal:

~/.config/devdaily/journal/
├── 2026-03/
│   ├── snapshot-2026-03-03T10-15-30.json
│   ├── snapshot-2026-03-03T14-22-45.json
│   └── ...
└── index.json

Each snapshot is a small JSON file (~2-10 KB) containing:

{
  "timestamp": "2026-03-03T10:15:30.123Z",
  "projectId": "my-project",
  "repoPath": "/Users/you/code/my-project",
  "branch": "feature/auth-refactor",
  "commits": [...],
  "tags": ["auto:post-commit"],
  "diffStats": { ... }
}

Use Cases

Context Recovery

When you return to a project after days or weeks:

devdaily context

DevDaily analyzes your journal snapshots (including hook-captured data) to tell you:

What branch you were on
What you were working on
Uncommitted changes
Related tickets

Work History Search

Find when you worked on specific features:

devdaily recall "auth"
devdaily recall --file src/auth.ts
devdaily recall --from 2026-01-01 --to 2026-01-31

Cross-Project Summaries

Aggregate work across multiple repositories:

devdaily week --all-projects

This pulls from your journal, which includes snapshots from all projects where hooks are installed.

Disabling Auto-Snapshots

If you want to keep hooks installed but temporarily disable snapshots:

.devdaily.json

{
  "journal": {
    "autoSnapshot": false
  }
}

Or per-repository:

export DEVD_QUIET=1  # Suppresses all snapshot side-effects

Troubleshooting

Hooks Not Running

Check if hooks are executable:

ls -la .git/hooks/post-commit
# Should show: -rwxr-xr-x

Check if DevDaily is in PATH:
```
which devdaily
```
Test manually:
```
.git/hooks/post-commit
```

Hooks Slow Down Commits

This shouldn’t happen because snapshots run in the background. If you experience slowdown:

Check that hooks use the background syntax:
```
(devdaily snapshot ... &)
```
Ensure journal.quiet: true to suppress output
Check for other hooks that might be slow

Snapshots Not Appearing

Check journal directory:

ls -lh ~/.config/devdaily/journal/
devdaily snapshot --list

If empty, check config:

devdaily config | grep autoSnapshot
# Should show: true

Best Practices

Start with manual snapshots

Use devdaily snapshot manually for a few days to understand what’s captured.

Enable side-effect snapshots

Let standup, pr, and week commands capture automatic snapshots.

Install git hooks

Once comfortable, run devdaily init --git-hooks for complete coverage.

Review periodically

Check your journal with devdaily snapshot --stats to see growth and prune old entries.

Security & Privacy

All snapshots are local-only. DevDaily never sends journal data to any server.

Snapshots contain commit messages, file names, and diff stats (no file contents)
Stored in ~/.config/devdaily/journal/ with user-only permissions
No network calls during snapshot capture
Safe to use in private/proprietary repositories

Configuration Overview

Learn about all configuration options

Project Management

Integrate ticket data into snapshots

​Overview

​Installation

​Interactive Setup

​Manual Installation

​Configuration

​How It Works

​Post-Commit Hook

​Post-Checkout Hook

​Existing Hooks

​Before Installation

​After Installation

​Uninstalling Hooks

​Manual Removal

​Custom Hooks Path

​Performance

​Snapshot Storage

​Use Cases

​Context Recovery

​Work History Search

​Cross-Project Summaries

​Disabling Auto-Snapshots

​Troubleshooting

​Hooks Not Running

​Hooks Slow Down Commits

​Snapshots Not Appearing

​Best Practices

​Security & Privacy

​Related Configuration

Configuration Overview

Project Management

Overview

Installation

Interactive Setup

Manual Installation

Configuration

How It Works

Post-Commit Hook

Post-Checkout Hook

Existing Hooks

Before Installation

After Installation

Uninstalling Hooks

Manual Removal

Custom Hooks Path

Performance

Snapshot Storage

Use Cases

Context Recovery

Work History Search

Cross-Project Summaries

Disabling Auto-Snapshots

Troubleshooting

Hooks Not Running

Hooks Slow Down Commits

Snapshots Not Appearing

Best Practices

Security & Privacy

Related Configuration