Hooks

Hooks let you execute shell commands before and/or after Boilerplate renders your template files. This is useful for running formatters, validators, installers, or any other setup/teardown tasks.

Defining Hooks

hooks:
  before:
    - command: echo
      args: ["Setting up..."]

  after:
    - command: terraform
      args: ["fmt", "-recursive"]

Hook Fields

Field	Required	Description
`command`	Yes	The command to execute
`args`	No	List of arguments passed to the command
`env`	No	Map of environment variables to set
`dir`	No	Working directory for the command
`skip`	No	Go template expression — if `true`, the hook is skipped

Variable Interpolation

Hook arguments and environment variables support Go template syntax:

hooks:
  after:
    - command: ./setup.sh
      args:
        - "{{ .ProjectName }}"
        - "{{ .Environment }}"
      env:
        APP_NAME: "{{ .ProjectName }}"
        DB_HOST: "{{ .DatabaseHost }}"

Conditional Hooks

Use the skip field to conditionally skip a hook:

hooks:
  after:
    - command: docker
      args: ["build", "-t", "{{ .ProjectName }}", "."]
      skip: "{{ not .IncludeDocker }}"

Working Directory

By default, hooks run in the output folder. Use dir to specify a different working directory:

hooks:
  after:
    - command: npm
      args: ["install"]
      dir: "{{ outputFolder }}/frontend"

Security

In interactive mode, Boilerplate prompts for confirmation before running each hook, showing the full command and arguments. The user can respond with:

Response	Behavior
`y`	Run this hook
`a`	Run this and all subsequent hooks without prompting
`n`	Skip this hook