See also docs/contributing/TECHNICAL.md for the full architecture overview | hooks/ for deployed hook artifacts
The lifecycle management layer for LLM agent hooks: install, uninstall, verify integrity, audit usage, and manage trust. This component creates and maintains the hook artifacts that live in hooks/ (root), but does not execute rewrite logic itself — that lives in discover/registry.
Owns: contextcrawler init installation flows (4 agents via AgentTarget enum + 3 special modes: Gemini, Codex, OpenCode), SHA-256 integrity verification, hook version checking, audit log analysis, contextcrawler rewrite CLI entry point, and TOML filter trust management.
Does not own: the deployed hook scripts themselves (that's hooks/), the rewrite pattern registry (that's discover/), or command filtering (that's cmds/).
Boundary notes:
rewrite_cmd.rsis a thin CLI bridge — it exists to serve hooks (hooks callcontextcrawler rewriteas a subprocess) and delegates entirely todiscover/registry.trust.rsgates project-local TOML filter execution. It lives here because the trust workflow is tied to hook-installed filter discovery, not to the core filter engine.
LLM agent integration layer that installs, validates, and executes command-rewriting hooks for AI coding assistants. Hooks intercept raw CLI commands (e.g., git status) and rewrite them to ContextCrawler equivalents (e.g., contextcrawler git status) so that LLM agents automatically benefit from token savings without explicit user configuration.
contextcrawler init supports these installation flows:
| Mode | Command | Creates | Patches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default (global) | contextcrawler init -g |
Hook, SHA-256 hash, CONTEXTCRAWLER.md | settings.json, CLAUDE.md |
| Hook only | contextcrawler init -g --hook-only |
Hook, SHA-256 hash | settings.json |
| Claude-MD (legacy) | contextcrawler init --claude-md |
134-line ContextCrawler block | CLAUDE.md |
| Windsurf | contextcrawler init -g --agent windsurf |
.windsurfrules |
-- |
| Cline | contextcrawler init --agent cline |
.clinerules |
-- |
| Codex | contextcrawler init --codex |
CONTEXTCRAWLER.md in $CODEX_HOME or ~/.codex |
AGENTS.md |
| Cursor | contextcrawler init -g --agent cursor |
Cursor hook | hooks.json |
| Hermes | contextcrawler init --agent hermes |
Python plugin in ~/.hermes/plugins/rtk-rewrite/ |
config.yaml plugins.enabled |
The integrity system prevents unauthorized hook modifications:
- At install:
integrity::store_hash()computes SHA-256 of the hook file, writes to~/.claude/hooks/.ctxcrl-hook.sha256(read-only 0o444) - At runtime:
integrity::runtime_check()re-computes hash and compares; blocks execution if tampered - On demand:
contextcrawler verifyprints detailed verification status (PASS/FAIL/WARN/SKIP)
Five integrity states:
- Verified: Hash matches stored value
- Tampered: Hash mismatch (blocks execution)
- NoBaseline: Hook exists but no hash stored (old install)
- NotInstalled: No hook, no hash
- OrphanedHash: Hash file exists, hook missing
Controls how contextcrawler init modifies agent settings files:
| Mode | Flag | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Ask (default) | -- | Prompts user [y/N]; defaults to No if stdin not terminal |
| Auto | --auto-patch |
Patches without prompting; for CI/scripted installs |
| Skip | --no-patch |
Prints manual instructions; user patches manually |
All file operations use atomic writes (tempfile + rename) to prevent corruption on crash. Settings files are backed up to .bak before modification. All operations are idempotent -- running contextcrawler init multiple times is safe.
ContextCrawler enforces a permission precedence that matches Claude Code's least-privilege default:
Deny > Ask > Allow (explicit) > Default (ask)
Rules are loaded from all Claude Code settings.json files (project + global, including .local variants). Only Bash(...) rules are extracted; other scopes (Read, Write) are ignored.
| Verdict | Trigger | rewrite_cmd exit | Hook behavior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deny | permissions.deny rule matched |
2 | Passthrough — host tool handles denial |
| Ask | permissions.ask rule matched |
3 | Rewrite + let host tool prompt user |
| Allow | permissions.allow rule matched |
0 | Rewrite + auto-allow |
| Default | No rule matched | 3 | Rewrite + let host tool prompt user |
permissions.rs— loads deny/ask/allow rules, evaluates precedence, returnsPermissionVerdictrewrite_cmd.rs— maps verdict to exit code (consumed by shell hook)hook_cmd.rs— maps verdict to JSONpermissionDecisionfield (Copilot/Gemini)
Hook processors in hook_cmd.rs must return Ok(()) on every path — success, no-match, parse error, and unexpected input. Returning Err propagates to main() and exits non-zero, which blocks the agent's command from executing. This violates the non-blocking guarantee documented in hooks/README.md.
To add support for a new AI coding agent: (1) add the hook installation logic to init.rs following the existing agent patterns, (2) if the agent requires a custom hook protocol (like Gemini's BeforeTool), add a processor function in hook_cmd.rs, (3) add the agent's hook file path to hook_check.rs for validation, and (4) update integrity.rs with the expected hash for the new hook file. Test by running contextcrawler init in a fresh environment and verifying the hook rewrites commands correctly in the target agent.
