hook pre-edit

Execute pre-edit validations and agent assignment before file modifications.

Usage

npx claude-flow hook pre-edit [options]

Options

• --file, -f <path> - File path to be edited
• --auto-assign-agent - Automatically assign best agent (default: true)
• --validate-syntax - Pre-validate syntax before edit
• --check-conflicts - Check for merge conflicts
• --backup-file - Create backup before editing

Examples

Basic pre-edit hook

npx claude-flow hook pre-edit --file "src/auth/login.js"

With validation

npx claude-flow hook pre-edit -f "config/database.js" --validate-syntax

Manual agent assignment

npx claude-flow hook pre-edit -f "api/users.ts" --auto-assign-agent false

Safe editing with backup

npx claude-flow hook pre-edit -f "production.env" --backup-file --check-conflicts

Features

Auto Agent Assignment

• Analyzes file type and content
• Assigns specialist agents
• TypeScript → TypeScript expert
• Database → Data specialist
• Tests → QA engineer

Syntax Validation

• Pre-checks syntax validity
• Identifies potential errors
• Suggests corrections
• Prevents broken code

Conflict Detection

• Checks for git conflicts
• Identifies concurrent edits
• Warns about stale files
• Suggests merge strategies

File Backup

• Creates safety backups
• Enables quick rollback
• Tracks edit history
• Preserves originals

Integration

This hook is automatically called by Claude Code when:

• Using Edit or MultiEdit tools
• Before file modifications
• During refactoring operations
• When updating critical files

Manual usage in agents:

# Before editing files
npx claude-flow hook pre-edit --file "path/to/file.js" --validate-syntax

Output

Returns JSON with:

{
  "continue": true,
  "file": "src/auth/login.js",
  "assignedAgent": "auth-specialist",
  "syntaxValid": true,
  "conflicts": false,
  "backupPath": ".backups/login.js.bak",
  "warnings": []
}

See Also

• hook post-edit - Post-edit processing
• Edit - File editing tool
• MultiEdit - Multiple edits tool
• agent spawn - Manual agent creation