pre-push hook in Git - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Create a Git Pre-Push Hook to Run Tests

📖 Scenario: You are working on a team project using Git. To keep the code quality high, you want to run tests automatically before pushing any changes to the remote repository.This will help catch errors early and avoid broken code being shared.

🎯 Goal: Build a Git pre-push hook script that runs a test command before allowing a push.If the tests fail, the push should be stopped.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a pre-push hook file in the .git/hooks directory

Make the hook file executable

Add a test command inside the hook script

Ensure the push is blocked if tests fail

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Pre-push hooks help teams catch errors early by running tests automatically before code is shared.

💼 Career

Knowing how to write Git hooks is useful for DevOps roles and software developers to enforce quality checks.

1

Create the pre-push hook file

Create a file named pre-push inside the .git/hooks directory with the first line #!/bin/sh to specify the shell interpreter.

Git

# Create the pre-push hook file with the shebang line
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The first line of a shell script should be #!/bin/sh to tell Git which shell to use.

2

Add a test command variable

Inside the pre-push file, add a variable named TEST_COMMAND and set it to npm test.

Git

#!/bin/sh
# Add the TEST_COMMAND variable
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use TEST_COMMAND="npm test" to store the test command in a variable.

3

Run the test command and check result

Add code to run the $TEST_COMMAND and check if it succeeds. If it fails, print Tests failed, push aborted. and exit with status 1.

Git

#!/bin/sh
TEST_COMMAND="npm test"
# Run tests and abort push if tests fail
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use if ! $TEST_COMMAND; then ... fi to run the tests and handle failure.

4

Print success message after tests pass

Add a line to print Tests passed, pushing changes... after the tests succeed.

Git

#!/bin/sh
TEST_COMMAND="npm test"

if ! $TEST_COMMAND; then
  echo "Tests failed, push aborted."
  exit 1
fi
# Print success message
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use echo "Tests passed, pushing changes..." to show the success message.