Hook Uses Project Dir Variable

Hook shell commands SHOULD reference $CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR or $CLAUDE_ENV_FILE instead of hardcoded absolute paths. Claude Code injects these environment variables at runtime — using them makes hooks portable across machines and collaborators.

Antipatterns

• Hardcoded home directory. Writing "/home/user/project/.claude/hooks/lint.sh" — breaks when another developer clones the repo or CI runs the hooks.
• Relative paths without anchor. Using ".claude/hooks/lint.sh" without $CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR — the working directory during hook execution may not be the project root.
• Hardcoded in committed settings. Absolute paths in .claude/settings.json (committed) rather than .claude/settings.local.json (gitignored). Every collaborator sees the wrong path.

Pass / Fail

Pass

{
  "hooks": {
    "PreToolUse": [
      { "type": "command", "command": "$CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR/.claude/hooks/lint.sh" }
    ]
  }
}

Fail

{
  "hooks": {
    "PreToolUse": [
      { "type": "command", "command": "/home/user/project/.claude/hooks/lint.sh" }
    ]
  }
}

Limitations

Checks that at least one Claude environment variable reference exists. Does not flag individual commands that use hardcoded paths if other commands already use the variable.