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prek

prek

pre-commit is a framework to run hooks written in many languages, and it manages the language toolchain and dependencies for running the hooks.

prek is a reimagined version of pre-commit, built in Rust. It is designed to be a faster, dependency-free and drop-in alternative for it, while also providing some additional long-requested features.

Not production-ready yet

prek is not production-ready yet, a few subcommands and languages are still in works. But it's already being adopted by some projects, please give it a try - we'd love your feedback!

Current supported languages are python, node, go, docker, docker-image, pygrep, system, script and fail.

Features

  • 🚀 A single binary with no dependencies, does not require Python or any other runtime.
  • ⚡ About 10x faster than pre-commit and uses only a third of disk space.
  • 🔄 Fully compatible with the original pre-commit configurations and hooks.
  • 🏗️ Built-in support for monorepos (i.e. workspace mode).
  • 🐍 Integration with uv for managing Python virtual environments and dependencies.
  • 🛠️ Improved toolchain installations for Python, Node.js, Go, Rust and Ruby, shared between hooks.
  • 📦 Built-in implementation of some common hooks.

Quick Start

  1. Install prek
  2. Replace pre-commit with prek in your commands

  3. Your existing .pre-commit-config.yaml works unchanged

    $ prek run
trim trailing whitespace.................................................Passed
fix end of files.........................................................Passed
typos....................................................................Passed
cargo fmt................................................................Passed
cargo clippy.............................................................Passed

Why prek?

prek is way faster

  • It is about 10x faster than pre-commit and uses only a third of disk space.
  • It redesigned how hook environments and toolchains are managed, they are all shared between hooks, which reduces the disk space usage and speeds up the installation process.
  • Repositories are cloned in parallel, and hooks are installed in parallel if their dependencies are disjoint.
  • It uses uv for creating Python virtualenvs and installing dependencies, which is known for its speed and efficiency.
  • It implements some common hooks in Rust, built in prek, which are faster than their Python counterparts.

prek provides a better user experience

  • No need to install Python or any other runtime, just download a single binary.
  • No hassle with your Python version or virtual environments, prek automatically installs the required Python version and creates a virtual environment for you.
  • Built-in support for workspaces (or monorepos), each subproject can have its own .pre-commit-config.yaml file.
  • prek run has some nifty improvements over pre-commit run, such as:
  • prek run --directory <dir> runs hooks for files in the specified directory, no need to use git ls-files -- <dir> | xargs pre-commit run --files anymore.
  • prek run --last-commit runs hooks for files changed in the last commit.
  • prek run [HOOK] [HOOK] selects and runs multiple hooks.
  • prek list command lists all available hooks, their ids, and descriptions, providing a better overview of the configured hooks.
  • prek provides shell completions for prek run <hook_id> command, making it easier to run specific hooks without remembering their ids.

For more detailed improvements prek offers, take a look at Difference from pre-commit.

Who is using prek?

prek is pretty new, but it is already being used or recommend by some projects and organizations:

Getting Started