What it does. Set up Claude Code hooks to block dangerous git commands (push, reset --hard, clean, branch -D, etc.) before they execute. Use when user wants to prevent destructive git operations, add git safety hooks, or block git push/reset in Claude Code. Part of mattpocock/skills (Skills for Real Engineers) (mattpocock/skills).

Install

• npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill git-guardrails-claude-code, or copy the skill folder into ~/.claude/skills/git-guardrails-claude-code/.
• Raw file: curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mattpocock/skills/HEAD/skills/misc/git-guardrails-claude-code/SKILL.md

SKILL.md (verbatim)

name: git-guardrails-claude-code
description: Set up Claude Code hooks to block dangerous git commands (push, reset --hard, clean, branch -D, etc.) before they execute. Use when user wants to prevent destructive git operations, add git safety hooks, or block git push/reset in Claude Code.

Setup Git Guardrails

Sets up a PreToolUse hook that intercepts and blocks dangerous git commands before Claude executes them.

What Gets Blocked

• git push (all variants including --force)
• git reset --hard
• git clean -f / git clean -fd
• git branch -D
• git checkout . / git restore .

When blocked, Claude sees a message telling it that it does not have authority to access these commands.

Steps

1. Ask scope

Ask the user: install for this project only (.claude/settings.json) or all projects (~/.claude/settings.json)?

2. Copy the hook script

The bundled script is at: scripts/block-dangerous-git.sh

Copy it to the target location based on scope:

• Project: .claude/hooks/block-dangerous-git.sh
• Global: ~/.claude/hooks/block-dangerous-git.sh

Make it executable with chmod +x.

3. Add hook to settings

Add to the appropriate settings file:

Project (.claude/settings.json):

{
  "hooks": {
    "PreToolUse": [
      {
        "matcher": "Bash",
        "hooks": [
          {
            "type": "command",
            "command": "\"$CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR\"/.claude/hooks/block-dangerous-git.sh"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Global (~/.claude/settings.json):

{
  "hooks": {
    "PreToolUse": [
      {
        "matcher": "Bash",
        "hooks": [
          {
            "type": "command",
            "command": "~/.claude/hooks/block-dangerous-git.sh"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

If the settings file already exists, merge the hook into the existing hooks.PreToolUse array. Don't overwrite other settings.

4. Ask about customization

Ask if user wants to add or remove any patterns from the blocked list. Edit the copied script accordingly.

5. Verify

Run a quick test:

echo '{"tool_input":{"command":"git push origin main"}}' | <path-to-script>

Should exit with code 2 and print a BLOCKED message to stderr.

Other files in this skill

• agents/openai.yaml
• scripts/block-dangerous-git.sh

Back to mattpocock/skills (Skills for Real Engineers) or Agent skills.