Hook

A rule that fires automatically on something your own AI does: whenever it finishes a piece of work, run the checks; whenever a session ends, save the log. The AI doesn't get to decide whether to obey a hook. It fires either way.

Your own shop rule that every job gets photographed before the van leaves. Nobody chooses to do it; it's just what happens.

Not to be confused with a webhook, which points the other way. A hook fires on your own AI's actions, from the inside. A webhook fires when something outside pings in — the supplier ringing you when the worktop lands.

Why it matters: anything you want enforced every single time belongs in a hook, not in an instruction the AI might skim past. "Every mistake becomes a permanent upgrade" — turn the lesson into a hook and it cannot be forgotten again, by anyone.

Related: Webhook · Guardrail