A pre-tool hook that runs a command before selected Engram memory operations, such as saving, reviewing, or deleting memories. Hooks are automatic checks or actions triggered by matching events.

Use it to run the configured Engram pre-action command before the listed memory and session operations.

It provides a control point before those memory changes happen. The input does not describe what the command does beyond invoking the Engram hook.

PreToolUse — Hook for Claude Code by Gentleman-Programming/engram

About the project

Engram is a local or cloud-backed memory system for AI coding agents, provided as a single Go binary with SQLite full-text search and interfaces including a command line, HTTP API, MCP server, and terminal UI. It helps compatible coding agents retain project decisions, bugs, conventions, and other useful context across sessions. The catalogue add-ons configure and operate Engram’s memory workflows.

Gentleman-Programming/engram · 7,815 stars · on GitHub · engram.gentlemanprogramming.com

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Gentleman-Programming/engram

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install engram, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 1 skill, 6 hooks.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/hooks/gentleman-programming/engram/pre-tool-use/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/hooks/gentleman-programming/engram/pre-tool-use)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/hooks/gentleman-programming/engram/pre-tool-use"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/hooks/gentleman-programming/engram/pre-tool-use/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

Your own site · 80×15

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/hooks/gentleman-programming/engram/pre-tool-use"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/hooks/gentleman-programming/engram/pre-tool-use.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>

Per session not measured What this adds to a session before it is invoked.

When invoked not measured Not applicable: nothing here is loaded into a session.

Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.

Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.

Security

Grade A, and why

PreToolUse scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 16d ago.

A static scan of the commands this hook runs, not an audit. A hook is shell that executes on your machine at the event it names, which is why every command in it is printed with what was found.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

plugin/claude-code/hooks/hooks.json · 15 lines

What it actually says

{
  "PreToolUse": [
    {
      "matcher": "^(mcp__engram__|mcp__plugin_engram_engram__)(mem_save|mem_update|mem_review|mem_delete|mem_save_prompt|mem_pin|mem_unpin|mem_session_summary|mem_session_start|mem_session_end|mem_capture_passive|mem_merge_projects|mem_judge|mem_compare)$",
      "hooks": [
        {
          "type": "command",
          "command": "engram hook claude-pre-tool-use",
          "onFailure": "block",
          "timeout": 5
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Same file

What else `hooks.json` configures

This page is one entry in a file that holds 6. Installing the file brings all of them; each is measured and scanned on its own page.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

16d ago Changed · +1 lines d41a0b4dc6b9
1mo ago First seen · 14 lines scan A eca4a03a8188

Subscribe to this mod's changes

PreToolUse is a hook published in the GitHub repository Gentleman-Programming/engram (7,815 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. Its token cost is not measured: a hook is shell that never enters the context. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-24.

Memory and context gentle-shell-package

PreToolUse next to 6 hooks from other repositories
Mod	Type	Stars	Last push	Licence	Scan	Tokens	Works with
PreToolUseGentleman-Programming/engram	Hook	7.8k	yesterday	MIT	A	—	Claude Code
SessionStartMetcalfSolutions/Satori	Hook	116	4d ago	Apache-2.0	A	—	Claude Code
SessionStartnhevers/MoltBrain	Hook	253	7mo ago	none	A	—	Claude Code
PostToolUsesupabase/supabase	Hook	115k	yesterday	Apache-2.0	A	—	Claude Code
SessionStartsupabase/supabase	Hook	115k	yesterday	Apache-2.0	A	—	Claude Code
SessionStartgoogle-gemini/gemini-cli	Hook	109k	yesterday	Apache-2.0	A	—	Claude Code
PreToolUseapache/superset	Hook	75k	today	Apache-2.0	A	—	Claude Code

PreToolUse