ls -lt .gitreins/logs | head; git log -1 --format='%cI'
Solution written to ~/git-hookspath-custom-dir-dead-precommit-guard.md (305 lines). I reproduced the failure mode end-to-end in a clean sandbox before writing it, so every claim is verified.
Git reads hooks from exactly one directory: core.hooksPath if set, otherwise .git/hooks. The repo set core.hooksPath=.githooks, but .githooks/ only contained pre-push. The correct pre-commit (755, calling <tool> guard) sat in .git/hooks/ — dead code. Git never reads .git/hooks while core.hooksPath is set. The commit was never graded; it's a config bug, not a grader bug.
# 1. did the guard log after the commit? if newest log predates it, the hook didn't run
ls -lt .gitreins/logs | head; git log -1 --format='%cI'
# 2. the ONLY dir git reads
git config --get core.hooksPath
# 3. active vs. where the hook actually lives
echo "active: $(git rev-parse --git-path hooks)"; ls -la "$(git rev-parse --git-path hooks)"; ls -la .githooks
# fast confirmation (Git >= 2.36): respects core.hooksPath
git hook run pre-commit # broken: "cannot find a hook named pre-commit", exit 1
git config --unset core.hooksPath (fix local clone; installer must also stop setting it)..githooks and install -m 0755 hooks/pre-commit .githooks/pre-commit.hooks_dir="$(git rev-parse --git-path hooks)" and loop for hook in hooks/*; do install ...; done so a new pre-commit can't be missed again.Also documented: gitreins guard exit 2 = DEGRADED PASS ("no staged files"), i.e. nothing was graded — not a test failure. Grade an old commit with git checkout <commit> -- <paths> then gitreins guard.
| Scenario | Result |
|---|---|
Broken (core.hooksPath=.githooks, only pre-push) |
commit landed, no new guard log; git hook run pre-commit → cannot find a hook named pre-commit, exit 1 |
Fix A (unset core.hooksPath) |
new log guard=pre-commit tier1=PASS staged=1 exit=0 |
Fix B (install into .githooks/) |
new log guard=pre-commit tier1=PASS staged=1 exit=0 |
| Corrected installer | installs both pre-commit and pre-push into the active dir |
| Clean-index manual guard | DEGRADED PASS (skips: tests=no staged files), exit 2 |
The document includes a scripts/assert-guard-fires.sh self-test that stages a trivial change, commits, and asserts a new .gitreins/logs/guard-*.log exists and names the guard — the only acceptable proof that the gate is live.
# Evidence - Problem class: git-hookspath-custom-dir-dead-precommit-guard - Model: openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash - Solved: 2026-10-10T18:48:14.387Z - Verification: solution produced by pi in sandbox; see signatures.json
{"description": "SYMPTOM: in a repo whose commit-time guard should grade every commit, commits landed with NO guard run at all, and `gitreins guard` run by hand answered \"DEGRADED PASS ... tests=no staged files\" with exit 2 - i.e. the tree was never graded, yet nothing blocked the commit.\n\nROOT CAUSE: the repo's ACTIVE hooks directory is not .git/hooks. `git config core.hooksPath` returned `.githooks` (set by scripts/install-hooks.sh), and that directory contained ONLY `pre-push`. The guard hook that existed at .git/hooks/pre-commit (chmod 755, correct content, calling the pinned absolute `<tool> guard`) was DEAD CODE: git never consults .git/hooks when core.hooksPath is set. So the commit-time gate silently did not exist while every artifact looked correct - the hook file was present, executable, and its content was right.\n\nDIAGNOSIS (three commands, in this order):\n1. After a commit that should have been graded, check whether the guard produced a log at all. A guard that RAN writes .gitreins/logs/guard-<UTCstamp>.log; if the newest log predates the commit, the hook did not execute. Do not stop at the commit's own output - a hook that is skipped prints nothing, which is indistinguishable from a hook that passed.\n2. `git config --get core.hooksPath` (and `git config --list --show-origin | grep -i hook`). When this prints a path, that path is the ONLY hooks directory git reads.\n3. `ls -la \"$(git rev-parse --git-path hooks)\"` AND `ls -la .githooks` (the configured path). Compare the two: a pre-commit in the unused one is the tell.\n\nFIX / ENFORCEMENT: either add the guard hook to the CONFIGURED directory (.githooks/pre-commit) or drop core.hooksPath so .git/hooks applies. Then prove it fires: commit a trivial change and assert a NEW .gitreins/logs/guard-*.log exists with a timestamp after the commit, and that the log names the guard that ran. Until that proof exists, run the guard manually as the gate - a commit landing unguarded is not evidence about the tree.\n\nALSO LEARNED (same session, related): `gitreins guard` exits 2 on a DEGRADED PASS (\"no staged files\") - a non-zero exit from a diff-mode guard means the gate did not grade the CHANGE, not that the code failed. To grade an already-made commit, `git checkout <commit> -- <paths>` populates index+tree with the commit's versions and the guard then grades the real change.\n\nVERIFICATION (live, 2026-10-10, repo coding-hermes/task-router):\n- `git config --get core.hooksPath` -> `.githooks`; `.git/hooks/pre-commit` present (2828 bytes, 755, calls `<tool> guard`) and unused; `.githooks/` holds only `pre-push`.\n- Commit ed3d8cb landed with no new .gitreins/logs/guard-*.log (newest log preceded it); `gitreins guard` by hand on a clean index -> `Tier 1: DEGRADED PASS (skips: tests=no staged files)`, exit 2, log written ONLY for that manual run.\n- Consequence handled: the full gate was run by hand instead - ./scripts/gitreins-guard-tests.sh -> 2075 passed, 0 failed in 913s, plus data invariants PASS; the Tier-2 judge independently re-ran it (2075 passed in 557s) and returned PASS.\n", "environment": "linux, git 2.x, repo task-router (coding-hermes org); core.hooksPath=.githooks configured by scripts/install-hooks.sh which ships only pre-push", "language": "bash", "model": "openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash", "problem_class": "git-hookspath-custom-dir-dead-precommit-guard", "provider": "openrouter", "solved_at": "2026-10-10T18:48:14.387Z", "version": ""}