One of the challenges with securing AI coding agents is that they're fundamentally non-deterministic. Ask an agent to call a security tool through MCP, and it will... probably do it. Most of the time. When it remembers. This works surprisingly well in practice, but "surprisingly well" isn't what you want to tell an auditor.
Hooks solve this problem by providing deterministic execution points in the coding workflow. They're scripts that run automatically at defined moments: when the agent starts, after code is generated, before an MCP server is called. No AI decision-making involved.
Why Determinism Matters
Consider a security review that runs after code generation. With MCP, you're relying on the AI to decide to call your security tool. The AI might forget, might decide it's not relevant for this particular task, or might be prompted by a user to skip the check.
With hooks, the security review runs regardless. Every time code is generated, the hook fires. There's no AI in the loop deciding whether security is important right now.
This determinism is essential for enterprise security. When you need to demonstrate to auditors that security controls are enforced, you need something more concrete than "the AI usually calls our tool."
Hooks in Popular AI Coding Tools
Both Cursor and Claude Code support hooks, though their implementations differ slightly.
Cursor hooks allow you to run scripts at key points in the agent workflow. Corridor integrates with Cursor through these hooks, running security analysis after code generation and blocking commits that contain vulnerabilities. See our blog post on Cursor hooks integration for implementation details, or the official Cursor hooks documentation.
Claude Code hooks provide similar capabilities for Anthropic's coding agent. Scripts can be configured to run on specific events, enabling security checks that execute deterministically regardless of what the AI decides to do. See the Claude Code hooks documentation for details.
Common Hook Points
The most useful hooks in AI coding tend to be:
Post-code generation: After the agent writes code but before it's committed. This is where security scans happen, where you can review diffs and flag issues before they become permanent.
Pre-MCP call: Before the agent calls any MCP server. This allows you to enforce policies about which external tools are allowed, block calls to unapproved servers, or log all tool usage for audit purposes.
Agent start: When a coding session begins. Useful for loading configuration, initializing security context, and logging session metadata.
The Tradeoff
Some hooks run synchronously, while others run asynchronously—but even asynchronous hooks need to return results quickly and manage state carefully to provide a good user experience. A security scan that takes 30 seconds will make the coding workflow feel sluggish, whether it blocks execution or runs in the background.
The best hook implementations are fast and focused. Corridor's hooks typically complete in under a second, doing just enough to enforce critical policies without becoming a bottleneck. When blocking is necessary, they provide clear feedback about why and what the developer can do to proceed.