How to Enforce Repo Rules and Activate Skills with a Claude Code Governance Layer

The Technique — A Hook-Driven Governance Layer

Developers have built a custom governance layer for Claude Code that uses hooks to intercept and guide its behavior. This system addresses a common pain point: ensuring Claude follows your specific project rules and activates the right "Skills" (custom functions or workflows) for the task at hand. Instead of hoping Claude reads your CLAUDE.md or remembers context, this layer programmatically enforces it.

The core mechanism is a pre-execution hook. Before Claude Code acts on a user request—like writing a file or running a command—the hook system intercepts the request. It can then:

1. Force Skill Activation: Check if the user's request matches a defined Skill (e.g., "run tests," "create a React component") and ensure the correct Skill is invoked with the proper parameters.
2. Enforce Repository Rules: Validate the intended action against a centralized set of project rules defined in a configuration file (e.g., governance.yaml). This can prevent commits to main without a PR, enforce code style, or block modifications to protected directories.
3. Log and Audit: Create a record of all AI-assisted actions, providing transparency and a trail for debugging or review.

Why It Works — Predictability Over Prompts

This approach works because it moves governance from the prompt (which can be ignored or forgotten in a long context window) to the system level. Relying solely on instructions in CLAUDE.md is probabilistic; the model might disregard them, especially in complex, multi-step tasks. A hook system is deterministic. If a rule says "never directly push to main," the hook can block the git push origin main command from being executed by Claude, full stop.

It leverages Claude Code's existing extensibility and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for tool integration, but adds a mandatory checkpoint. This turns Claude from a powerful but sometimes erratic assistant into a reliable agent that operates within your team's guardrails.

How To Apply It — Implementing Your Own Layer

While the source article details a custom implementation, you can start applying the principles today with Claude Code's existing features and some scripting.

1. Define Your Rules and Skills:
Start by explicitly defining what you want to govern. Create a project_rules.yaml file:

skills:
  - name: create_component
    trigger: "create a new component"
    required_files: ["components/"]
    required_command: "npm run generate:component"

rules:
  - id: no_direct_main_push
    description: "All changes to main must come via a Pull Request."
    blocked_command_pattern: "git push origin main"
  - id: style_check_first
    description: "Run linter before committing."
    precondition: "git commit"
    required_pre_command: "npm run lint"

2. Intercept with a Simple Wrapper Script:
You can create a bash or Python wrapper that acts as a basic hook. For example, a script claude-governed could:

• Read the user's request.
• Check it against your project_rules.yaml.
• If it matches a Skill, reformat the request to explicitly call that Skill in your CLAUDE.md.
• If it violates a rule, print the rule and exit before calling the real claude code command.

3. Integrate with Your CLAUDE.md:
Structure your CLAUDE.md to work with this system. Define your Skills clearly at the top:

# PROJECT SKILLS
When the user asks to 'create a component', you MUST:
1. Use the component generator: `npm run generate:component --name=ComponentName`
2. Place files only in `src/components/`.
Do not implement components manually.

# PROJECT RULES
- Never run `git push origin main`. Always push to a feature branch and create a PR.
- Always run `npm run lint` before suggesting a `git commit`.

The wrapper script can then prepend a forceful instruction like "[GOVERNANCE HOOK ACTIVATED: Use the 'create_component' Skill for this request.]" to the user's prompt.

4. Explore Advanced MCP Servers:
For a more integrated solution, the concept points toward building a custom MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that acts as this governance layer. This server would sit between Claude Code and its tools, validating actions. The /btw command (recently added for side conversations) could be used by this server to ask for user clarification when a request is ambiguous before proceeding.

Start simple. The key insight is to stop treating Claude Code as an individual you instruct, and start treating it as a system component you can program.