prek: A Rust-based Pre-commit Alternative Built for Speed and Simplicity

The pre-commit ecosystem has long been a staple for developers seeking to automate code quality checks, but its Python-based architecture has introduced performance bottlenecks and dependency management headaches. Enter prek, a Rust-engineered reimagining that promises to address these pain points while maintaining full compatibility with existing workflows.

The Performance Problem with Traditional pre-commit

Traditional pre-commit relies heavily on Python's ecosystem, requiring users to manage Python versions, virtual environments, and package dependencies just to run code quality checks. This creates friction, especially in projects where Python isn't the primary language. The framework also suffers from sequential processing limitations, where hooks run one after another rather than in parallel, and each hook maintains its own isolated environment, leading to redundant disk usage.

How prek Reengineers the Framework

prek takes a fundamentally different approach by consolidating everything into a single Rust binary. This eliminates the need for Python or any other runtime, reducing the setup complexity to simply downloading and running the tool. The Rust foundation provides inherent performance advantages, but prek goes further by redesigning how hook environments and toolchains are managed.

The key innovation lies in shared environments between hooks. Instead of each hook maintaining its own isolated Python virtual environment, prek creates shared toolchains that multiple hooks can utilize. This dramatically reduces disk space consumption while also speeding up installation processes. When hooks have disjoint dependencies, they can be installed in parallel, and the framework supports concurrent hook execution based on priority levels.

Language Support and Toolchain Integration

prek provides built-in toolchain management for multiple languages including Python, Node.js, Bun, Go, Rust, and Ruby. For Python specifically, it integrates with uv for creating virtual environments and installing dependencies, leveraging uv's reputation for speed and efficiency. This integration means Python hooks benefit from uv's performance optimizations without requiring users to manage uv separately.

The framework also includes Rust-native implementations of common hooks, which outperform their Python counterparts. Additionally, prek introduces the repo: builtin feature for offline, zero-setup hooks—a capability not available in the original pre-commit.

Enhanced User Experience Features

Beyond performance improvements, prek introduces several user experience enhancements. The prek run --directory <dir> command simplifies running hooks on specific directories without complex git commands. The prek run --last-commit option targets files changed in the last commit, and users can select multiple hooks directly in the command line.

The prek list command provides comprehensive hook information including IDs and descriptions, offering better visibility into configured hooks. Shell completions for prek run <hook_id> make it easier to execute specific hooks without memorizing their identifiers.

For security-conscious teams, prek auto-update includes a --cooldown-days option to mitigate open source supply chain attack risks by controlling how frequently updates are applied.

Workspace and Monorepo Support

prek includes built-in support for workspaces and monorepos, allowing each subproject to maintain its own .pre-commit-config.yaml file. This addresses a common pain point in large codebases where different components may require different hook configurations or dependency versions.

Real-world Adoption and Migration

Despite being relatively new, prek has already gained traction with major open source projects. The tool powers real-world projects including CPython, Apache Airflow, FastAPI, and PDM. Other notable adopters include Ruff, Typer, OpenLineage, Django, and Requests-Cache, demonstrating its viability for production workloads.

For teams considering migration, prek provides a straightforward path. Users of existing pre-commit can follow a short migration checklist to safely swap in prek. New users can access beginner-friendly walkthroughs covering the basics of creating configurations, running hooks, and installing git hooks.

Installation and Distribution

prek offers multiple installation options to suit different preferences and environments. Users can install via standalone installers, PyPI, Homebrew, mise, Cargo, npm, Nix, Conda, Scoop (Windows), MacPorts, or directly from GitHub Releases. The standalone installer even supports self-updating with prek self update, ensuring easy maintenance.

Current Limitations and Language Support

While prek aims for full drop-in compatibility with pre-commit, some languages are not yet fully supported. The project maintains transparency about current language support status, allowing teams to evaluate whether prek meets their specific needs before migration.

The Technical Foundation

prek's architecture represents a thoughtful reengineering rather than a simple port. By leveraging Rust's performance characteristics and memory safety guarantees, the framework achieves significant speed improvements while maintaining reliability. The parallel processing capabilities, shared environment management, and efficient dependency resolution all stem from Rust's strengths as a systems programming language.

The project acknowledges its debt to the original pre-commit tool and credits the Astral team's work on uv as influential in developing efficient Rust code patterns. This collaborative spirit within the developer tools ecosystem has enabled prek to build upon proven concepts while addressing their limitations.

Why This Matters for Development Workflows

Code quality automation tools like pre-commit and prek play a crucial role in modern development workflows by catching issues early, enforcing standards, and maintaining consistency across teams. However, when these tools introduce their own friction through complex setup requirements or performance bottlenecks, they can become obstacles rather than enablers.

prek addresses this by removing the setup friction entirely—no Python version management, no virtual environment headaches, just a single binary that works. The performance improvements mean faster feedback loops during development, while the enhanced features provide better control and visibility over the hook execution process.

For teams evaluating their pre-commit alternatives, prek represents a compelling option that doesn't require sacrificing existing investments in pre-commit configurations. The compatibility ensures that migrating doesn't mean rewriting all your hooks, while the performance and usability improvements make the development experience noticeably better.

The emergence of prek reflects a broader trend in developer tools toward performance optimization and simplified user experiences. As codebases grow larger and development cycles accelerate, tools that can keep pace without introducing complexity will become increasingly valuable. prek's approach—reimagining established tools with modern language capabilities and user-centered design—offers a template for how developer tooling can evolve to meet these demands.