The main configuration file is hook.conf, a JSON file
that is auto-loaded at startup and auto-saved on exit.
The location of hook.conf depends on how Hook is running:
| Mode | hook.conf location |
|---|---|
| Linux (development / portable) | Same directory as the hook binary |
| Linux (AppImage / .deb install) | ~/.config/hook/hook.conf (or
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/hook/) |
| Windows | %APPDATA%\Hook\hook.conf |
In development mode (no AppImage), all files live next to the binary.
In AppImage mode and when installed from the .deb package, user data
(collections, environments, etc.) is stored in
~/.local/share/hook/ (or
$XDG_DATA_HOME/hook/).
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| default_timeout | 0 | Request timeout in milliseconds. 0 = no timeout. |
| default_tls_verify | 1 | 1 = verify TLS certs, 0 = skip. |
| default_follow_redirects | 1 | 1 = follow 3xx redirects automatically. |
| default_max_redirects | 10 | Maximum number of redirects to follow. |
| default_connect_timeout | 0 | TCP connect timeout in milliseconds. |
| default_retry_count | 0 | Number of retries on failure/5xx. |
| default_retry_delay | 1000 | Delay between retries in milliseconds. |
| default_compressed | 0 | 1 = request gzip/deflate compression. |
| default_user_agent | (none) | Default User-Agent header string. |
| proxy_enabled | 0 | 1 = use global proxy. |
| proxy_url | (none) | Proxy URL (http://, https://, or socks5://). |
| no_proxy | (none) | Comma-separated hosts to bypass proxy. |
| tls_client_cert | (none) | Client certificate file path (mTLS). |
| tls_client_key | (none) | Client private key file path (mTLS). |
| cookie_jar_enabled | 0 | 1 = enable cookie jar. |
| cookie_jar_path | (none) | Cookie jar file path (Netscape format). |
| curl_custom_enabled | 0 | 1 = use custom curl binary path. |
| curl_path | (none) | Custom curl binary path. Empty = system PATH. |
| custom_ca_files | [] | Array of PEM CA file paths. Max 32. |
| git_enabled | 0 | 1 = enable Git integration. Requires libgit2. |
| git_author_name | (none) | Author name for Git commits. |
| git_author_email | (none) | Author email for Git commits. |
| git_auto_stage | 0 | 1 = auto-stage on save. |
| git_auto_commit | 0 | 1 = auto-commit after staging. |
| git_repo_url | (none) | Remote repository URL. |
| git_branch | (none) | Target branch name. |
| git_remote_auth_type | 0 | 0=None, 1=Token, 2=Basic, 3=SSH. |
| git_token | (none) | Personal access token (auth type 1). |
| git_ssh_key_path | (none) | SSH private key path (auth type 3). |
| git_remote_user | (none) | Username for basic auth (auth type 2). |
| git_remote_password | (none) | Password for basic auth (auth type 2). |
| git_pull_check_interval | 0 | Remote fetch interval in minutes (0=disabled, max 180). |
| history_max_entries | 200 | Max history entries in memory and on disk (min 200). |
| result_store_enabled | 1 | Store each response so past runs can be reopened and compared. |
| result_max_body_kb | 1024 | Largest response body kept per stored result, in KB (min 16). |
| theme_id | 0 | Active theme, 0-7 (see below). Out of range falls back to 0. |
| tooltip_delay_ms | 600 | Pointer-rest delay before a tooltip shows. 0 = no tooltips. |
| split_ratio_v | 0.21875 | Left column width, as a fraction of the window width. |
| split_ratio_left | 0.45 | Collection/history divider, as a fraction of the content height. |
| split_ratio_right | 0.46196 | Request/response divider, as a fraction of the content height. |
theme_id picks one of the eight built-in palettes: 0 =
Dark (default), 1 = Light, 2 = Solarized Dark, 3 = High Contrast, 4 =
Monokai, 5 = Nord, 6 = Dracula, 7 = Gruvbox Dark. It is set from the
Theme combobox at the top of the Settings tab.
tooltip_delay_ms is how long the pointer has to rest on
a widget before its tooltip appears, in milliseconds. It is set from the
Settings tab and applies at once. 0 turns tooltips off entirely; any
other value is kept between 100 and 5000 ms, so a hand-edited file
cannot make them unreachable or instant.
The three split_ratio_* values are the split-pane
divider positions. Hook writes them on exit, so the panes come back
where they were left. Each pane has a minimum size: a ratio outside the
usable range (a hand-edited value, or a layout saved on a much larger
screen) is clamped when the window is laid out, and a value that is not
strictly between 0 and 1 falls back to the default.
{
"default_timeout": 30000,
"default_tls_verify": 1,
"default_follow_redirects": 1,
"default_max_redirects": 10,
"default_compressed": 1,
"default_user_agent": "Hook/1.0 (API Client)",
"proxy_enabled": 0,
"cookie_jar_enabled": 1,
"cookie_jar_path": "cookies.txt",
"git_enabled": 1,
"git_author_name": "Jane Developer",
"git_author_email": "jane@example.com",
"git_repo_url": "git@github.com:user/api-collection.git",
"git_branch": "main",
"git_remote_auth_type": 3,
"git_ssh_key_path": "/home/jane/.ssh/id_ed25519",
"curl_custom_enabled": 0,
"curl_path": ""
}In development / portable mode, all files live in one directory:
project/
hook.conf Application configuration (JSON)
cookies.txt Cookie jar (Netscape format, if enabled)
collections/
my-api.json Collection files
another-api.json
environments/
dev.json Environment files
staging.json
production.json
mock-routes/
routes.json Mock server route definitions
scripts/
pre-request.hook Script files
post-request.hook
user-agents/
chrome.json User-Agent preset files
curl.json
history/
hook.ndjson Request history log
results/ One stored response per run (see 12_results.md)In AppImage mode and .deb installs on Linux, data directories are
under ~/.local/share/hook/ and config is under
~/.config/hook/. On Windows, both data and config are under
%APPDATA%\Hook\.
Git watches these directories only: collections/, environments/, mock-routes/, scripts/, user-agents/.
Request history is stored in NDJSON (Newline-Delimited JSON) format. Each line is a self-contained JSON object representing one executed request.
File: history/hook.ndjson
Each entry has these fields:
{
"timestamp": "2025-03-15T14:30:00",
"method": "GET",
"url": "https://api.example.com/users",
"status_code": 200,
"elapsed_ms": 42.5,
"collection_name": "",
"request_name": "",
"request_snapshot": "{...full serialized request...}",
"result_id": "20260731-101500-000"
}Fields: timestamp (ISO 8601 string), method
(string), url (string, after expansion),
status_code (integer, 0 on error), elapsed_ms
(number), collection_name (string or empty),
request_name (string or empty),
request_snapshot (JSON string containing the full
serialized HOOK_REQUEST with all settings, auth, body, headers, params,
scripts – restored when clicking a history entry),
result_id (string naming the stored response under
history/results/, empty or absent when the run has
none).
Entries are appended; most recent at end. Hook loads the last 200 entries in the GUI. The file grows without limit; delete or truncate manually if needed.