Where does pre-commit install "environments"?

Question

I'm trying to setup pre-commit for a Python project's repository. Upon running pre-commit install I see an output like this:

[INFO] Installing environment for https://github.com/asottile/seed-isort-config.
[INFO] Once installed this environment will be reused.
[INFO] This may take a few minutes...
[INFO] Installing environment for https://github.com/pre-commit/mirrors-isort.
[INFO] Once installed this environment will be reused.
[INFO] This may take a few minutes...
[INFO] Installing environment for https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit-hooks.
[INFO] Once installed this environment will be reused.
[INFO] This may take a few minutes...
[INFO] Installing environment for https://github.com/pre-commit/mirrors-pylint.
[INFO] Once installed this environment will be reused.
[INFO] This may take a few minutes...

What are these "environments" and where are they being installed to?

Pout

note that your output must've come from pre-commit install --install-hooks or pre-commit install-hooks or pre-commit run, as pre-commit install by itself does not install environments – Apophyllite

I did run just pre-commit install to get that output, as I can see it in my Bash history. – Pout

trust me, that's not possible -- I'm the author – Apophyllite

Answer 1

The environments are installed into a cache:

pre-commit by default places its repository store in ~/.cache/pre-commit -- this can be configured in two ways:

• PRE_COMMIT_HOME: if set, pre-commit will use that location instead.
• XDG_CACHE_HOME: if set, pre-commit will use $XDG_CACHE_HOME/pre-commit following the XDG Base Directory Specification.

---

disclaimer: I am the author

Apophyllite

What happens if we delete it, can you add a command to reset (rebuild the cached env from scratch)? – Lupita

you're looking for pre-commit install-hooks or pre-commit install --install-hooks – Apophyllite

Thanks, I believe there's a bug however. I deleted '/Users/myname_usr/.cache/pre-commit/repoabwuil1n/, and the mypy/pre-commit integration still continues to look here, despite no mention of repoabwuil1n anywhere in the config. do you know how I can force it to start from scratch? – Lupita

not sure what you expected when you delete random stuff willy nilly from a managed directory :P. pre-commit clean is the intended interface – Apophyllite

Thank you, this fixed it! pre-commit clean is idempotent, good job :) Also, for posterity: when you update a requirements3.txt, make sure to update the ` .pre-commit-config.yaml, otherwise if you have e.g. mypy` hooks, it will use the old env dependencies – Lupita

pre-commit does not install from requirements files (or any file other than .pre-commit-config.yaml in the repository under test) so that advice isn't really relevant – Apophyllite