[BUG] Hooks not loading from settings.json - /hooks shows "No hooks configured yet" despite valid configuration

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Hooks defined in ~/.claude/settings.json are not being loaded by Claude Code. The /hooks command shows "No hooks configured yet" despite having valid hook configurations in the settings file, and debug logs confirm that Claude Code is finding 0 hook matchers when it should be loading the
configured hooks.

Environment

• Claude Code Version: 2.0.37
• Platform: macOS (Darwin 24.6.0)
• Installation: npm-global

Configuration

My ~/.claude/settings.json contains the following hooks configuration:

  {
    "hooks": {
      "Stop": [
        {
          "hooks": [
            {
              "type": "command",
              "command": "afplay -v 5 /System/Library/Sounds/Funk.aiff"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "Notification": [
        {
          "hooks": [
            {
              "type": "command",
              "command": "afplay -v 5 /System/Library/Sounds/Pop.aiff"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    "alwaysThinkingEnabled": false,
    "feedbackSurveyState": {
      "lastShownTime": 1754057465609
    },
    "mcpServers": {
    },
    "permissions": {
      "allow": [
        "Bash(python*)",
        "Bash(python3:*)",
        "Bash(gh_issue_create:*)",
        "Bash(find:*)",
        "Bash(pbcopy)",
        "Bash(open_http*)",
        "Bash(git:*)",
        "Bash(gh:*)",
        "Bash(uvicorn:*)",
        "Bash(chmod:*)",
        "Bash(echo:*)",
        "Bash(pkill:*)",
        "Bash(pytest:*)",
        "Bash(docker-compose:*)",
        "Bash(docker:*)",
        "Bash(env)",
        "Bash(pip_install:*)",
        "Bash(cat:*)",
        "Bash(awk:*)"
      ],
      "deny": [],
      "ask": []
    }
  }

The JSON is valid (verified with python3 -m json.tool).

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create hooks configuration in ~/.claude/settings.json as shown above
2. Start Claude Code with debug mode: claude --debug
3. Run the /hooks command
4. Complete a task to trigger the Stop hook

What Should Happen?

Expected Behavior

• The /hooks command should display the configured Stop and Notification hooks
• The Stop hook should execute (playing a sound) when Claude finishes responding
• Debug logs should show hooks being loaded from settings

Actual Behavior

• The /hooks command shows "No hooks configured yet"
• The Stop hook never executes (no sound plays)
• Debug logs show: [DEBUG] Found 0 hook matchers in settings

Debug Log Evidence

  From the debug log at ~/.claude/debug/d46cbf9a-6474-4717-881d-05bc05025a37.txt:

  [DEBUG] Watching for changes in setting files /Users/boris/.claude/settings.json...
  ...
  [DEBUG] Getting matching hook commands for SessionStart with query: startup
  [DEBUG] Found 0 hook matchers in settings
  [DEBUG] Matched 0 unique hooks for query "startup" (0 before deduplication)
  ...
  [DEBUG] Getting matching hook commands for SubagentStop with query: undefined
  [DEBUG] Found 0 hook matchers in settings
  [DEBUG] Matched 0 unique hooks for query "no match query" (0 before deduplication)

The debug log explicitly shows that Claude Code is watching the settings.json file but finding 0 hook matchers despite the hooks being defined in the file.

Additional Context

• The hooks configuration structure follows the documentation at https://code.claude.com/docs/en/hooks.md
• There is no project-level .claude/settings.json that could be overriding the global settings
• The settings.json file is being monitored (shown in debug logs)
• Other settings from the same file (mcpServers, permissions) are loading correctly
• The hook commands work when executed manually (e.g., afplay -v 5 /System/Library/Sounds/Funk.aiff plays sound successfully)

Error Messages/Logs

From the debug log at ~/.claude/debug/d46cbf9a-6474-4717-881d-05bc05025a37.txt:

  [DEBUG] Watching for changes in setting files /Users/boris/.claude/settings.json...
  ...
  [DEBUG] Getting matching hook commands for SessionStart with query: startup
  [DEBUG] Found 0 hook matchers in settings
  [DEBUG] Matched 0 unique hooks for query "startup" (0 before deduplication)
  ...
  [DEBUG] Getting matching hook commands for SubagentStop with query: undefined
  [DEBUG] Found 0 hook matchers in settings
  [DEBUG] Matched 0 unique hooks for query "no match query" (0 before deduplication)

Steps to Reproduce

1. update the settings with my config
2. start a new claude session
3. run a command

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.0.37 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

iTerm2

Additional Information

_No response_