balderdashy/sails · warning · Error

E_INVALID_HOOK_NAME

E_INVALID_HOOK_NAME

Error message

Found hook: `HOOK_NAME`, in `node_modules/`, but a hook with that identity already exists in `api/hooks/`. The hook defined in your `api/hooks/` folder will take precedence.

What it means

E_INVALID_HOOK_NAME warning from the moduleloader: a hook was found in node_modules/ whose identity collides with a hook already defined in the app's api/hooks/ folder. It is not fatal — Sails logs a warning and the api/hooks/ version takes precedence; the node_modules hook is skipped.

Source

Thrown at lib/hooks/moduleloader/index.js:551

              return memo;
            }

            // Allow overriding core hooks
            if (sails.hooks[hookName]) {
              sails.log.verbose('Found hook: `'+hookName+'` in `node_modules/`.  Overriding core hook w/ the same identity...');
            }

            // If we have a hook in api/hooks with this name, throw an error
            if (hooks[hookName]) {
              var err = (function (){
                var msg =
                'Found hook: `' + hookName + '`, in `node_modules/`, but a hook with that identity already exists in `api/hooks/`. '+
                'The hook defined in your `api/hooks/` folder will take precedence.';
                var err = new Error(msg);
                err.code = 'E_INVALID_HOOK_NAME';
                return err;
              })();
              sails.log.warn(err);
              return memo;
            }

            // Load the hook code
            var hook = require(path.resolve(sails.config.appPath, 'node_modules', identity));

            // Set its config key (defaults to the hook name)
            hook.configKey = (sails.config.installedHooks && sails.config.installedHooks[identity] && sails.config.installedHooks[identity].configKey) || hookName;

            // Add this to the list of hooks to load
            memo[hookName] = hook;

            return memo;
          }, {}));//</_.reduce() + _.extend()>

          return bindToSails(cb)(null, hooks);

        } catch (e) { return cb(e); }

View on GitHub (pinned to 7b76422cc2)

Solutions

1. Remove one of the duplicate hooks (delete api/hooks/<name> or uninstall the node_modules package).
2. If the api/hooks/ version is intended, ignore the warning or uninstall the npm duplicate.
3. Rename one of the hooks so identities differ.
4. Confirm which copy is actually loading via sails.hooks to avoid stale-behavior confusion.

Example fix

// before: both api/hooks/auth/ and node_modules/auth exist
// after
npm uninstall auth  # keep the api/hooks/auth copy in control

const fs = require('fs'), path = require('path');
const custom = fs.existsSync(path.join('api/hooks', hookName));
const inNm = fs.existsSync(path.join('node_modules', hookName));
if (custom && inNm) console.warn('Duplicate hook identity: ' + hookName);

function isHookNameCollision(names) { const set = new Set(names); return names.length !== set.size ? [...set] : null; }

When it happens

Trigger: Installing an npm package whose name matches a custom hook in api/hooks/ (e.g. api/hooks/myhook and node_modules/myhook), or scaffolding a custom hook with the same name as an installed sails hook package.

Common situations: Moving a hook from api/hooks/ into an npm package (or vice versa) and leaving both copies; installing a package that coincidentally shares a hook identity.

Related errors

• E_CONFLICT
• Cannot call res.render() - `req._sails.renderView` was not a
• The 2-ary usage of `res.redirect()` is no longer supported i
• Cannot write to response more than once
• rc(name): name *must* be string

AI-assisted analysis of balderdashy/sails@7b76422cc2 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/393af30bd50808d4. Report an issue: GitHub.