In the WordPress world, hooks are how developers interact with the system without editing core files. They allow you to customize and extend WordPress functionality safely, and they come in two types: actions and filters.

If WordPress were a train, hooks would be like scheduled stops where you can jump in and add or change something before the train keeps going.

What are hooks?

Hooks are built-in points in the WordPress core, themes, or plugins where you can “hook in” your own code.

There are two types:

• Action hooks: Let you do something at a specific moment (e.g. send an email after a post is published).
• Filter hooks: Let you modify data before it’s used (e.g. change the title of a post before it displays).

Hooks are essential to making WordPress flexible and developer-friendly. They let you change behavior without hacking core files—a big win for stability and updatability.

Examples for context

Let’s say you want to:

• Add custom code after a blog post → use an action hook like the_content.
• Modify what appears in the meta title of your site → use a filter like wp_title.
• Send a Slack message when someone submits a form → hook into the form plugin’s action hook.
• Change the email content of a WooCommerce receipt → use a filter hook.

These hooks act like “insert here” markers throughout WordPress.

Why hooks matter for your business

Even if you’re not coding yourself, understanding what hooks are (and that they exist) helps when:

• You’re hiring a developer to tweak your site
• You want a plugin customized without messing with its core files
• You’re debugging why something is happening—or not happening—on your site

Most advanced customizations, especially in custom themes or plugin development, rely heavily on hooks.

How developers use them

A typical hook usage might look like this (in PHP):

add_action( 'wp_footer', 'add_custom_text' );

function add_custom_text() {
    echo '<p>This is my custom footer note.</p>';
}

In this example:

• add_action tells WordPress to run your function
• 'wp_footer' is the hook (triggered before the closing </body> tag)
• add_custom_text() is the function that outputs the custom HTML

Filters work similarly but pass and return data:

add_filter( 'the_title', 'modify_post_title' );

function modify_post_title( $title ) {
    return $title . ' | Webshore';
}

Common hook locations

• Themes: Add custom code in functions.php or a site-specific plugin
• Plugins: Most well-coded plugins offer hooks to extend or customize features
• WordPress core: Hundreds of hooks are available throughout the system

Bottom line

Hooks are what make WordPress so powerful and extensible. Actions let you do something; filters let you change something. Together, they’re the glue behind nearly every advanced customization. You don’t need to write them yourself—but knowing they exist helps you understand how WordPress really works under the hood.