I tested Claude Code Hooks by building the same feature twice

Claude Code hooks promise better output quality, but do they deliver? I tested by building the same blog feature twice in the same Next.js codebase. Once vanilla, once with 5 custom hooks. The hooks: - Typecheck on edit - Build-must-pass gates - @ts-ignore blocking - ESLint feedback - Test nudges Same prompt, same task, different constraints. Results surprised me: hooks didn't just improve code quality, they made the session faster and cheaper. The vanilla version needed 3 fix-up rounds. The hooks version worked first try. This was a simple feature in a simple codebase. Next time I'll test something more complex where the gap should be more obvious. Full comparison inside: token costs, code churn, session transcripts, and the one hook that didn't work as expected. 00:00 Intro 00:28 Example repo 00:50 Shared prompt 01:02 No hooks version results 01:14 Hooks creation 01:27 Hooks version results 01:44 Source code comparison 01:59 Claude session log results #ClaudeCode #AI #Coding #Development #Productivity #TypeScript #NextJS #Testing #Benchmark #AITools