+.SH HOOKS
+Hooks are scripts (or arbitrary executables or symlinks to such) that notmuch
+invokes before and after certain actions. These scripts reside in
+the .notmuch/hooks directory within the database directory and must have
+executable permissions.
+
+The currently available hooks are described below.
+.RS 4
+.TP 4
+.B pre\-new
+This hook is invoked by the
+.B new
+command before scanning or importing new messages into the database. If this
+hook exits with a non-zero status, notmuch will abort further processing of the
+.B new
+command.
+
+Typically this hook is used for fetching or delivering new mail to be imported
+into the database.
+.RE
+.RS 4
+.TP 4
+.B post\-new
+This hook is invoked by the
+.B new
+command after new messages have been imported into the database and initial tags
+have been applied. The hook will not be run if there have been any errors during
+the scan or import.
+
+Typically this hook is used to perform additional query\-based tagging on the
+imported messages.
+.RE