Hooking into cPanel Functionality

There are numerous ways to hook into cPanel’s APIs.

• cPanel function hooks — This method is preferred.
• Script hooks — The best way to hook into cPanel's update or account provisioning systems.
• The CustomEventHandler — This method is the most powerful.

cPanel function hooks

cPanel function hooks are basically scripts that reside in /usr/local/cpanel/hooks/__MODULENAME__/__FUNCTION__NAME__ and are executed whenever the API event that corresponds to its name occurs.

cPanel function hooks work by being passed XML formatted data from the API via STDIN. These are run 100% as a separate process, so function hooks can be written in any language and are generally safe. If a function hook fails, it will not break the cPanel interface.

• Read more about cPanel function hooks here.

Script hooks

Script hooks are used to hook into certain system-level functions, such as service upgrades and account management. These run as their own scripts executed by the script performing the action. This is the best way to hook into cPanel's update or account provisioning system.

• Read more about script hooks here.

CustomEventHandler

CustomEventHandler is a Perl module that can be created at /usr/local/cpanel/Cpanel/CustomEventHandler.pm. The event() method inside of this module will be executed every time a cPanel API call is made. The event() method is passed a variety of data, including parameters being passed to the API call and data returned by the API call.

The real value in CustomEventHandlers is that, rather than being executed as separate processes, they are executed as part of the API call. If you wish to deny or modify an event, CustomEventHandler is probably the best method.

• Read more about the CustomEventHandler here.