Reinstall is not required when you modify lefthook.yml, the configuration file is read every time a git hook is run.

NPM package lefthook installs the hooks in a postinstall script automatically. For projects not using NPM package run lefthook install after cloning the repo.

The postinstall script runs a plain lefthook install, so when core.hooksPath is set it stops and prints the same message as running the command by hand. Run lefthook install --force or lefthook install --reset-hooks-path once, deliberately, to resolve it.