diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ExternalHooks.ts b/packages/cli/src/ExternalHooks.ts
index 89dbc54045..aa14662a60 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ExternalHooks.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ExternalHooks.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import {
 	Db,
 	IExternalHooksClass,
+	IExternalHooksFileData,
 	IExternalHooksFunctions,
 } from './';
 
@@ -26,9 +27,14 @@ class ExternalHooksClass implements IExternalHooksClass {
 	}
 
 
-	async reload() {
+	async reload(externalHooks?: IExternalHooksFileData) {
 		this.externalHooks = {};
-		await this.loadHooksFiles(true);
+
+		if (externalHooks === undefined) {
+			await this.loadHooksFiles(true);
+		} else {
+			this.loadHooks(externalHooks);
+		}
 	}
 
 
@@ -45,20 +51,8 @@ class ExternalHooksClass implements IExternalHooksClass {
 						delete require.cache[require.resolve(hookFilePath)];
 					}
 
-					const hookFile = require(hookFilePath);
-
-					for (const resource of Object.keys(hookFile)) {
-						for (const operation of Object.keys(hookFile[resource])) {
-							// Save all the hook functions directly under their string
-							// format in an array
-							const hookString = `${resource}.${operation}`;
-							if (this.externalHooks[hookString] === undefined) {
-								this.externalHooks[hookString] = [];
-							}
-
-							this.externalHooks[hookString].push.apply(this.externalHooks[hookString], hookFile[resource][operation]);
-						}
-					}
+					const hookFile = require(hookFilePath) as IExternalHooksFileData;
+					this.loadHooks(hookFile);
 				} catch (error) {
 					throw new Error(`Problem loading external hook file "${hookFilePath}": ${error.message}`);
 				}
@@ -67,6 +61,22 @@ class ExternalHooksClass implements IExternalHooksClass {
 	}
 
 
+	loadHooks(hookFileData: IExternalHooksFileData) {
+		for (const resource of Object.keys(hookFileData)) {
+			for (const operation of Object.keys(hookFileData[resource])) {
+				// Save all the hook functions directly under their string
+				// format in an array
+				const hookString = `${resource}.${operation}`;
+				if (this.externalHooks[hookString] === undefined) {
+					this.externalHooks[hookString] = [];
+				}
+
+				this.externalHooks[hookString].push.apply(this.externalHooks[hookString], hookFileData[resource][operation]);
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+
 	async run(hookName: string, hookParameters?: any[]): Promise<void> { // tslint:disable-line:no-any
 		const externalHookFunctions: IExternalHooksFunctions = {
 			dbCollections: Db.collections,
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/Interfaces.ts b/packages/cli/src/Interfaces.ts
index b808a73564..443bee6539 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/Interfaces.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/Interfaces.ts
@@ -219,6 +219,12 @@ export interface IExternalHooks {
 	};
 }
 
+export interface IExternalHooksFileData {
+	[key: string]: {
+		[key: string]: Array<(...args: any[]) => Promise<void>>; //tslint:disable-line:no-any
+	};
+}
+
 export interface IExternalHooksFunctions {
 	dbCollections: IDatabaseCollections;
 }