Claude Code notifications on Mac

When Claude Code notifies you

Claude Code emits a notification at two moments that matter during a long run: when it finishes and is waiting for your next prompt, and when it pauses for a permission prompt and can go no further until you approve. The question is never whether the signal exists, but whether it actually reaches you once you have tabbed away to do something else. The three methods below are just different ways to catch that signal.

Method 1: the built-in notification

Out of the box, Claude Code posts a real macOS desktop notification in only three terminals: Ghostty, Kitty, and iTerm2. Ghostty and Kitty forward it to Notification Center with no setup. iTerm2 needs one switch: open Settings, Profiles, Terminal, enable Notification Center Alerts, then under Filter Alerts enable Send escape sequence-generated alerts.

In every other terminal, including Apple Terminal, Warp, WezTerm, and the VS Code integrated terminal, you get nothing until you opt into the terminal bell. Set preferredNotifChannel to "terminal_bell" in ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "preferredNotifChannel": "terminal_bell"
}

Method 2: a DIY notification hook

For a real notification in any terminal, Claude Code can run a shell command the moment it needs your attention. Add a Notification hook to ~/.claude/settings.json. This one uses osascript, which is built into macOS, so there is nothing to install:

{
  "hooks": {
    "Notification": [
      {
        "matcher": "",
        "hooks": [
          {
            "type": "command",
            "command": "osascript -e 'display notification \"Claude Code needs your attention\" with title \"Claude Code\"'"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

The empty matcher fires on everything. To split the two moments, set it to permission_prompt (Claude wants to approve a tool) or idle_prompt (Claude is done and waiting).

Want a sound too? Add a second hook command that runs afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Glass.aiff. Want a richer, clickable banner? Run brew install terminal-notifier and swap the command for terminal-notifier -title "Claude Code" -message "Needs your attention" -sound default.

This is genuinely enough if you run one agent in one terminal and just want a ping when it is done. Be honest about the ceiling, though: it is still a plain notification. It tells you something happened, not which session, and clicking it can at best raise an app, never the exact terminal tab or split. And you own the upkeep, the JSON, the Script Editor permission, the terminal-notifier install, on every Mac you work from.

Method 3: alerts that jump you back

Vibe Island turns your Mac's notch into a live monitor for every Claude Code session. When a task finishes, an approval is waiting, or Claude asks a question, the notch surfaces it, with a sound if you want one, and one click takes you straight back to the exact terminal window, tab, or split that needs you. There is no JSON to edit and no permission to grant: it configures itself the first time you launch it.

Vibe Island FileEditWindowHelp

fix auth bug 3

5h11%4h1m | 7d2%6h1m

fix auth bug ClaudeiTerm 27m

You: fix the auth bug in middleware

Writing middleware.ts

backend server

CodexTerminal1h

optimize queries

GeminiGhostty5h

Permission Request

⚠ Edit src/auth/middleware.ts

12const verify = (token) =>

13-  jwt.verify(token);

13+  if (!token) throw new

14+   AuthError('missing');

15+  return jwt.verify(token,

+3 -1

Deny ⌘N Allow ⌘Y

Claude asks

Which deployment target?

⌘1Production ⌘2Staging ⌘3Local only

5h11%4h1m | 7d2%6h1m

fix auth bug ClaudeiTerm 28m

You: fix the auth bug in middleware

Done — click to jump

backend server

CodexTerminal1h

optimize queries

GeminiGhostty5h

✓ Approved

gemini — optimize-queries

Analyzing the slow queries.

Read(schema.prisma)

└── 1.2 KB

Edit(src/db/queries.ts)

└── Updated (+8 -23)

codex — backend-server

Building the REST endpoints.

Write(src/routes/users.ts)

└── New file (47 lines)

Bash(npm test)

└── 3 passed

claude — fix-auth-bug

Let me look at the auth module.

Searching for 6 patterns… (ctrl+o to expand)

Read 2 files (ctrl+o to expand)

 

Found the issue — token validation skips expiry check.

Monitor Approve Ask Jump

Every agent. One glance.

Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, and Cursor — all in a single view.

Two things the DIY paths cannot do:

Act on it in place. A permission request or a question arrives as a card you can answer right there, approve, reject, or pick an option, without leaving what you were doing to find the terminal.

Watch every terminal and agent at once. The same panel covers 13+ terminals and every agent you run, so you are never guessing which window pinged, and one setup replaces a per-terminal, per-machine pile of hooks.

Which method should you use

Common questions

One notch for every agent, not just Claude Code

Notifications are one part of it. Vibe Island watches Claude Code alongside every other agent you run: Codex CLI, ZCode, Gemini CLI, Antigravity CLI, Cursor Agent, Trae, OpenCode, MiMoCode, Factory Droid, Qoder, Qwen, Grok Build, Kimi Code, DeepSeek, Mistral Vibe, Copilot, CodeBuddy, WorkBuddy, Kiro, Hermes, Amp, Pi Agent, Oh My Pi, and Gajae Code. It surfaces completion, approvals, and questions in a single notch, and clicks you back to the exact session every time. See the AI coding session monitor, start with Claude Code monitoring, or read how it tracks several agents at once.