Feature request: built-in distinct notification sounds for "needs input" vs "done"
Feature description
Claude Code can play a sound when a turn completes (e.g. via terminal bell / custom Stop hook), but there is no easy built-in option to get an audible alert when Claude is waiting for the user — a permission prompt or a question.
For users who step away from the screen while Claude works (very common with longer autonomous tasks), the current situation is confusing: you hear a pleasant tone when work is finished, but total silence when Claude is actually blocked waiting for you. The session can sit idle for a long time without the user realizing it.
Current workaround
This is solvable today with hooks (a Notification + PermissionRequest command hook that plays a beep melody via PowerShell/afplay), but that requires editing settings.json by hand. For non-technical users this is too much to ask.
Suggestion
A simple built-in setting (e.g. in /config) with:
- Sound when Claude needs input (permission prompt / question) — ideally a distinct sound
- Sound when Claude finishes a turn
so users can immediately hear the difference between "done" and "waiting for you" without writing hooks.
Context
Filed on behalf of a non-technical Windows 11 user (desktop app) who uses Claude Code daily to maintain her recipe app. She asked: "I hear the nice tone when you're done, but when you need me to do something I hear nothing." We set this up with hooks for her, and she suggested proposing it as a built-in option for all customers.
🤖 Filed with Claude Code on the user's behalf
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4 Comments
+1 — the events already exist in hooks (
Stopfor "done",Notificationfor "waiting on you"), so a built-in toggle with distinct sounds for each feels like a natural surface for this.Until then, for anyone on macOS: I built a small menu bar app (AI Done Now) that does exactly this split — a native banner + sound when Claude Code finishes, and a distinct alert when it's blocked on a permission prompt or question, with click-to-focus back to your terminal. No hooks or
settings.jsonediting — install it and click Start.Guide here (also covers the manual hooks approach if you'd rather DIY): https://aidonenow.com/claude-code-notifications
https://github.com/jordan-sussman/claude-code-notify-sound, it'll update your
~/.claude/settings.jsonto notify you with a default sound for user input prompts or when a task/run is completed. The audio file and triggers can be further amended locally as well.+1 and @vilvaathibanpb, that's an awesome idea too. I use Claude Code exclusively as a Visual Studio Code (Codium) plugin. Would be nice to work with that as well as the command line version... might help later, but I am le tired.
Partly possible today: setting
preferredNotifChannelto"terminal_bell"(also in/config→ Notifications) rings the bell both when Claude needs input (permission prompt) and when it finishes, and aNotificationhook can play any sound — see https://code.claude.com/docs/en/terminal-config#get-a-terminal-bell-or-notification. There's no built-in option for distinct sounds per event or a no-hooks toggle in the desktop app, so leaving this open as a feature request.🤖 Generated with Claude Code