Claude Code Notification Scripts: Copy-Paste Recipes for Every Platform

If you searched for a Claude Code finished notification script, you probably don't want another explanation of why notifications matter. You want something to paste into a config file so your machine makes a noise when Claude Code is done — or needs you. This post is exactly that: working recipes for macOS, Linux, and Windows, organized by what you want to happen.

Every script here plugs into Claude Code's hooks system — two events in particular. Stop fires when Claude finishes responding, and Notification fires when it needs your permission or input. Wire a command to those two events and you never have to watch the terminal again. (If you want the full background on how hooks work, our hooks guide covers the whole system; this post sticks to the notification recipes.)

Where these scripts go

All recipes below live in ~/.claude/settings.json (for every project) or .claude/settings.json inside one project. The structure is the same every time — only the command string changes:

{
  "hooks": {
    "Stop": [
      {
        "hooks": [
          { "type": "command", "command": "YOUR-COMMAND-HERE" }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "Notification": [
      {
        "hooks": [
          { "type": "command", "command": "YOUR-COMMAND-HERE" }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Use the same command for both events, or different ones — a soft sound for "done", a loud one for "waiting on you" is a popular split. After editing, restart your Claude Code session so the hooks load.

macOS: sound only

The simplest possible script — play one of the built-in system sounds. No dependencies, works on every Mac:

afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Glass.aiff

Browse /System/Library/Sounds/ for alternatives — Funk, Ping, Sosumi. Use a different sound for the Notification hook so your ears learn the difference between "finished" and "needs input".

macOS: banner notification

For a real notification-center banner, use osascript (built in) — or terminal-notifier if you have Homebrew:

# Built-in (no install):
osascript -e 'display notification "Claude Code is done" with title "Claude Code" sound name "Glass"'

# With terminal-notifier (brew install terminal-notifier):
terminal-notifier -title "Claude Code" -message "Done - come back" -sound Glass -activate com.apple.Terminal

The -activate flag is the nice touch: clicking the banner brings your terminal to the front. Swap the bundle id if you use iTerm2 (com.googlecode.iterm2) or another terminal. One macOS gotcha: the first time a banner fires, macOS may ask you to allow notifications for the script runner — approve it once and you're set.

Linux: notify-send and a sound

On most Linux desktops, notify-send posts a desktop notification and paplay handles sound:

# Banner:
notify-send "Claude Code" "Finished - come back"

# Banner plus sound:
notify-send "Claude Code" "Finished" && paplay /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/complete.oga

# Terminal bell fallback (works even over SSH):
printf "\a"

The terminal bell deserves more respect than it gets: most terminal apps can turn the bell into a visual flash or system notification, and it survives SSH sessions where desktop notifications can't reach you.

Windows: a toast from PowerShell

On Windows (or WSL calling out to PowerShell), a system sound is one line, and a proper toast is a few more:

# Simple sound:
powershell.exe -c "[System.Media.SystemSounds]::Exclamation.Play()"

# Toast notification (install once: Install-Module BurntToast):
powershell.exe -c "New-BurntToastNotification -Text 'Claude Code', 'Done - come back'"

From WSL, powershell.exe is reachable from your Linux shell, so the exact same hook config works inside your distro.

Phone push: when you leave the desk

Sounds and banners only help while you're at the machine. For long tasks — the kind where you make coffee or switch rooms — push the notification to your phone with a free ntfy.sh topic:

curl -s -d "Claude Code is done" ntfy.sh/your-secret-topic-name

Install the ntfy app on your phone, subscribe to the same topic name, and every hook fire becomes a phone push. Pick an unguessable topic name — anyone who knows it can see your pings.

The catch with all of these

One honest caveat before you wire up six hooks: scripts only cover the tool you configured, on the machine you configured, in the state you remembered to set up. If you also run Codex CLI or Cursor, each needs its own separate setup — different config files, different event names, different quirks. The scripts also can't tell you which session finished when you run several agents in parallel, and a typo in a JSON file fails silently: no error, just no ding.

Script it or install it — either way, the goal is the same workflow our notifications guide keeps coming back to: kick off the task, walk away with your attention intact, and let the machine tell you when you're actually needed.