Stop Missing Claude Code Permission Prompts — Add Sound Notifications in 10 Seconds

zubrock — Wed, 13 May 2026 11:29:57 +0000

The Problem

You know that moment? You're vibing, Claude is coding for you, you switch to Slack for literally 30 seconds — and when you come back, Claude has been sitting there for 5 minutes waiting for your permission to write a file. Silently. No sound, no notification, nothing.

This drove me absolutely crazy. I kept losing 5-10 minutes every time because I'd miss a permission prompt. And it turns out — I'm not alone. There's a known issue filed on GitHub, hundreds of people complaining about the same thing, and still no built-in fix as of May 13, 2026.

So I spent an evening trying every possible solution — the Notification hook (doesn't work reliably), code-notify brew package (overcomplicated), custom scripts... Nothing worked cleanly.

Until I found the answer. And it's embarrassingly simple.

The Fix: Two Hooks, Zero Dependencies

Claude Code has a hooks system. One of the hooks is called PermissionRequest — and it fires every single time Claude needs your approval. Another one is Stop — fires when Claude is done.

All you need is afplay — a command that's already built into every Mac since forever. It plays sound files. That's it. No npm, no pip, no brew, no background daemons.

I wrapped it into a one-line installer: claude-desktop-code-bell

Install (10 seconds, seriously)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Zubrock/claude-desktop-code-bell/main/install.sh | bash

The installer lets you pick from 14 built-in macOS sounds (Glass, Ping, Submarine, Funk — whatever fits your vibe) and previews each one before you choose. Then just restart Claude Code.

That's it. You're done. 🎉

How It Works

Two hooks get added to your ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "hooks": {
    "PermissionRequest": [{
      "hooks": [{
        "type": "command",
        "command": "afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Glass.aiff &",
        "timeout": 5
      }]
    }],
    "Stop": [{
      "hooks": [{
        "type": "command",
        "command": "afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Ping.aiff",
        "timeout": 5
      }]
    }]
  }
}

Glass chime → Claude needs your permission (file edit, bash command, etc.)
Ping → Claude finished working

The & makes it non-blocking so Claude doesn't slow down. The whole thing adds maybe 50ms of overhead. You won't notice it.

What I Tried Before (So You Don't Have To)

Notification hook with permission_prompt matcher — doesn't fire reliably in Claude Desktop. Known bug.
code-notify (brew package) — works but adds unnecessary complexity. Background processes, config files, the works.
preferredNotifChannel: terminal_bell — only works in terminal, not in Desktop app.
Custom wrapper scripts — too fragile, breaks on updates.

The PermissionRequest hook is the only thing that fires consistently. I tested it dozens of times. It just works.

Uninstall

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Zubrock/claude-desktop-code-bell/main/uninstall.sh | bash

Clean removal, no leftovers. It even offers to restore your original settings from backup.

GitHub: Zubrock/claude-desktop-code-bell

macOS only for now — PRs for Linux/Windows are very welcome!

If this saved you from going insane, drop a ⭐ on the repo. And if you have ideas for improvements — issues and PRs are open.

Published May 13, 2026