🔔 Claude Code Notify
Native Windows Toast notifications for Claude Code
Click the notification to jump back to your Claude Code window
✨ Features
- 🔔 Native Windows Toast — Clean, system-integrated notifications
- 🎯 One-Click Return — Click to jump back to your terminal/editor
- 🖥️ Wide Compatibility — VSCode, Cursor, JetBrains, Windows Terminal, and more
- 🔄 Tab-Aware — Supports Windows Terminal tab switching
- 🎨 Auto Icon — Extracts the calling application's icon
🚀 Installation
claude plugin marketplace add chuilishi/claude-code-notify
claude plugin install claude-code-notify@claude-code-notify
That's it. Restart Claude Code and notifications will work automatically.
📖 Usage
After Claude finishes responding, a notification appears:
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Left-click | Jump back to Claude Code window |
| Right-click / X | Dismiss notification |
🗑️ Uninstall
claude plugin uninstall claude-code-notify
⚙️ How It Works
Plugin System
This project uses Claude Code's plugin system to register hooks automatically — no manual settings.json editing required. Hooks are defined in hooks/hooks.json and discovered by Claude Code at startup.
Hook Flow
| Hook | Trigger | Action |
|---|---|---|
UserPromptSubmit | You send a message | Saves current window handle, active tab, and caller app icon |
Stop | Claude finishes | Shows "Task completed" notification (orange border) |
Notification | Claude needs input | Shows "Input required" notification (yellow border) |
| Click notification | — | Activates saved window and switches to the correct tab |
Session Isolation
Each Claude Code session has a unique session_id (received via stdin JSON). State is stored per-session in %TEMP%\claude-notify-{session_id}.txt, so multiple Claude instances don't interfere with each other.
Windows Terminal Tab Switching
When running inside Windows Terminal, simply bringing the window to the foreground isn't enough — the user may have switched to a different tab. This project uses the Windows UI Automation API to:
- Detect if the foreground window is Windows Terminal (by checking for the
CASCADIA_HOSTING_WINDOW_CLASSwindow class) - Enumerate all tab items and record the RuntimeId of the currently selected tab at prompt time
- On notification click, find the tab with the matching RuntimeId and call
IUIAutomationSelectionItemPattern::Select()to switch back to it
Caller App Icon Extraction
The notification displays the icon of the app you're using (VSCode, Cursor, JetBrains IDEs, etc.), not a generic icon. This is done by walking up the process tree at prompt time:
- Skips known shell/runtime processes (cmd, powershell, bash, node, python, uv, etc.)
- Recognizes known apps: VSCode, Cursor, Windsurf, Codium, JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, WebStorm, PyCharm, Rider, GoLand, CLion), Windows Terminal, ConEmu, Tabby, WezTerm
- Extracts the app's icon via
ExtractIconExW()and displays it in the toast
Window Activation
Windows restricts SetForegroundWindow() — a background process can't just steal focus. This project uses several techniques to work around it:
AllowSetForegroundWindow(ASFW_ANY)to permit foreground changes- ALT key simulation trick to satisfy Windows' focus-stealing prevention
- Thread input attachment (
AttachThreadInput) between current, foreground, and target threads - Combined
SetWindowPos+BringWindowToTop+SwitchToThisWindow+SetForegroundWindowfor reliable activation
Toast Stacking
Multiple notifications stack vertically (Telegram-style) without overlapping:
- All toasts share the class name
ClaudeCodeToastand discover each other viaEnumWindows - New toasts appear above existing ones; when one closes, others slide down smoothly
- Only the bottom toast starts the auto-dismiss timer; upper toasts wait
- Mouse hover over any toast pauses the timer for all toasts
Non-Intrusive Display
Toasts are created with WS_EX_NOACTIVATE | WS_EX_TOPMOST | WS_EX_LAYERED, so they:
- Never steal focus from your current window
- Stay on top of all windows
- Support smooth fade-out animation via alpha blending
MIT License