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mad-skills/notify-me/SKILL.md
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dckcandClaude Opus 5.5 91e6124c37 feat(notify-me): add skill
Notify at the end of any turn long enough that the operator has
probably looked away, asked or not. opencode-web notifies on every
reply, which is too much; silence let a long turn sit unseen. -t 0
keeps a notice up through a walk (tested on MATE: the default notice
expired; the -t 0 one stayed until closed).

An experiment in form: the body is a Portland Pattern Repository
pattern (context, problem, forces, therefore, resulting context),
after Alexander, rather than the usual rules-and-recipe skill.

The tension: forces give an agent reasons to handle cases the rules
don't anticipate, and make the trade-offs visible to whoever edits
the skill next; but the form runs longer, and every word is paid on
each load, with the actionable part buried under the preamble.

The resolution: an example notify-send right under the h1, the
forces cut to one line each, and the description left in matcher
form. The result is shorter than the rules-style draft (459 words vs.
562). Resulting context: if it reads well in practice, judgment-call
skills may adopt the form; recipe skills (retcon, yarn.lock) likely
gain little from it.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-10-08 23:19:44 -05:00

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---
name: notify-me
description: Notify me / ping me — desktop (XDG) notification via `notify-send` at the end of any long turn (many steps, builds, test runs, deploys, waiting on background work), asked or not; and when the operator says "notify me", "XDG notify me", "ping me when you're done", "let me know about progress", or "make it stick / indefinite duration" because they're stepping away. Covers done vs. progress notices, sticky vs. transient, and updating one notice in place. Not for Discord replies (use the reply tool) or for quick back-and-forth turns.
---
# Notify me
```sh
notify-send -a capsite "done: diigo-cache" "3 commits on main, not pushed"
```
## Context
The operator hands a session a batch of work, then turns to another session or goes for a walk.
## Problem
**Without going to look, the operator can't tell which session is done or stuck.**
## Forces
- opencode-web notifies on every reply; notices without news teach the operator to ignore them all.
- Silence is worse: a finished turn sits unseen.
- The operator won't always think to ask.
- Notices expire before the operator is back from a walk.
- Several sessions share one desktop.
- Progress notices pile up.
## Therefore
**At the end of any turn long enough that the operator has probably looked away, send one notice: which session, what state, what the operator should do next. Not during quick back-and-forth.**
Long means more than a handful of tool calls, or waiting on a build, tests, deploy, or background job. "Notify me when you're done" forces one even for a short turn.
- `-a` names the session (repo or task).
- The summary leads with the status: `done`, `blocked` (including a question that stops the work), `failed`, `progress`.
- The body says what's next: "needs a decision on the DO migration".
**Sticky** ("indefinite duration", "going for a walk"): `-t 0` (never expire). `-u critical` only if asked.
**Progress** ("notify me about progress"): one per milestone (tests pass, deployed), replacing the last rather than stacking:
```sh
id=$(notify-send -p -a capsite "progress: diigo-cache" "tests pass; deploying")
notify-send -r "$id" -a capsite "done: diigo-cache" "deployed; not pushed"
```
Keep `$id` in a file (e.g. `.tmp/notify-id`) if the shell doesn't persist.
## Resulting context
The operator can leave a session alone and trust it to call. A notice means news, so it gets read.
`notify-send` needs the session bus; under a confined unit or ssh it may fail. Say so in the reply ([silent-failures-are-evil](../silent-failures-are-evil/SKILL.md)).
The agent must still remember this pattern at the end of a long turn, just when that slips.
## TODO
- A Claude Code `Stop` hook could time the turn and notify past ~2 min; opencode would need its own plugin hook.