Bell Notification
Your build finished. Your long command completed. Chau7 lets you know, however you prefer.
Questions this answers
- How to enable visual bell in macOS terminal
- Terminal bell not working in my terminal emulator
- How to make terminal bounce Dock icon on bell
- Disable terminal bell sound on macOS
How it works
When a program writes the BEL character (0x07) to the terminal, Chau7 triggers a configurable notification. Three notification modes are available: a visual bell that briefly flashes the terminal background, an audio bell that plays the system alert sound, and a Dock bounce that animates the Chau7 icon in the Dock to draw attention to a background terminal.
Bell behavior is configured per-profile, so you can have an audio bell in your main development profile but a silent visual bell in a monitoring profile that tails logs. Each mode can be independently enabled or disabled, and you can combine them (for example, visual flash plus Dock bounce but no sound).
A bell rate limiter prevents runaway programs from flooding the system with notifications. If more than 5 bell characters arrive within one second, Chau7 suppresses further notifications until the rate drops. This protects against scripts or programs that inadvertently trigger the bell in a tight loop.
Why it matters
The terminal bell is the standard mechanism for programs to request attention: a build finishing, a long-running command completing, a test suite reporting results. Chau7 supports visual flash, audio bell, and macOS notification center integration so you never miss an event even when the terminal is in the background.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a custom sound for the terminal bell?
Chau7 uses the system alert sound by default. You can change the system alert sound in macOS System Settings > Sound, which will also change the Chau7 bell sound.
Does the Dock bounce work when Chau7 is in the foreground?
No. The Dock bounce is specifically for background notification, when Chau7 is not the frontmost application. When Chau7 is in the foreground, the visual bell and audio bell provide the notification.
How do I trigger a test bell?
Run printf '\a' or echo -e '\007' in your terminal. If bell notifications are configured correctly, you will see and/or hear the notification immediately.