Don't send mobile push notifications while I'm active in the desktop app

[HerbCaudill]

When I'm sitting at my computer working in T3 Code, my iPhone still buzzes every time a turn finishes or an agent needs input. I'm already looking at the thread, so the phone alert is just noise. It also trains me to ignore the notifications that matter when I'm away from my desk.

Proposal: Hold off on mobile pushes for a thread while a desktop client for that environment is focused and has had recent user activity (say, the last couple of minutes). If I step away or the window loses focus, the pushes resume as they do today. This matches what desktop notifications already do: they stay quiet while the window is focused.

A setting to turn this off would cover anyone who wants both.

Workaround today: turning off agent notifications on the phone, which defeats the point when I do leave my desk.

Environment: T3 Code Nightly 0.0.46-nightly.20261008.2833 on macOS, iOS app with T3 Connect.

[shaskola]

+1. Same here on Windows 11 desktop + Android (Redmi Note 11) via T3 Connect. While I'm working at the PC, my phone dings on every finished turn, so I end up muting it and then miss the alerts that matter when I actually step away. Detecting desktop focus + recent input (and resuming pushes after a few idle minutes) would fix it for me. A per-device "quiet while desktop is active" toggle would be enough.

[fagnersales]

+1!!!! I genuinely thought that it was a bug! My phone was notifying every second since I had many active threads.

[TheMalloum]

+1. Same need here: a sound on my Mac while I'm at the desk, a push to my phone only once I've stepped away.

For reference, this is how I set it up in Claude Code:

"hooks": {
  "Stop": [{ "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Ping.aiff" }] }],
  "Notification": [{ "matcher": "permission_prompt", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Glass.aiff" }] }]
},
"agentPushNotifEnabled": true

• Stop plays a sound when a task finishes, and Notification plays another one when it needs my approval. T3 Code already covers both (Settings → General → sound).
• agentPushNotifEnabled (/config → "Push when Claude decides") sends the phone push. Claude Code skips it while you're typing in or focused on the terminal, and CLAUDE_CLIENT_PRESENCE_FILE extends that to any time you're at the machine (docs).

That last condition is what T3 Code is missing. One setting would cover it: Settings → Notifications → "Push to phone: Always / Only when I'm away", where "away" means no focused T3 Code window, or no input for a few minutes.

[grahamfarrar]

+1. Same setup here: Mac Studio and MacBook on the desktop app, iPhone over T3 Connect.

A cheap signal to add alongside focus/idle: where the last user message in the thread came from. The server already stores creationSource (mobile / web) on each user message. If I last replied to a thread from my phone, push to the phone. If I last replied from a desktop, hold the push while a desktop is active, and fall back to a push once it goes idle (otherwise a turn that finishes after I've walked away never reaches me).

A per-thread override would cover the rest. Three options in the thread menu next to the mute in #16798:

• Off: no mobile push
• Always: push regardless
• Follow me (default): the rule above

[torztomasz]

🤖 Generated by an LLM on behalf of Tomasz Tórz.

I'd like to implement this. I have a working, tested branch. Before opening a PR I'm asking for approval of direction and scope, as CONTRIBUTING requires.

Behavior

• While someone is at a computer connected to an environment, that environment's agent alerts don't ring the phone. Live Activities and Android activity cards keep updating.
• "At a computer" means a web or desktop client reported input in the last 2 minutes and can alert there itself: a focused T3 Code window, notification sound on, or desktop notifications on with permission granted. Under the default notification mode (off), only a focused window counts, so an alert can't get swallowed by a computer that has no way to show it.
• Desktop uses the OS idle clock (Electron powerMonitor), so time in other apps counts. A locked or sleeping machine counts as away immediately. Browsers count input in the T3 Code tab. Quitting T3 Code drops its lease.
• Phone alerts come back on their own after 2 idle minutes, lock, sleep, or quit. A result published quietly is not replayed later.
• Only the attended environment's rows are quiet. Other environments' rows in the same Live Activity or Android aggregate still alert.

Mechanism (similar to #8637, which was closed without review)

• Reuses the existing client activity leases (server.reportClientActivity). Clients add an optional userIdleMs, and BackgroundPolicy gains hasAttendedClient.
• AgentAwarenessRelay adds notify to the publish request and binds it into the signed proof. The relay rejects a mismatch.
• On the relay, APNs and FCM skip alerts for that environment's rows. Card and state deliveries are unchanged.
• Compatible in both directions: older servers omit notify (treated as true), and older relays ignore it.

Out of scope unless you want them: a settings toggle ("Always push / Only when I'm away"), per-thread overrides, and routing by where the last message came from.

Could a maintainer confirm this direction and scope? I'll link the approval from the PR.

[torztomasz]

🤖 Generated by an LLM on behalf of Tomasz Tórz.

@juliusmarminge could you take a look at the direction and scope above when you have a moment? You closed #4747 and #8637 for this same request, so if there's a reason this approach won't work, I'd rather know before opening a PR.

[AviVolah]

I would also like this behavior, with focus and read state coordinated across devices:

• Send a phone push only when T3 Code is unfocused on all my connected devices and the notification is still unread.
• Suppress phone pushes while T3 Code is focused on any device.
• If I open/read the notification on desktop before a pending mobile push is delivered, cancel that push. Losing desktop focus later should not send an alert for something already read.
• When I am away from all T3 Code clients, continue sending notifications for new unread events as usual.

This would extend the desktop focus-aware notification behavior to mobile and avoid duplicate interruptions.

[vladtsap]

+1, this would be really nice. I'm on the macOS desktop app (0.1.5) with an iPhone, and my phone pings every time one of my threads replies, even though I'm sitting right there working in T3 Code.

One addition I'd like: a "remind me after N minutes" option. Instead of a push for every reply, the phone would notify me only if a thread has been waiting on me and I haven't opened T3 Code (on any device) for N minutes. Then the phone becomes a helpful reminder that something is waiting for me, not a buzz every time one of my threads answers.

Roughly:

• While I'm active on desktop: no phone pushes (as proposed above).
• When I step away: hold the push, and send it only if the thread is still unread or unanswered after N minutes (configurable, or off to keep today's behavior).
• Maybe batch them, e.g. "3 threads are waiting for you", instead of one push per thread.

[T0mSIlver]

#23460 was closed because it changed the default phone-alert behaviour with no off switch. Would an opt-in version be approved?

• New setting under Notifications, off by default: "Keep my phone quiet while I'm at my computer."
• When it's on, the phone doesn't alert while a desktop or web client connected to the environment has had input in the last 2 minutes. Locking the screen, sleeping, or 2 minutes idle turns phone alerts back on.
• Lock-screen cards and Live Activities still update. Only the sound and buzz are skipped.

If that scope works, torztomasz's branch already covers most of it, with the setting added. Happy to help land it.

[grahamfarrar]

+1 to the opt-in version. That's the one I'd turn on.

[WatsonWeb]

+1 - Having to manually toggle on/off notifications depending on whether I'm actively on the desktop app or not is a deal-breaker for mobile notifications right now. @juliusmarminge

[vikas-saini-7]

+1 it's annoying.