stage · Upgrading your AI
38Hooks and sounds
So you're not sitting there staring at the screen
A small thing that noticeably improves life.
Hooks are commands that run by themselves at certain moments. For example when the AI finishes a task, or when it needs an answer from you.
The most popular use is a sound. You give it a task, wander off to make tea, and it finishes and pings you. No sitting and watching text scroll. Seems trivial, saves an absurd amount of time: you stop babysitting and get on with your own things while it works.
In some terminals Claude Code already sends a notification by itself, and in the rest a bell is one line in the settings. A hook is for when you want your own thing: a different sound, a pop-up, whatever you like. It takes a couple of minutes and needs nothing extra installed.
What else people hang on it: a phone notification for long jobs, an automatic code check before saving, running tests.
As always: ask the AI to set it up. This is exactly the kind of job it does itself in a minute.