Configure desktop notifications

Open Settings to choose whether turn-completion alerts appear never, only while ChatGPT is in the background, or always. Separate controls let you turn permission and question notifications on or off. Your operating system may ask you to grant notification permission to the ChatGPT desktop app.

Follow chats in Activity view

When Activity is available, select the bell in the sidebar to see chats that are unread, running, or waiting for your response. You can also open or close Activity view with Cmd+Option+U on macOS or Ctrl+Alt+U on Windows.

Use the view's options to choose which chats appear. Depending on your current surface, the options can include Work, Chat, Pinned, and Scheduled. You can also select Mark all as read to clear unread items.

Follow chat activity with a pet

In the ChatGPT desktop app, a floating pet is another way to follow chat activity while you work in other apps. It can show when a chat is Running, Needs input, Ready, or Blocked.

See Pets to choose a pet, understand its status, or create your own.

Configure web notifications

Open Settings > Notifications to manage the notification categories and channels available to your account. Depending on the category and account, channels can include push, email, or SMS. Use Manage tasks from the task notification settings to open Scheduled.

Configure CLI notifications

For terminal and external notifications, see Notifications in the advanced configuration guide. You can choose when the TUI emits a notification and whether Codex runs an external program when a turn completes.

Follow chat activity in the IDE

The IDE extension doesn't provide separate notification controls. Keep the chat open to follow its activity. To run an external program when a turn completes, configure notify on the connected Codex host. See Notifications in the advanced configuration guide.