bgnotify global threshold limits per-command control in Oh My Zsh

What bgnotify actually offers

The plugin exposes a single variable, bgnotify_threshold, that controls how many seconds a foreground command must run before a notification is emitted when the terminal window is not focused. There is no documented allowlist, denylist, or hook that lets you filter commands on a per‑command basis.

How to silence a notification for a chosen command

Because the plugin has no built‑in filter, the only supported technique is to temporarily adjust bgnotify_threshold around the command you want to silence. The adjustment can be done inline or via an alias that restores the original value afterward.

# Temporarily raise the threshold to “never” for a single invocation
bgnotify_threshold=0; your_long_command_here; bgnotify_threshold=120

Or create a reusable alias:

alias silent_long='bgnotify_threshold=0; "$@"; bgnotify_threshold=120'
# Usage: silent_long sleep 120

Because bgnotify_threshold is read once per command, the wrapper must restore the original value before the command finishes. If you forget to restore it, subsequent commands will inherit the altered threshold.

Why no per‑command hook exists

At the time of writing, the bgnotify source code contains only the global threshold variable and the unfocused‑window check. No exported function or variable is provided for user‑defined filters. Future releases might add such a feature, but it is not present in the current stable version.

Backend and unfocused‑window detection

bgnotify chooses a backend automatically based on the platform:

• Linux: uses notify-send (libnotify) and xdotool to query X11 focus. On Wayland, xdotool is typically unavailable, so the unfocused check fails and notifications are silently disabled.
• macOS: relies on osascript and System Events to determine if the terminal is frontmost.
• Windows: uses PowerShell or snoretoast to send notifications and query the foreground process.

If the required external utilities are missing, bgnotify falls back to no‑op mode, meaning no notifications will appear even for long commands.

Quick verification steps

1. Check the current threshold:

   echo $bgnotify_threshold
   

2. Confirm the backend is available:

   # Linux
   which notify-send && which xdotool
   # macOS
   which osascript
   # Windows
   powershell -Command "Get-Item -Path 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run'
   

3. Test the wrapper: run silent_long sleep 120 while the terminal is unfocused and verify that no notification appears.

Missing diagnostic detail

To give more precise guidance, could you let me know which display server you are using on Linux (X11 or Wayland)? That determines whether the X11‑based unfocused check will work.