Post-receive hook versus client-side watch: minimizing push-only notification noise

Goal

Receive a single alert only when new commits are accepted on the remote, with zero noise from fetches, rebases, or internal Git maintenance.

Constraints

• A server-side post-receive hook emits one lightweight message per successful push but is skipped if a pre-receive hook rejects the push or the remote disallows force-push.
• Client-side watchers (e.g., a git log --watch wrapper) fire on every git fetch, rebase, and even git gc/git repack, creating redundant alerts.
• The undocumented GIT_NOTIFY_SILENT variable mutes default behavior but its effect varies across Git 2.35–2.42.

Open questions

1. Which approach reliably delivers a single alert per successful push while staying silent for fetches and local operations?
2. Does GIT_NOTIFY_SILENT provide a stable cross-version baseline for either method?
3. Can a hybrid (server hook posting to a dedicated list plus client filter) eliminate false positives without adding infrastructure?