Get notified when Claude Code needs you

Claude Code works, then waits for a yes. Sitting and watching the terminal is the expensive part. Two ways to make it tap you on the shoulder instead.

The do-it-yourself way: a hook

Claude Code runs hooks on its events, and the Notification event fires when it needs permission or is waiting for input. A hook can send a push through any service you already use. For example, with a self-chosen topic on a push service such as ntfy, in .claude/settings.json:

{
  "hooks": {
    "Notification": [
      { "hooks": [ { "type": "command",
          "command": "curl -s -d 'Claude Code needs you' ntfy.sh/your-topic" } ] }
    ]
  }
}

It is free and takes five minutes. What it does not do: tell you what is being asked, or let you answer. You still need to get to a terminal — at the desk, or over SSH. And a public topic name is readable by anyone who guesses it, so keep it long and random.

The ShiftStage way: answer from the notification

With ShiftStage the question itself arrives on the phone: the command Claude wants to run, its risk named, and the options as buttons. Tap one and the session is back at work — no terminal, no laptop. On Apple Watch, low-risk answers are a tap, medium ones a turn of the crown; high-risk ones stay on the phone.

The phone stays silent otherwise: no dashboard to babysit, just a push when an agent asks, a build ends or a service dies — and it names which one. Notifications go through our node end-to-end encrypted; it cannot read them. They work in the free version too.

The same works for Codex, Gemini CLI, opencode and the other supported agents, not just Claude Code.

Set it up once

Install the agent on the Mac. A signed, notarised app from our open Homebrew tap. It shares only the folders you name.
```
brew install --cask shiftstage/shiftstage/shiftstage-agent
```
Install the app on the iPhone from the App Store.
Pair them. Scan the code on the Mac's screen and confirm the same words on both devices. No account. The first pairing needs both on the same network.

That is the whole setup: no VPN, no port forwarding, no SSH keys. On the same Wi-Fi the phone talks to the Mac directly; away from home the connection goes peer to peer, or through a relay that forwards only end-to-end encrypted bytes.

Get it

The Mac agent: download page — one Homebrew command or a notarised disk image. The iPhone app: App Store. Free forever for one Mac on your own network, no account; $7.99 a month or $69.99 a year to reach it from anywhere.

More guides: all guides.