Why Gemini CLI waits for input without telling you, and the fix

Why there was no alert

• Notifications are an experimental feature and are off by default.
• Gemini CLI sends them with the OSC 9 escape sequence, which iTerm2, WezTerm, Ghostty and Kitty show as system notifications. In other terminals it falls back to a terminal bell, which most show as a taskbar flash or an alert sound, and some keep silent.
• There are two kinds: Action required, when the model waits for your input or a tool approval, and Session complete, when a session finishes.

Fix 1: turn on notifications

Type /settings, open the General category and turn on Enable Notifications. Or add this to ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "general": {
    "enableNotifications": true
  }
}

Fix 2: a Notification hook

Gemini CLI's Notification hook event fires when the CLI raises a system alert, such as a tool permission request, and passes notification_type (ToolPermission), message and details on stdin. It can't approve anything; it runs your command alongside the prompt, in any terminal. Save this as ~/.gemini/hooks/notify.sh and make it executable:

#!/bin/bash
msg=$(jq -r '.message // "Gemini CLI needs you"')
osascript -e 'on run argv' -e 'display notification (item 1 of argv) with title "Gemini CLI"' -e 'end run' "$msg" >/dev/null 2>&1
# For your phone instead: curl -s -d "$msg" https://ntfy.sh/<your-topic> >/dev/null
echo '{}'

Register it in ~/.gemini/settings.json (or .gemini/settings.json in a project). The timeout is in milliseconds:

{
  "hooks": {
    "Notification": [
      {
        "matcher": "*",
        "hooks": [
          { "name": "notify", "type": "command", "command": "~/.gemini/hooks/notify.sh", "timeout": 5000 }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

For a finished turn, the AfterAgent event fires once per turn after the final reply. Gemini CLI hooks with Taskhold uses it to put each reply on the shared task.

Antigravity CLI (agy)

Antigravity CLI has a built-in Notifications setting. When on, it rings the terminal bell and shows a desktop notification when the agent needs your approval or an answer, or finishes its turn. Off by default. Turn it on in /config, or in ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/settings.json:

{
  "notifications": true
}

Gemini CLI hooks don't carry over. agy loads hooks from ~/.gemini/config/hooks.json or .agents/hooks.json in a workspace, not from a settings.json file, and its events are different: SessionStart, PreToolUse, PostToolUse, PreInvocation, PostInvocation and Stop, with no Notification event. A Stop hook gets terminationReason and fullyIdle (true once background tasks are done too) and must print a decision; anything other than continue lets the agent stop:

{
  "notify-done": {
    "Stop": [
      { "type": "command", "command": "/Users/you/.gemini/config/notify-done.sh" }
    ]
  }
}

#!/bin/bash
in=$(cat)
if [ "$(echo "$in" | jq -r '.fullyIdle')" = "true" ]; then
  reason=$(echo "$in" | jq -r '.terminationReason')
  osascript -e 'on run argv' -e 'display notification ("agy stopped: " & item 1 of argv) with title "Antigravity CLI"' -e 'end run' "$reason" >/dev/null 2>&1
fi
echo '{"decision": "stop"}'

Where Taskhold fits

Taskhold handles the other kind of stop: a question about the work, from Gemini CLI, agy or any other agent. With the workflow snippet in GEMINI.md or AGENTS.md, the agent calls taskhold_block with one specific question instead of waiting in the terminal. When the answer is a choice, it passes two to four options, marks the one it recommends and says what it will do if nobody answers.

• The question appears as a card under Needs you on the live board and on the Needs you page (/dashboard/needs-you), laid out for a phone. Tap an option or type a reply.
• Phone alerts can send the question to you by web push, ntfy or email. They're opening to accounts in stages.
• The agent reads your answer with taskhold_updates, and can take the next task while it waits.

If you need a decision from me, call taskhold_block on the task with one
specific question. When it's a choice, pass 2 to 4 options, the one you
recommend, and what you'll do if I don't answer. Then take the next todo
and check taskhold_updates between steps for my reply.

• Tool approvals still need an answer in the terminal. Taskhold carries questions about the work.
• Taskhold doesn't wake an agent that has stopped. The agent reads your reply the next time it calls taskhold_updates.
• Setup: Gemini CLI or Antigravity CLI. If the taskhold tools never load, see Gemini CLI MCP server not loading or Antigravity CLI MCP server not connecting.