syncfu is an open-source universal notification overlay for AI agents. It runs as a lightweight system tray daemon (built with Tauri/Rust) and shows rich desktop overlay notifications when AI agents like Claude Code, Cursor, or custom agents need to communicate with the developer. It features action buttons, progress bars, custom themes, and a --wait flag for human-in-the-loop decision gates.

How do I get notifications from Claude Code?

Install syncfu with one command (curl -fsSL https://syncfu.dev/install | sh), then use Claude Code hooks or the syncfu CLI to send notifications. When Claude finishes a task, syncfu shows a rich desktop overlay with the result. You can also use the --wait flag to block until you click an action button, making it perfect for approval gates.

How does the --wait flag work?

The --wait flag makes the syncfu CLI block until the user interacts with the notification. It opens an SSE stream to the local server. When the user clicks an action button, the action ID is printed to stdout with exit code 0. If dismissed, exit code 1. If timed out, exit code 2. This makes it perfect for scripting human-in-the-loop decision gates in CI/CD pipelines and AI agent workflows.

Is syncfu free and open source?

Yes. syncfu is fully open source under the MIT license. The core notification overlay, CLI, HTTP API, and all features are free. No account required, no telemetry, fully local. Built with Tauri v2 and Rust for a lightweight ~9MB binary.

What platforms does syncfu support?

syncfu supports macOS, Windows, and Linux. On macOS it uses NSPanel for a native non-activating overlay that joins all Spaces. On Windows it uses always-on-top WebviewWindow. On Linux it supports X11 with Wayland support planned.

How is syncfu different from ntfy or Pushover?

Unlike ntfy and Pushover which are phone-focused push notification tools, syncfu is a native desktop overlay designed for developers at their computer. It features rich notifications with action buttons, progress bars, 27 style properties, a --wait flag for decision gates, and is agent-agnostic — working with Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, and any AI agent or script. It's also fully open source and runs entirely locally.

Free · Open source · macOS · Windows · Linux

The notification layer
your AI agents
are missing.

syncfu is an always-on-top overlay that puts information on your screen the moment it matters — with action buttons so you can respond without context-switching. Built for developers running Claude Code, Cursor, or any AI agent that works in the background.

macOS / Linux

$ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Zackriya-Solutions/syncfu/main/install.sh | sh

View on GitHub Learn more

terminal — zsh

$syncfu send "All 47 tests passing."

→✓ notification sent

$syncfu send -t "Deploy?" \

$-a "yes:Ship it:primary" \

$-a "no:Cancel:danger" \

$--wait "Merge PR #42?"

⌛ waiting for user…

→yes# exit 0

✅

Build Completejust now

All 47 tests passing. Coverage 91%

🔀

Deploy?2s ago

Merge PR #42?

⚙️

Phase 3/51m ago

Integration tests passed. Starting E2E…

Binary size: ~9MB
Style properties per notification: 27
Platforms — macOS · Windows · Linux: 3
Config files required: 0
Command to install everything: 1

Philosophy

Your AI agent is smarter
than the SaaS you pay for.

It just didn't have a way to reach you. Now it does.

🧠AI Agentintelligence

📄Your Rulesinstructions

🔔syncfudelivery

Replaces SaaSsmarter & free

SaaS tool	Cost/yr	Why the AI agent is smarter
Stretchly	Free	Agent tracks work patterns, not a 25-min clock
Todoist reminders	$28–60/yr	Agent knows context, not just clock time
UptimeRobot Pro	$84–648/yr	Agent explains failures with deploy correlation
PagerDuty (solo)	$252/yr	Agent triages alerts with real intelligence
Awario Starter	$468/yr	Agent searches targeted sources, filters noise

See all SaaS replacements →

Features

Everything your agents need
to reach you.

Zero configuration. One HTTP POST. Your screen. That's the whole model.

🔔

Always-on-top overlay

Never steals focus — the overlay sits on top without interrupting your work. Follows you across macOS Spaces and monitors.

NSPanel · non-activating

⏳

--wait flag

CLI blocks until the user clicks an action button. SSE-backed. Action ID on stdout, structured exit codes. Perfect for agent decision gates.

exit 0 · 1 · 2

🎨

27 style properties

Full visual control per notification — colors, fonts, borders, radii, button styles, progress bar colors. Every card can look different.

--style-json '{…}'

🖥️

Multi-monitor

Notifications follow your mouse cursor across displays. Wherever you're looking, syncfu finds you.

cursor-aware

📊

Live progress bars

Update in-flight notifications with new progress values, body text, and actions. Bar or ring style. Ideal for long pipeline stages.

syncfu update <id>

🔗

Webhook callbacks

Action buttons POST to your callbackUrl when clicked. Enables closed-loop automation — no polling, no waiting at the terminal.

--callback-url

Decision gates

Block. Wait.
Respond.

The --wait flag turns syncfu into a human-in-the-loop checkpoint for any script or agent loop.

Agent sends notification with action buttons via CLI or HTTP POST. The card appears on your screen instantly.

CLI opens an SSE stream and blocks until you click an action, dismiss the card, or the timeout fires.

Action ID prints to stdout with a structured exit code — 0 for action, 1 for dismissed, 2 for timeout. Pipe it anywhere.

bash

# Gate a deployment on user approval
ACTION=$(syncfu send \
  -t "Deploy v2.3?" \
  -p high \
  -a "go:Ship it:primary" \
  -a "abort:Cancel:danger" \
  --wait --wait-timeout 120 \
  "All 47 tests green. Ready?")

if [[ "$ACTION" == "go" ]]; then
  echo "Deploying..." && ./deploy.sh
else
  echo "Aborted: $ACTION"
fi

# Exit codes:
#  0 = action clicked  → stdout: "go"
#  1 = dismissed (X)   → stdout: "dismissed"
#  2 = timeout         → stdout: "timeout"

Use cases

Built for every background process
that needs your attention.

If it runs without you, syncfu can reach you when it's done — or when it needs you.

🤖AI agents & autonomous loops

Running a Claude Code loop or multi-agent workflow? Get notified on phase completion, test failures, or when the agent needs a human decision before a destructive action.

syncfu send -t "Agent done" \ -s claude --progress 1.0 \ "$(git diff --stat HEAD~1)"

Learn more →

🚀CI/CD & DevOps

GitHub Actions hooks, multi-stage deploy progress bars, SSL cert expiry warnings with "Renew" buttons, disk full alerts with priority escalation.

syncfu send -t "Build passed" \ -s github-actions -i rocket \ --action "pr:Open PR:primary" \ "All checks green"

Learn more →

🧪Development workflow

Notify when Rust rebuilds finish, tests pass, or your background tsc --noEmit finds type errors. No more Alt-Tab to check the terminal.

cargo test && \ syncfu send -t "Tests passed" \ -p low -i circle-check \ "All tests green"

Learn more →

🧠ADHD & personal focus

Medication reminders that stay on screen until confirmed. Pomodoro timers with live progress. Reminders that actually reach you — not a badge you'll never look at.

syncfu send -t "Medication" \ -p critical --timeout never \ -a "taken:Taken" --wait \ "Time to take your meds"

Learn more →

📊ML & data pipelines

Epoch-by-epoch training updates with live progress bars, dataset processing milestones, model evaluation results with Deploy/Reject action buttons.

syncfu send -t "Epoch 45/100" \ --progress 0.45 --group training \ "Loss: 0.023 | Val acc: 94.2%"

Learn more →

🏠Server & home automation

Health check dashboards, cron job completions, AWS billing threshold alerts, Home Assistant / Node-RED webhooks — any HTTP call can trigger an overlay.

curl -X POST localhost:9868/notify \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -d '{"sender":"ha","title":"Door open", "body":"Front door opened","priority":"high"}'

Learn more →

Compare

How syncfu compares
to tools you already know.

Honest, side-by-side comparisons. We tell you when the other tool is the better choice.

syncfu vsntfy

Push notifications vs desktop overlay

syncfuNative overlayAction buttons--wait blocking27 style props

ntfyMobile push19K+ starsPub-sub fan-outOne-liner API

Full comparison →

syncfu vsPushover

Paid push service vs free open source

syncfuFree / MITRich overlay UIProgress barsWebhook callbacks

PushoverMobile + desktop$5 one-timeReliable deliverySimple API

Full comparison →

syncfu vsPagerDuty

Enterprise incident mgmt vs solo dev alerts

syncfuFree foreverAI agent triageDesktop overlayCustom styling

PagerDutyOn-call rotationEscalation policies700+ integrationsMobile app

Full comparison →

syncfu vsUptimeRobot

Cloud monitoring vs context-rich alerts

syncfuContext-rich alertsAction buttonsAgent-poweredZero cost

UptimeRobot24/7 cloud pingsStatus pages10+ yr track recordSMS alerts

Full comparison →

Install

One command.
Running in seconds.

SHA-256 checksum verification enforced by default. All platforms. No dependencies.

🍎macOS / Linux

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Zackriya-Solutions/syncfu/main/install.sh | sh

🪟Windows (PowerShell)

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Zackriya-Solutions/syncfu/main/install.ps1 | iex

📦From source (Cargo)

cargo install --path cli

quick start

# Your first notification
syncfu send "Hello from syncfu!"

# With title, priority, icon
syncfu send -t "Build Complete" -p high -i circle-check "All 142 tests passing"

# With action buttons
syncfu send -t "PR #42" \
  --action "approve:Approve:primary" \
  --action "skip:Skip:secondary" \
  "Review requested"

# Block until user responds (--wait)
CHOICE=$(syncfu send -t "Approve?" \
  -a "yes:Yes" -a "no:No:danger" \
  --wait "Merge PR #42?")
echo "User chose: $CHOICE"  # "yes", "no", "dismissed", "timeout"

# Or use curl directly
curl -X POST localhost:9868/notify \
  -d '{"sender":"ci","title":"Done","body":"Ship it"}'

API Reference

HTTP REST on :9868

For programmatic access from any language, syncfu exposes a local REST API — no SDK required. The CLI and HTTP API are two interfaces to the same daemon.

Method	Path	Description
POST	`/notify`	Send a notification. Returns `{id}`
POST	`/notify/{id}/update`	Update progress, body, or actions of an in-flight notification
POST	`/notify/{id}/action`	Trigger an action button (fires webhook, resolves waiters)
POST	`/notify/{id}/dismiss`	Dismiss a specific notification by ID
GET	`/notify/{id}/wait`	SSE stream — blocks until action clicked, dismissed, or timeout
POST	`/dismiss-all`	Dismiss all active notifications at once
GET	`/health`	Server status + active notification count
GET	`/active`	List all active notifications as a JSON array

Because your agents
shouldn't have to wait
for you to check the
terminal.

Open source. MIT license. Built with Tauri v2, Rust, and React.

Install syncfu Star on GitHub

The notification layeryour AI agentsare missing.

Your AI agent is smarterthan the SaaS you pay for.

Everything your agents needto reach you.

Block. Wait.Respond.

Built for every background processthat needs your attention.

How syncfu comparesto tools you already know.

One command.Running in seconds.

HTTP REST on :9868

Because your agentsshouldn't have to waitfor you to check theterminal.

The notification layer
your AI agents
are missing.

Your AI agent is smarter
than the SaaS you pay for.

Everything your agents need
to reach you.

Block. Wait.
Respond.

Built for every background process
that needs your attention.

How syncfu compares
to tools you already know.

One command.
Running in seconds.

Because your agents
shouldn't have to wait
for you to check the
terminal.