diff --git a/src/features/background-agent/manager.ts b/src/features/background-agent/manager.ts
index c1483ebe8..676f26ee6 100644
--- a/src/features/background-agent/manager.ts
+++ b/src/features/background-agent/manager.ts
@@ -343,7 +343,13 @@ export class BackgroundManager {
           body: {
             agent: prevMessage?.agent,
             model: modelField,
-            parts: [{ type: "text", text: message }],
+            parts: [
+              {
+                type: "text",
+                text: message,
+                metadata: { origin: "background-notification" },
+              },
+            ],
           },
           query: { directory: this.directory },
         })
diff --git a/src/hooks/claude-code-hooks/index.ts b/src/hooks/claude-code-hooks/index.ts
index acfc3ee45..557dcc7d2 100644
--- a/src/hooks/claude-code-hooks/index.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/claude-code-hooks/index.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import {
 import { cacheToolInput, getToolInput } from "./tool-input-cache"
 import { recordToolUse, recordToolResult, getTranscriptPath, recordUserMessage } from "./transcript"
 import type { PluginConfig } from "./types"
-import { log, isHookDisabled } from "../../shared"
+import { hasPartOrigin, log, isHookDisabled } from "../../shared"
 import { injectHookMessage } from "../../features/hook-message-injector"
 import { detectKeywordsWithType, removeCodeBlocks } from "../keyword-detector"
 
@@ -138,7 +138,9 @@ export function createClaudeCodeHooksHook(ctx: PluginInput, config: PluginConfig
           return
         }
 
-        const detectedKeywords = detectKeywordsWithType(removeCodeBlocks(prompt), input.agent)
+        const detectedKeywords = hasPartOrigin(textParts, "background-notification")
+          ? []
+          : detectKeywordsWithType(removeCodeBlocks(prompt), input.agent)
         const keywordMessages = detectedKeywords.map((k) => k.message)
 
         if (keywordMessages.length > 0) {
diff --git a/src/hooks/keyword-detector/index.test.ts b/src/hooks/keyword-detector/index.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..753070671
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/hooks/keyword-detector/index.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test"
+
+import { createKeywordDetectorHook } from "./index"
+
+describe("keyword-detector hook", () => {
+  function createMockInput() {
+    const toastCalls: Array<{ title: string; message: string }> = []
+
+    const ctx = {
+      client: {
+        tui: {
+          showToast: async (opts: any) => {
+            toastCalls.push({
+              title: opts.body.title,
+              message: opts.body.message,
+            })
+            return {}
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    } as any
+
+    return { ctx, toastCalls }
+  }
+
+  test("skips keyword detection for background notifications", async () => {
+    // #given
+    const { ctx, toastCalls } = createMockInput()
+    const hook = createKeywordDetectorHook(ctx)
+    const output = {
+      message: {} as Record<string, unknown>,
+      parts: [
+        {
+          type: "text",
+          text: "ultrawork",
+          metadata: { origin: "background-notification" },
+        },
+      ],
+    }
+
+    // #when
+    await hook["chat.message"](
+      { sessionID: "ses-1", agent: "sisyphus" },
+      output,
+    )
+
+    // #then
+    expect(output.message.variant).toBeUndefined()
+    expect(toastCalls).toHaveLength(0)
+  })
+
+  test("applies ultrawork behavior for regular user messages", async () => {
+    // #given
+    const { ctx, toastCalls } = createMockInput()
+    const hook = createKeywordDetectorHook(ctx)
+    const output = {
+      message: {} as Record<string, unknown>,
+      parts: [{ type: "text", text: "ultrawork" }],
+    }
+
+    // #when
+    await hook["chat.message"](
+      { sessionID: "ses-2", agent: "sisyphus" },
+      output,
+    )
+
+    // #then
+    expect(output.message.variant).toBe("max")
+    expect(toastCalls).toHaveLength(1)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/hooks/keyword-detector/index.ts b/src/hooks/keyword-detector/index.ts
index 462fd398e..0fc28e5d1 100644
--- a/src/hooks/keyword-detector/index.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/keyword-detector/index.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import type { PluginInput } from "@opencode-ai/plugin"
 import { detectKeywordsWithType, extractPromptText, removeCodeBlocks } from "./detector"
-import { log } from "../../shared"
+import { hasPartOrigin, log } from "../../shared"
 
 export * from "./detector"
 export * from "./constants"
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ export function createKeywordDetectorHook(ctx: PluginInput) {
         parts: Array<{ type: string; text?: string; [key: string]: unknown }>
       }
     ): Promise<void> => {
+      if (hasPartOrigin(output.parts, "background-notification")) {
+        return
+      }
+
       const promptText = extractPromptText(output.parts)
       const detectedKeywords = detectKeywordsWithType(removeCodeBlocks(promptText), input.agent)
 
diff --git a/src/shared/index.ts b/src/shared/index.ts
index 3c3f25e7f..835080651 100644
--- a/src/shared/index.ts
+++ b/src/shared/index.ts
@@ -19,3 +19,4 @@ export * from "./migration"
 export * from "./opencode-config-dir"
 export * from "./opencode-version"
 export * from "./permission-compat"
+export * from "./message-origin"
diff --git a/src/shared/message-origin.test.ts b/src/shared/message-origin.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ad37565e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shared/message-origin.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test"
+
+import { hasPartOrigin } from "./message-origin"
+
+describe("hasPartOrigin", () => {
+  test("returns true when a part matches origin", () => {
+    // #given
+    const parts = [
+      { metadata: { origin: "background-notification" } },
+      { metadata: { origin: "user" } },
+    ]
+
+    // #when
+    const result = hasPartOrigin(parts, "background-notification")
+
+    // #then
+    expect(result).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  test("returns false when no part matches origin", () => {
+    // #given
+    const parts = [{ metadata: { origin: "user" } }, {}]
+
+    // #when
+    const result = hasPartOrigin(parts, "background-notification")
+
+    // #then
+    expect(result).toBe(false)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/shared/message-origin.ts b/src/shared/message-origin.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2bb9800ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shared/message-origin.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+export type PartWithMetadata = Record<string, unknown> & {
+  metadata?: Record<string, unknown>
+}
+
+export function hasPartOrigin(parts: PartWithMetadata[], origin: string): boolean {
+  return parts.some((part) => {
+    const metadata = part.metadata
+    if (!metadata) return false
+    return metadata.origin === origin
+  })
+}