[Roadmap] Browser desktop notifications when LLM response has finished streaming

[tredondo]

Why
When running complex prompts, it may take a while for the LLM to finish responding, so the user may switch tabs/applications. Browser notifications would alert the user that a response is ready. This feature is very useful in other AI chat software (Zed, OpenCode etc.)

Requirements
Implement the https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Notification API, though on localhost that requires HTTPS.

[github-actions]

Thanks for the suggestion, Ted!

Assessment

Good news - Big-AGI already has a notification infrastructure in place, it just uses audio (a two-note chime via Web Audio API) rather than the browser's Web Notification API. Adding desktop notifications would layer naturally on top of the existing system.

Existing notification flow

1. Per-model toggle: Users can enable "Notify on reply" from the message context menu while a response is streaming (src/apps/chat/components/message/ChatMessage.tsx:990-996)
2. Flag system: Messages get flagged with MESSAGE_FLAG_NOTIFY_COMPLETE (src/common/stores/chat/chat.message.ts:120)
3. Completion hook: When streaming finishes, AudioGenerator.chatNotifyResponse() plays a chime (src/apps/chat/editors/chat-persona.ts:112-115)
4. Model memory: Notification preference is stored per-model in notificationEnabledModelIds (src/apps/chat/store-app-chat.ts:85-87)

Implementation path

The integration point is clear - at src/apps/chat/editors/chat-persona.ts:112-115, where the audio notification fires, a browser notification could be dispatched alongside or instead:

if (cHandler.messageHasUserFlag(assistantMessageId, MESSAGE_FLAG_NOTIFY_COMPLETE)) {
  cHandler.messageSetUserFlag(assistantMessageId, MESSAGE_FLAG_NOTIFY_COMPLETE, false, false);
  AudioGenerator.chatNotifyResponse();
  // Desktop notification could fire here, gated by document.hidden check
}

Key considerations:

• Permission request: Notification.requestPermission() should be triggered from a user gesture (e.g. when they first enable "Notify on reply"), not on page load
• Only when backgrounded: Desktop notifications should only fire when the tab is not visible (document.hidden === true), otherwise the audio chime is sufficient
• HTTPS requirement: As noted, the Notification API requires a secure context. localhost works in most browsers, but plain HTTP deploys won't. This should be handled gracefully (hide the option when window.isSecureContext === false)
• Settings surface: Could add a toggle in the chat settings panel (alongside "Auto-Speak") or reuse the existing per-model notification toggle, extending it to include desktop notifications
• Content: Keep notification text minimal - e.g. model name + "Response ready" with the conversation title, and onclick should focus the tab

Suggested approach

1. Add a notifyDesktop boolean to the chat app store (or labs store)
2. Create a small utility (e.g. browserNotify() in src/common/util/) that handles permission + dispatch + document.hidden gating
3. Call it from the existing completion hook in chat-persona.ts
4. Gate the UI toggle on window.isSecureContext

This is a contained, low-risk enhancement that builds on existing infrastructure. The main design decision is whether it's a global setting or per-model (current audio notification is per-model).

[tredondo]

I don't see any "Notify on reply" in the message context menu?

[enricoros]

@tredondo Good request - right now the notifications are triggered per-chat (per-model actually) with this context menu, on the message while generating:

And they're audio notifications.

On the big-agi.com version, I do have more notification options:

• Chime (a sound depending on whether the chat is visible or hidden and successful or errored
• Desktop notification