[FEAT]: Audible Notification on Task Completion for Copilot Chat and Agents

[adilazhar]

User Story

As a developer who frequently multitasks, I want to receive an optional, audible notification (a minimal sound) when GitHub Copilot Chat or an agent has finished generating its response or completing its task just like what v0 does when it completes a response . This would allow me to switch my focus back to the IDE at the right moment without constantly needing to visually check for completion, thereby improving my workflow efficiency.

Problem Description

Currently, the only indicator that Copilot has finished a task is visual: the text streaming stops, and the progress indicator disappears. This works well when the user is actively watching the screen, but it's inefficient in common scenarios:

1. Long-Running Tasks: When using an agent for a complex task (e.g., implementing a new feature with @workspace /new, running tests with /tests, or a complex fix with /fix), it can take several seconds or even minutes. During this time, I often switch to another window (browser, terminal, etc.) to stay productive. I have to repeatedly tab back to the IDE to see if Copilot is done, which is disruptive.
2. Context Switching: Even for shorter chat queries, it's common to look away or think about the next step. It's easy to miss the exact moment the visual "done" cue occurs, leading to a few seconds of wasted time waiting for a task that has already finished.
3. Accessibility: For users who may rely more on non-visual feedback, an audio cue provides a crucial alternative to the purely visual indicators.

Proposed Solution

I propose introducing a new, opt-in setting within the GitHub Copilot configuration:

• Setting Name (suggestion): github.copilot.audio.enableCompletionSound
• Functionality: When enabled, a subtle, non-intrusive sound would play upon the successful completion of a response from:
  • Copilot Chat (@workspace, @terminal, etc.)
  • Copilot Agents (/fix, /tests, etc.)
• Default: This feature should be disabled by default to avoid surprising users.

Note: While workarounds exist (like enabling VS Code's generic audioCues.chatResponseReceived), a native implementation within Copilot would be superior because:

• It would be platform-agnostic (working across VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, etc.).
• It could be more intelligently scoped specifically to Copilot's "thinking" and completion states.
• It could potentially offer different sounds for success, failure, or tasks requiring user input.

Benefits

• Increased Productivity: Reduces the need to "poll" the IDE for task status, minimizing context-switching friction.
• Improved User Experience: Provides a clear and satisfying "done" signal, making the interaction feel more responsive.
• Enhanced Accessibility: Offers an essential feedback mechanism for a wider range of users.

Thank you for considering this feature to enhance the Copilot experience.

[github-actions]

Thank you for your issue! We have categorized it as an enhancement, and it has been added to our backlog. In doing so, we are not committing to implementing this feature at this time, but, we will consider it for future releases based on community feedback and our own product roadmap.

If you come across this issue and would like to see it implemented, please add a thumbs up! This will help us prioritize the feature. Please only comment if you have additional information or viewpoints to contribute.

[RyanHecht]

Hi @adilazhar,

We added this a while back! The CLI writes an ASCII bell character (\x07) to stdout in the following scenarios:

• When a permission request/path confirmation requires user attention
• When the agent finishes its task and the user can submit new input

It's controllable via the beep config option in ~/.copilot/config, and defaults to true