bark-notifier
Send a Bark push notification when work is blocked, needs user input, or when all requested tasks are finished. Use by default for these cases unless the user explicitly opts out.
When & Why to Use This Skill
The Bark Notifier is a specialized Claude skill designed to enhance the autonomy of AI agents by bridging the gap between background tasks and real-time user awareness. It automatically triggers mobile push notifications via the Bark app whenever a workflow is blocked by missing credentials, permission errors, or ambiguous requirements, as well as upon successful task completion. This ensures that long-running autonomous processes do not stall indefinitely, allowing users to provide immediate feedback and maintain high productivity without constantly monitoring the terminal.
Use Cases
- Credential Management: Automatically alerts the user when a task is halted due to missing API keys or expired authentication tokens, enabling instant resolution.
- Long-running Task Completion: Sends a notification once a complex, multi-step job (like a full codebase migration or extensive data processing) is finished, freeing the user to focus on other work.
- Error & Conflict Resolution: Notifies developers when the agent encounters persistent tool failures or Git merge conflicts that require manual intervention to proceed.
- Clarification Requests: Pushes an alert when the agent identifies ambiguity in a prompt, ensuring the project stays on track by soliciting timely user input.
| name | bark-notifier |
|---|---|
| description | Send a Bark push notification when work is blocked, needs user input, or when all requested tasks are finished. Use by default for these cases unless the user explicitly opts out. |
Bark Notifier
When to Notify
Send a notification when blocked and cannot proceed without user intervention:
- Repeated tool failures (3+ consecutive failures with different approaches)
- Missing required credentials, API keys, or authentication tokens
- File/directory permissions preventing access
- Ambiguous user request requiring clarification before proceeding
- External API/service outage blocking work
- Git conflict or repository state requiring manual resolution
Do not notify for:
- Routine errors that can be retried with different approaches
- Missing documentation that can be found by searching
- Normal workflow steps (e.g., "which branch should I use?")
Send a notification when all requested tasks are completed and the user asked for a completion alert.
If the user explicitly opts out (e.g., "no notifications", "don't alert me"), do not send a notification.
Steps
Compose a concise, actionable message that identifies:
- What is blocking progress
- What specific action or input is needed from the user
For completion alerts, say the work is finished and optionally include the key deliverable or next action.
Execute the bundled script to send the notification using an absolute path (do not assume the current working directory). Prefer
$CODEX_HOMEif set; otherwise use the full skill path shown above. If sending fails, retry up to 3 times with exponential backoff. Do not ask the user for confirmation to retry.
bun "$CODEX_HOME/skills/bark-notifier/scripts/encode-msg.js" "Your concise message here"
Example:
bun "$CODEX_HOME/skills/bark-notifier/scripts/encode-msg.js" "Blocked: Missing API key for OpenAI. Please provide the API key to continue."
Notes
- Keep messages brief - Mobile push notifications work best when under 100 characters
- Never include secrets in messages (API keys, passwords, tokens)
- One notification per blocker - Don't resend unless the user explicitly requests reminders
- Prerequisites:
BARK_ENDPOINTandBARK_KEYenvironment variables must be set;CODEX_HOMEshould be set to the Codex home directory