Ping

Let AI Agents Ping You

Ever kick off a long build, walk away to grab coffee, and come back 20 minutes later wondering if it finished? Or worse — it failed 30 seconds after you left?

Ping solves this. When you tell Claude Code or Codex to “ping me when you’re done,” they actually can. Notifications go to your phone, your Mac, wherever you are. And you can respond right from the notification.

How It Works

You: "Run the full test suite and ping me when it's done"

Claude: *runs tests for 10 minutes*

Your phone: 🔔 "Tests complete: 234 passed, 2 failed"

You: *tap* "Show failures"

Claude: *continues with the details*

It’s that simple. AI agents can now reach you when they need you.

What You Can Do

Get notified when tasks finish:

• Build completions
• Test suite results
• Deployment status
• Any long-running operation

Get approval before important actions:

• “Ready to deploy to production. Proceed?” → [Deploy] [Cancel]
• “Delete 47 stale branches?” → [Yes] [Show List] [Cancel]
• “Refactor complete. Create PR?” → [Create PR] [Review First]

Make decisions without context-switching:

• Quick-reply buttons for common responses
• Type custom responses from your phone
• Keep working on something else while the agent waits

Setting Up Ping

Ping works with both Claude Code and OpenAI Codex CLI. Choose your agent below.

Claude Code

# Install the plugin (MCP server + skill)
claude plugin install https://github.com/titofebus/strayfiles-ping.git

# Authenticate with your Strayfiles account
strayfiles-ping auth

OpenAI Codex CLI

# Install the binary
curl -fsSL https://strayfiles.com/ping-install.sh | sh

# Add MCP server to Codex
codex mcp add strayfiles-ping -- strayfiles-ping

# Install the skill
$skill-installer install https://github.com/titofebus/strayfiles-ping

# Authenticate with your Strayfiles account
strayfiles-ping auth

After authenticating, restart your agent. Now when you say “ping me when done” or start a long task, the agent knows what to do.

Receiving Notifications

Ping notifications appear on all your devices:

Device	How It Appears
iPhone	Push notification + footer badge showing pending count
Mac	System notification, click to respond
Strayfiles TUI	Status bar indicator with count (🔔 [p] Pings (3))

The first device to respond wins — perfect for when you have multiple devices nearby.

Access the full notifications interface to view pending pings, history, and manage your response queue:

• iPhone/iPad: Tap the “Pings” button at the bottom of the sidebar
• Mac: Menu bar or keyboard shortcut
• TUI: Press [p] to open the notifications window

The badge count shows how many notifications need your attention.

Natural Triggers

You don’t need special commands. Both Claude and Codex recognize natural phrases:

• “Ping me when you’re done”
• “Let me know when the build finishes”
• “Notify me if there are errors”
• “Text me when you need approval”

The agent also pings proactively for long tasks (builds, test suites, deployments) so you know you can step away.

Quick-Reply Buttons

When the agent needs a decision, you’ll see buttons:

Ready to deploy to production?
[Deploy] [Cancel] [Show Changes]

Tap a button or type a custom response. Either way, the agent gets your answer and continues.

Auto-Response Queue

Pre-write responses that automatically answer future pings. Inspired by the Ralph Wiggum plugin, the Queue lets your AI work autonomously while you’re away.

How it works: When the agent sends a ping, it first checks your queue. If responses are available, the oldest one is used automatically (FIFO order). No notification appears — the agent just continues working.

# CLI usage
strayfiles-ping queue add "continue"
strayfiles-ping queue add "yes, keep going"
strayfiles-ping queue add "proceed with deployment"
strayfiles-ping queue list
strayfiles-ping queue remove <id>
strayfiles-ping queue clear  # Remove all items

In-app management:

• Open the Pings window ([p] in TUI, “Pings” button on iOS/macOS)
• Switch to the “Queue” tab
• Add, view, and remove responses

Use cases:

# Scenario 1: Lunch break autonomous work
strayfiles-ping queue add "continue"
strayfiles-ping queue add "yes proceed"
strayfiles-ping queue add "keep going"
# Now you can tell Claude to "clean up the codebase" and go to lunch
# Each time it asks for approval, it uses the next queued response

# Scenario 2: Repetitive task approvals
strayfiles-ping queue add "delete them"
strayfiles-ping queue add "yes delete"
strayfiles-ping queue add "proceed"
# Tell Claude to "delete all stale branches" and walk away

Queue behavior:

• Responses are used in the order you add them (FIFO)
• After use, items are removed from the queue
• Rate limited to 10 auto-responses per hour (prevents runaway queues)
• Used items are saved for 7 days (audit trail)
• Simple and predictable — no AI selection, no prioritization

Queue vs Ralph Wiggum:

Feature	Ping Queue	Ralph Wiggum
Purpose	Pre-approved responses for different pings	Same prompt, repeated iterations
Mechanism	FIFO queue consumed on notification	Stop hook re-feeds prompt each loop
Termination	Queue empty or user clears it	Completion promise or max iterations
Best for	Deployment approvals, architecture choices	Getting tests to pass, iterative refinement
Control	You decide the responses in advance	AI keeps trying until goal is met

Notifications Window

Access the full Ping interface for complete control:

Three tabs:

1. Pending - Active notifications awaiting your response

   • Tap to respond with quick-replies or custom message
   • Swipe to dismiss
   • Shows time elapsed and expiration status

2. History - Last 24 hours OR last 50 notifications (whichever is more)

   • See what you’ve responded to recently
   • Review agent actions while you were away
   • Automatically cleaned up after 7 days (GDPR compliance)

3. Queue - Manage auto-response queue

   • Add pre-written responses
   • View queued messages
   • Remove items from the queue

Response Timeout

Notifications expire after 5 minutes by default. If you don’t respond in time, the agent handles it gracefully — usually by asking in the chat instead.

For important decisions, the agent can wait longer (up to an hour).

Privacy & Security

• Pro-only: Requires active Strayfiles Pro subscription
• End-to-end: Only you see your notifications
• Ephemeral: No history stored — notifications disappear after response or expiration
• Lock screen safe: Messages truncated on lock screen for privacy

Troubleshooting

“Notifications not appearing”

• Check that Ping is enabled in Strayfiles settings
• Verify notification permissions in System Settings (Mac) or Settings app (iOS)
• Make sure you’re signed into the same Strayfiles account

“Agent doesn’t seem to use ping”

Claude Code:

• Verify the skill is installed: check ~/.claude/skills/strayfiles-ping/
• Restart Claude Code after installing the plugin

Codex CLI:

• Verify the skill is installed: check ~/.codex/skills/strayfiles-ping/
• Check MCP server is registered: run /mcp in Codex
• Restart Codex after adding the MCP server

Both:

• Try explicitly saying “ping me when done”
• Run strayfiles-ping status to verify authentication

“Response not received”

• Check your internet connection
• Make sure you responded before the timeout
• If the agent moved on, just tell it your answer in chat

Requirements

• Strayfiles Pro subscription
• Strayfiles app on at least one device (iOS, macOS, or TUI)
• Claude Code or Codex CLI with strayfiles-ping installed and authenticated