org-wild-notifier.el

Desktop notifications for org-agenda events. Get reminded before your events, just like a calendar app.

Quick Start

;; Install from MELPA, then:
(org-wild-notifier-mode)

That’s it. You’ll now receive notifications 10 minutes before any TODO item with a scheduled time or deadline.

Features

• Notifications at configurable intervals before events (e.g., 10, 30, 60 minutes)
• Per-entry notification overrides via org properties
• Absolute notification times (remind me at 9am, regardless of when the event is)
• Day-wide event support (events without specific times)
• Filter by keywords, tags, or custom predicates
• Uses the alert package for cross-platform notifications
• Async processing to avoid blocking Emacs
• Programmatic API for custom integrations

Notification Types

Relative Notifications (default)

Notifications fire N minutes before an event:

;; Notify 10 and 30 minutes before events
(setq org-wild-notifier-alert-time '(10 30))

Override per-entry with the WILD_NOTIFIER_NOTIFY_BEFORE property:

* TODO Team meeting
  SCHEDULED: <2024-01-21 Sun 14:00>
  :PROPERTIES:
  :WILD_NOTIFIER_NOTIFY_BEFORE: 60 30 5
  :END:

Absolute Notifications

Notifications at specific times, regardless of when the event occurs:

* TODO Prepare slides
  DEADLINE: <2024-01-22 Mon 09:00>
  :PROPERTIES:
  :WILD_NOTIFIER_NOTIFY_AT: <2024-01-21 Sun 20:00> <2024-01-22 Mon 07:00>
  :END:

Repeating timestamps work too: <2024-01-21 Sun 09:00 +1d>

Day-Wide Events

For events without a specific time, configure when to be reminded:

;; Remind about day-wide events at 9am and 2pm
(setq org-wild-notifier-day-wide-alert-times '("09:00" "14:30"))

Filtering

Control which entries generate notifications.

By Keyword

;; Only notify for these keywords
(setq org-wild-notifier-keyword-whitelist '("TODO" "NEXT"))

;; Never notify for these keywords
(setq org-wild-notifier-keyword-blacklist '("WAITING"))

By Tag

(setq org-wild-notifier-tags-whitelist '("work" "urgent"))
(setq org-wild-notifier-tags-blacklist '("noremind"))

By Timestamp Type

;; Only deadlines (ignore SCHEDULED and plain timestamps)
(setq org-wild-notifier-entries '("DEADLINE"))

Override per-entry with the WILD_NOTIFIER_ENTRIES property (supports inheritance):

* Project
  :PROPERTIES:
  :WILD_NOTIFIER_ENTRIES: DEADLINE
  :END:
** TODO All children inherit deadline-only filtering

By Custom Predicate

;; Exclude habits
(add-to-list 'org-wild-notifier-predicate-blacklist
  (lambda (marker)
    (string= "habit" (org-entry-get marker "STYLE"))))

Note: Completed items are excluded by default via org-wild-notifier-done-keywords-predicate.

Interactive Commands

• org-wild-notifier-mode - Toggle automatic checking (once per minute)
• org-wild-notifier-check - Check for notifications now
• org-wild-notifier-schedule-at-point - Schedule a one-off notification for the heading at point (N minutes from now)
• org-wild-notifier-schedule-at-point-at-time - Schedule a one-off notification for a specific time

Alert Customization

Customize how notifications appear using the alert package:

;; Notification title and icon
(setq org-wild-notifier-notification-title "Org Reminder")
(setq org-wild-notifier-notification-icon "/path/to/icon.png")

;; Alert severity: 'high, 'medium, or 'low
(setq org-wild-notifier--alert-severity 'high)

;; Pass additional arguments to alert
(setq org-wild-notifier-extra-alert-plist '(:persistent t))

Configuration Reference

Variable	Description	Default
org-wild-notifier-alert-time	Minutes before event to notify	‘(10)
org-wild-notifier-notification-title	Notification title	“Agenda”
org-wild-notifier-notification-icon	Path to notification icon	nil
org-wild-notifier–alert-severity	Alert severity (high/medium/low)	‘medium
org-wild-notifier-extra-alert-plist	Additional args for alert	nil
org-wild-notifier-keyword-whitelist	Only notify for these TODO keywords	nil
org-wild-notifier-keyword-blacklist	Never notify for these TODO keywords	nil
org-wild-notifier-tags-whitelist	Only notify for these tags	nil
org-wild-notifier-tags-blacklist	Never notify for these tags	nil
org-wild-notifier-predicate-whitelist	Only notify when predicate returns non-nil	nil
org-wild-notifier-predicate-blacklist	Never notify when predicate returns non-nil	‘(org-wild-notifier-done-keywords-predicate)
org-wild-notifier-entries	Timestamp types to check	’(“DEADLINE” “SCHEDULED” “TIMESTAMP”)
org-wild-notifier-entries-property	Property for per-entry timestamp type override	“WILD_NOTIFIER_ENTRIES”
org-wild-notifier-alert-times-property	Property for per-entry notification times	“WILD_NOTIFIER_NOTIFY_BEFORE”
org-wild-notifier-notify-at-property	Property for absolute notification times	“WILD_NOTIFIER_NOTIFY_AT”
org-wild-notifier-day-wide-alert-times	Times to alert for day-wide events	nil
org-wild-notifier-show-any-overdue-with-day-wide-alerts	Include overdue items in day-wide alerts	t
org-wild-notifier-display-time-format-string	Time format in notifications	“%I:%M %p”

Programmatic API

For custom integrations:

• org-wild-notifier-get-upcoming-notifications - Get all upcoming notifications. Accepts optional time argument.
• org-wild-notifier-get-notifications-for-marker - Get notifications for a specific org entry.

Returns plists with: :notify-at, :event-time, :type (relative/absolute/day-wide), :title, :marker, :file, :pos, :id.

Alternatives

• org-alert - Repeating deadline reminders every N minutes
• org-notify - Feature-rich notification system from org-contrib

org-wild-notifier focuses on calendar-style notifications: remind me 10 minutes before my meeting, not every 5 minutes until it happens.