ping-ping

A lightweight, local-first notification relay for AI agents.

ping-ping runs as a tray application that listens for HTTP requests and displays native desktop notifications. It provides a simple way for CLI-based AI agents (like Codex CLI, Claude Code, or custom scripts) to notify you when long-running tasks are complete or require attention.

✨ Features

• 🍞 Native Desktop Notifications: Instant visual feedback for agent tasks.
• 📥 Simple HTTP API: Send pings with a single curl command.
• 🎨 Status Levels: Support for success, error, warning, info, and busy.
• 📊 Glassmorphism Dashboard: View a beautiful history of all recent notifications.
• 🌓 Tray App Workflow: Minimal footprint, runs quietly in the tray/menu bar.

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 or 11, or macOS
• Node.js (v16+)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/itsLucas02/ping-ping.git
   cd ping-ping

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Start the application:

   npm start

The app will start silently in your tray/menu bar.

• Windows: check the taskbar notification area
• macOS: check the menu bar

On first launch on macOS, allow notifications for Electron / ping-ping when prompted, otherwise the local API can run without visible banners.

npm start is safe to run repeatedly: if ping-ping is already healthy on port 19999, it exits successfully instead of launching a duplicate app.

🤖 Connecting Your AI Agents

Simply tell your AI agent to run a curl command when it finishes a task.

Example Usage (cURL)

If using curl, save your payload as ping.json and use --data-binary:

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:19999/ping \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data-binary @ping.json

Example Usage (Cross-Platform Helper)

The repo now includes a Node-based helper that works on macOS and Windows and can auto-start ping-ping if the server is offline:

./ping.sh --title "Codex" --message "Task successfully completed!" --status success

You can also call it directly:

node ping.js --title "Codex" --message "Task successfully completed!" --status success

Example Usage (PowerShell)

Built-in Windows native method (avoids escaping issues):

$body = @{ title='Codex'; message='Task successfully completed!'; status='success' } | ConvertTo-Json -Compress
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri 'http://127.0.0.1:19999/ping' -Method Post -ContentType 'application/json' -Body $body

Example Usage (ping.ps1 wrapper)

For convenience, a ping.ps1 helper script is included in the root directory. If the ping-ping server is not currently running, this script will automatically launch it in the background for you.

.\ping.ps1 -Title "Codex CLI" -Message "Task successfully completed!" -Status success

Example Usage (macOS shell wrapper)

For macOS-friendly usage:

./ping.sh -Title "Codex CLI" -Message "Task successfully completed!" -Status success

Agent-safe startup

When an AI agent needs to boot ping-ping before sending notifications, use:

npm start

from the ping-ping project folder. This checks whether the local relay is already healthy before launching a new background Electron process.

Global helper command

After linking/installing this project as a command, agents can use ping-ping from any folder:

ping-ping --title "Codex 5.5 High" --message "Task complete" --status success

Short form:

ping-ping -t "Kimi K2" -m "Need your review" -s warning

Agent title guidance:

Agents should fill --title with their own agent/model name, not a hardcoded project default. Examples: Codex 5.5 High, Gemini Pro, Claude Opus, Kimi K2, Qwen Coder, DeepSeek, Z AI, OpenCode, Cursor Agent, Goose, or Aider. The default status is success; agents should pass --status info, --status warning, --status error, or --status busy for non-completion updates.

Agent instruction snippet

Owners can add this to a global agent config or a project-level instruction file such as AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md, .cursorrules, or similar:

Use ping-ping for status updates. Run `ping-ping --help` if needed.

Ping me when:
- you start a long task: status busy
- you make progress: status info
- you need my input, approval, or review: status warning
- you are blocked or something failed: status error
- you finish successfully: status success

Use your own agent/model name as the title.

Run this for formatting help:

ping-ping --help

Supported Statuses

• success: Green (Task complete)
• error: Red (Task failed)
• warning: Orange (Requires attention)
• info: Blue (General update)
• busy: Purple (Long task started)

📋 API Reference

• GET /health
  • Returns: { "ok": true, "service": "ping-ping", "uptime": 123 }
• POST /ping
  • Body: {"title": "string", "message": "string", "status": "string"} (also accepts application/x-www-form-urlencoded or URL query params contextually).
  • Returns 202 Accepted with { "ok": true, "id": "...", "ts": "..." } on success.
• GET /api/notifications
  • Retrieve notification history.
• DELETE /api/notifications
  • Clear notification history.

Error Schema

Failed requests return 400 Bad Request, 429 Too Many Requests, or 401 Unauthorized with a structured JSON error:

{
  "ok": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "MISSING_TITLE",
    "hint": "The `title` field is required and must be a non-empty string."
  }
}

Authentication (Optional)

If the PING_TOKEN environment variable is set when launching ping-ping, all POST /ping requests must include an X-PING-TOKEN: <your_token> header.

🛠️ Built With

• Electron
• Express.js
• node-notifier
• Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS (with Glassmorphism design)

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Created with ❤️ for AI developers by Aizzul Luqman.