Use Case

Staying informed about important events without constant monitoring is essential. Cowork can help set up notification systems that alert you when specific conditions are met.

Example Prompt

I want to set up automated notifications on my Mac. Please create:

1. File monitoring:
   - Alert when any file is added to ~/Downloads
   - Alert when ~/Documents/Important changes

2. System alerts:
   - Notify if disk usage exceeds 80%
   - Alert when a specific process stops

3. Scheduled reminders:
   - Daily standup reminder at 9:45 AM
   - Weekly backup reminder on Sundays

Create the scripts and launchd configurations. Save to ~/Scripts/notifications/

What Cowork Does

Monitor Setup: Creates file and system watchers
Alert Configuration: Sets up native notifications
Schedule Definition: Creates launchd/cron jobs
Script Generation: Writes monitoring scripts
Documentation: Provides setup instructions

Sample Output

#!/bin/bash
# download_watcher.sh - Monitor Downloads folder

WATCH_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
LOG_FILE="$HOME/Scripts/notifications/download.log"

fswatch -0 "$WATCH_DIR" | while read -d "" event; do
    filename=$(basename "$event")

    # Skip partial downloads
    if [[ "$filename" == *.crdownload ]] || [[ "$filename" == *.part ]]; then
        continue
    fi

    # Skip hidden files
    if [[ "$filename" == .* ]]; then
        continue
    fi

    # Send notification
    osascript -e "display notification \"$filename\" with title \"New Download\" sound name \"Glass\""

    # Log the event
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - New file: $filename" >> "$LOG_FILE"
done

#!/bin/bash
# disk_check.sh - Monitor disk usage

THRESHOLD=80

# Get disk usage percentage (macOS)
USAGE=$(df -h / | awk 'NR==2 {gsub(/%/,""); print $5}')

if [ "$USAGE" -gt "$THRESHOLD" ]; then
    osascript -e "display notification \"Disk usage at ${USAGE}%\" with title \"Warning: Disk Space\" sound name \"Basso\""

    # Optional: Open Finder to help clean up
    # open ~/Downloads
fi

#!/bin/bash
# standup_reminder.sh - Daily standup reminder

osascript <<EOF
display dialog "Daily Standup in 15 minutes!

Prepare:
- What I did yesterday
- What I'm doing today
- Any blockers" with title "Standup Reminder" buttons {"Dismiss", "Open Notes"} default button "Dismiss"

if button returned of result is "Open Notes" then
    tell application "Notes" to activate
end if
EOF

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
  "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <!-- com.user.standup-reminder.plist -->
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.user.standup-reminder</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/you/Scripts/notifications/standup_reminder.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>9</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>45</integer>
    </dict>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <false/>
</dict>
</plist>

Installation

# Install fswatch for file monitoring
brew install fswatch

# Load launchd services
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.user.standup-reminder.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.user.disk-check.plist

# Start download watcher in background
nohup ~/Scripts/notifications/download_watcher.sh &

Tips

Use native notifications for important alerts
Consider integrating with Slack/Discord for remote alerts
Keep notification frequency reasonable
Add sound for critical alerts