Terminal sound effects for everyone.
33 sound packs · 662 sounds · 17 themes · 6 IDE adapters

Listen to all packs on the showcase site

Your AI finishes a task. You hear a sound. That's it. That's the app.

But the sounds? The sounds are really good. Retro game soldiers acknowledging commands, arena announcers shouting "EXCELLENT!", zen singing bowls, forest birds, office clicks — pick your vibe.

Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Codex, Windsurf, and Gemini CLI.

npm install -g pingthings

# Play a random sound from the active pack
pingthings play

# See available packs
pingthings list

# Switch packs
pingthings use 7kaa-soldiers

# Preview a pack
pingthings preview 7kaa-soldiers

# Play a specific sound
pingthings play READY

# Play event-based sounds (informational mode)
pingthings play --event done
pingthings play --event error
pingthings play -e complete

Add this to your ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "hooks": {
    "Notification": [
      {
        "matcher": "",
        "hooks": [
          {
            "type": "command",
            "command": "pingthings play"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

For different sounds based on what Claude is doing, set up multiple hooks:

{
  "hooks": {
    "Notification": [
      {
        "matcher": "",
        "hooks": [
          {
            "type": "command",
            "command": "pingthings play --event permission"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "Stop": [
      {
        "matcher": "",
        "hooks": [
          {
            "type": "command",
            "command": "pingthings play --event complete"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "PostToolUseFailure": [
      {
        "matcher": "",
        "hooks": [
          {
            "type": "command",
            "command": "pingthings play --event error"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "StopFailure": [
      {
        "matcher": "",
        "hooks": [
          {
            "type": "command",
            "command": "pingthings play --event blocked"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Config lives at ~/.config/pingthings/config.json:

{
  "activePack": "7kaa-soldiers",
  "mode": "random",
  "specificSound": null,
  "volume": 100,
  "eventPacks": {},
  "cooldown": true,
  "quietHours": null,
  "notifications": false
}

• activePack — which sound pack to use
• mode — "random" (default), "specific", or "informational"
• specificSound — sound name to always play when mode is "specific"
• volume — playback volume, 0-100 (default: 100)
• eventPacks — per-event pack overrides (e.g. {"error": "freedoom-arsenal"})
• cooldown — avoid repeating the same sound twice in a row (default: true)
• quietHours — mute during hours, e.g. "22-7" for 10pm-7am (default: null)
• notifications — show desktop notifications alongside sound (default: false)

Set values via CLI:

pingthings config mode random          # any random sound
pingthings config mode specific        # always the same sound
pingthings config mode informational   # event-based sounds
pingthings config specificSound READY  # set the sound for specific mode

Plays any random sound from the active pack. Great for variety.

Always plays the same configured sound. Set it with pingthings config specificSound <name>.

Plays different sounds based on what's happening. Use the --event flag to tell pingthings what type of event occurred:

pingthings play --event done       # "task finished" sound
pingthings play --event error      # "something broke" sound
pingthings play -e permission      # "need your approval" sound

Each pack maps its sounds to events thematically:

• 7kaa-soldiers: voice acknowledgements for done, "READY" for permission, attack grunts for errors
• openarena-announcer: "excellent!" for done, "prepare!" for permission, "denied!" for errors
• wesnoth-combat: gold collect for done, chest open for permission, explosions for errors
• freedoom-arsenal: item pickup for done, shotgun cock for permission, barrel explosion for errors
• warzone2100-command: "research completed" for done, "incoming transmission" for permission, "mission failed" for errors
• 0ad-civilizations: Greek "as you wish" for done, "my lord?" for permission, alarm horns for errors

Soldier acknowledgement voice lines from Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries — 53 sounds from all 10 civilizations (Norman, Maya, Greek, Viking, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Egyptian, Indian, Zulu). License: GPL v2.

Fantasy combat and magic sounds from Battle for Wesnoth — 19 sounds including swords, bows, spells, explosions, gold collection, healing, and a dwarf laugh. License: GPL v2+.

Arena FPS announcer voice lines from OpenArena — 18 sounds including "excellent!", "impressive!", "fight!", "perfect!", "denied!", and more. License: GPL v2.

Retro FPS weapon and pickup sounds from Freedoom — 19 sounds including shotgun, plasma rifle, BFG, rocket launcher, item pickups, and teleport. License: BSD-3-Clause.

Sci-fi military commander voice lines from Warzone 2100 — 21 sounds including "research completed", "mission successful", "incoming transmission", "enemy detected", and NEXUS AI laughs. License: GPL v2.

Ancient civilization voice lines and alerts from 0 A.D. — 28 sounds with Greek, Latin, and Persian voice acknowledgements ("my lord", "as you wish", "by your order") plus alarm sounds (victory, defeat, attack). License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Classic 8-bit chiptune notification sounds — 18 sounds including coins, fanfares, power-ups, error buzzes, and button clicks. Perfect for that retro gaming feel. License: CC0.

Clean modern UI notification sounds by Kenney — 18 sounds including confirmations, questions, errors, glitches, and bongs. Professional and minimal. License: CC0.

Futuristic sci-fi notification sounds by Kenney — 18 sounds including computer noises, force fields, lasers, explosions, and thrusters. License: CC0.

Arena FPS announcer voice lines from Xonotic — 15 sounds including "awesome!", "amazing!", "impressive!", "prepare for battle!", "terminated!". License: GPL v2+.

Fighting game announcer voice lines — 20 sounds including "Fight!", "Victory!", "K.O!", "Game Over!", "Ready?", "You Win!". License: CC-BY 4.0.

Human voice notifications by Kenney — 19 sounds including "mission completed", "objective achieved", "game over", "congratulations". License: CC0.

Robotic AI voice lines — 15 sounds including "objective complete", "action required", "instruction unclear", "mission complete". Perfect for AI coding tools. License: CC-BY-SA 4.0.

Digital and space notification tones by Kenney — 18 sounds including power-ups, phasers, zaps, and bleeps. License: CC0.

Fantasy RPG foley sounds by Kenney — 18 sounds including metal latches, book flips, sword draws, door creaks. License: CC0.

Material impact sounds by Kenney — 18 sounds including metal plates, wood, glass, bells, and mining. License: CC0.

Female fighting game announcer by Kenney — 18 sounds including "flawless victory!", "combo breaker!", "prepare yourself!". License: CC0.

8-bit weapons, explosions, and death screams — 18 sounds from the SubspaceAudio collection. License: CC0.

8-bit portals, doors, jumps, and bleeps — 18 sounds from the SubspaceAudio collection. License: CC0.

Temple bells, gongs, and crystal chimes — 13 peaceful sounds for zen notifications. License: CC0.

Water drops, drips, and gentle splashes — 12 calming water sounds. License: CC0.

Soft metallic tones, chimes, and resonances — 12 meditative notification sounds. License: CC0.

Subtle clicks, ticks, and toggles — 15 workplace-appropriate notification sounds. License: CC0.

Digital pings, alerts, and ascending chimes — 15 modern notification tones. License: CC0.

Keys, switches, paper, and desk sounds — 15 classic office foley. License: CC0.

Machines, stamps, taps, and tools — 15 satisfying mechanical sounds. License: CC0.

Barks, chirps, howls, and creature calls — 15 animal notification sounds. License: CC0.

Nocturnal sounds — owls, crickets, distant calls — 14 night-time notifications. License: CC0.

Twigs snapping, birds singing, streams babbling — 14 forest sounds. License: CC0.

Waves, bubbles, and ocean currents — 11 coastal notification sounds. License: CC0.

Thunder, wind gusts, rain drops, and storms — 12 dramatic weather sounds. License: CC0.

Place packs in ~/.config/pingthings/packs/<pack-name>/:

my-pack/
  manifest.json
  sounds/
    sound1.wav
    sound2.wav

Minimal manifest.json:

{
  "name": "my-pack",
  "description": "My custom sound pack",
  "license": "MIT",
  "credits": "Your Name"
}

The sounds field in the manifest is optional — if omitted, all .wav, .mp3, .ogg, and .flac files in the sounds/ directory are used.

To support informational mode, add an events field mapping event types to sounds:

{
  "name": "my-pack",
  "description": "My custom sound pack",
  "license": "MIT",
  "credits": "Your Name",
  "events": {
    "done": ["sounds/success.wav", "sounds/complete.wav"],
    "permission": ["sounds/question.wav"],
    "complete": ["sounds/fanfare.wav"],
    "error": ["sounds/alarm.wav", "sounds/buzz.wav"],
    "blocked": ["sounds/warning.wav"]
  }
}

Apply a pre-built theme that maps events to packs with one command:

pingthings theme              # list available themes
pingthings theme sci-fi       # apply a theme
pingthings theme reset        # back to defaults

pingthings create ./my-sounds my-pack

Scaffolds a new pack from a folder of audio files with an auto-generated manifest.

pingthings install user/repo
pingthings install https://github.com/user/pack-name

pingthings init                  # interactive wizard
pingthings init --basic          # random sounds, no prompts
pingthings init --informational  # event-based sounds, no prompts

pingthings works anywhere you can run a shell command.

# .git/hooks/post-commit
#!/bin/sh
pingthings play --event done

- name: Notify on failure
  if: failure()
  run: npx pingthings play --event error

# Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
alias done='pingthings play --event complete'
alias oops='pingthings play --event error'

sleep 1500 && pingthings play --event complete  # 25 minute focus

• Node.js >= 18
• macOS (afplay), Linux (paplay / aplay), or Windows (PowerShell)

GPL v2 — includes audio from open source games:

• Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries (GPL v2)
• Battle for Wesnoth (GPL v2+)
• OpenArena (GPL v2)
• Freedoom (BSD-3-Clause)
• Warzone 2100 (GPL v2)
• 0 A.D. (CC-BY-SA 3.0)