Beginner article
Agent notifications, for beginners
A beginner guide to why agents should notify humans when work finishes, blocks, or needs approval.
Plain meaning
What this means
A notification is the agent raising its hand. It tells the human that something finished, failed, or needs a decision.
Why it matters
Why a beginner should care
Agents can run longer than a normal chat response. Without notifications, useful work becomes easy to miss and risky work can continue without attention.
Small safe example
Try it safely
Have an agent send a message when a local build finishes instead of checking the terminal repeatedly.
First moves
The smallest useful path
Common mistake
What to avoid
Notifying on every small event. Too many alerts train the human to ignore the system.
Guardrails
Keep these checks steady
- Use notifications for decisions, not noise.
- Do not include secrets in notification text.
- Make failure states visible.
- Keep humans in control of risky next steps.
Go deeper
When you want the full version
This beginner article gives you the practical starting point. The full AI Lab topic has the technical details, implementation notes, and deeper structure.