Notifications and preferences
By Dawn can tell you when an agent needs you, even while you’re working somewhere else. This page shows you how to choose which alerts you get and where they arrive, from the browser to your morning briefing, and goes through your look-and-feel choices on Appearance, from the theme to the feedback tab.
Your alerts are on Settings, then You, then Notifications, and the theme and other look-and-feel choices are on Settings, then You, then Appearance. To get there, choose Settings at the bottom of the sidebar, then You at the top of Settings. Changes there affect only you. Most of them follow your account, so they’re the same on every device you sign in on. The few that don’t say so.
Notifications
Section titled “Notifications”What By Dawn can alert you about depends on where you use it.
In the desktop app
Section titled “In the desktop app”The desktop app shows your computer’s own notifications. Turn them all on or off with Desktop notifications. By Dawn only alerts you while its window isn’t in front, because when it is you can see the board.
A notification about an agent’s question has the agent’s options as buttons, and a box to type an answer, so you can reply without switching windows. Choosing a notification opens its ticket, or its cycle.
On a Mac, the number on By Dawn’s Dock icon counts the tickets whose agent has stopped for you, to ask, to wait or because it finished, and that you haven’t looked at yet.
In the browser
Section titled “In the browser”The web app needs your browser’s permission first. Choose Enable on the Enable browser notifications card, then allow it when the browser asks. The permission belongs to that browser, so you give it once on each one.
If the card says Notifications are blocked, you said no earlier. Allow notifications for the By Dawn site in your browser’s settings, then come back.
Once it’s on, the switches below appear under Browser notifications. The browser only shows them while a By Dawn tab is open but not in front, so close the tab and they stop.
What to be told about
Section titled “What to be told about”The desktop and the browser share one list. Choose Choose by kind under the main switch to open it; it stays open next time if you leave it open. Each kind has two switches: Notify shows the alert and Sound plays a sound with it.
| Kind | You’re told when |
|---|---|
| Finished | an agent finished its turn |
| Questions | an agent is waiting on your answer |
| Stalls | a running agent went quiet |
| Permissions | an agent hit a permission prompt |
| Cycle started | a cycle you work in began |
| Cycle ending soon | a cycle you work in ends in two days |
| Cycle closed | a cycle you work in closed |
Every kind starts with Notify on. Sound starts off, except for Questions in the desktop app. To pause everything for a while without losing your choices, turn on Do not disturb.
In the browser, mentions and machines that need Claude sign-in also notify you, unless notifications are off or Do not disturb is on.
In chat
Section titled “In chat”If you’ve linked your chat account, By Dawn can send you a direct message in Slack, Discord or Teams. Under Chat DMs, choose which of Finished, Questions, Stalls and Permissions to get. They all start off. Until you link an account, the switches are greyed out and the card offers Link a chat account.
Remote agents
Section titled “Remote agents”Remote agent needs Claude sign-in tells you when a machine you own or administer is signed out of Claude, or its sign-in is about to run out. It’s on to start with. The alert also shows in your Inbox.
Weekly Insights digest sends you an email every Monday with last week’s overview. It’s on to start with, and shows if you can see Insights.
By Dawn also emails you when a release you work in ships or is at risk, and when a Docs page you own goes stale. There’s no switch for those emails in Settings yet: to stop one, use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.
On your phone
Section titled “On your phone”Mobile push chooses which alerts By Dawn pushes to your phone: Agent needs input and Agent stalled. Both are on to start with. Finished turns only show as a badge.
Morning briefing
Section titled “Morning briefing”The morning briefing is your day in By Dawn on one screen: your wins, what only you can unblock, the week ahead and your reviews. On a day with nothing to report, it doesn’t show. With Show my briefing on, it opens once, the first time you open By Dawn after it’s ready. Open now shows it straight away.
- How often: Every weekday, or Weekly on the day you pick.
- Ready at and Time zone: when it’s ready. The time zone follows your device unless you pick one.
- Include: choose from Wins, Waiting on you, Week ahead and Reviews.
The briefing is also the first row in your Inbox.
Appearance
Section titled “Appearance”These are on Settings, then You, then Appearance.
- Theme: Light, Dark or System, which follows your computer. The account menu has the same choice, under your initials at the top right.
- Palette: the colours By Dawn uses.
- Ticket tabs: where the tickets you have open show as tabs: Left rail, Top bar, or Off.
- Effects: the spotlight that follows your pointer, the board drifting as you move, the moving background, and cards flying between columns. Turn off any you find distracting.
- Progress & celebrations: whether you see your level and celebrations, and whether others see your flair.
- Terminal, where By Dawn has terminals: Copy on select copies the text you select in a terminal. Predictive local echo shows what you type in a remote terminal straight away, underlined, before the remote machine echoes it back. Both start on.
- Show feedback tab: docks a Feedback tab on the right edge of the window. This one is saved on this device only.
The rest of your settings are on the other pages of You: your name, passkeys and sessions under Account, your chat accounts, mail and calendar, AI agents and Claude account under Connections, and the keyboard shortcuts under Shortcuts. In the desktop app, This computer has the local agent, the worktree folder and the GitHub CLI check.
Why didn't I get a notification?
Check that Notify is on for that kind, that Do not disturb is off and, in the browser, that permission is granted. By Dawn doesn’t notify you while its window or tab is in front, and the browser can’t notify you once every By Dawn tab is closed.
Can I mute one ticket or one project?
Not yet. The switches apply to every ticket.
The email says to use Settings → Notifications. Where is that?
It’s Settings, then You, then Notifications. The release and Docs emails can only be turned off from the email’s unsubscribe link for now.
- Inbox: everything that’s waiting on you, in one list.
- Keyboard shortcuts: the keys By Dawn listens for.