Feature Suggestion: Attention Notifications for User Input and Task Completion

[ianmora97]

Hi there,

I’ve been using Spec Kit and one friction point I keep running into is that it’s easy to miss the moment when Spec Kit is waiting for user input, especially during clarify-style prompts, or when it has already finished a task and is ready for the next step.

When working across multiple windows, multitasking, or letting a task run for a while, there’s currently no strong attention signal to clearly tell the user: “Spec Kit needs you now” or “Spec Kit is done.”

I’d love to see lightweight notifications for key moments such as:
• when Spec Kit is waiting for user input
• when a task or command has completed
• when execution is blocked and human attention is needed

I think an MVP could stay simple and configurable, for example:
• terminal bell
• desktop notification
• optional sound cue
• distinct messages for “waiting for input” vs “completed” vs “blocked”

This would make the human-in-the-loop workflow much smoother, reduce idle time, and help users avoid missing important prompts during longer runs.

For a future iteration, it would be great to explore optional text-to-speech for clarify or analysis questions. The idea would be that when Spec Kit needs a human decision, it could read the question aloud so the user notices it immediately without having to constantly watch the terminal or editor.

I see the TTS part as a separate, future-facing enhancement rather than part of the initial MVP. Ideally it would be:
• fully opt-in
• configurable
• limited to moments that require human attention
• accessibility-friendly

I don’t have a strong opinion on the exact implementation. It could be editor-based, terminal-based, OS-level notifications, or a configurable notifier hook. The main value is making Spec Kit better at signaling when user attention is required and when work has completed.

I think this would improve both usability and accessibility without changing the core Spec Kit workflow.

Thanks again for building and sharing Spec Kit.

[mnriem]

I would love to see that as an extesion. See https://github.com/github/spec-kit/tree/main/extensions