# How to know when OpenAI Codex finishes a task or needs your approval

> See and answer OpenAI Codex approval requests and questions from a popup, and know the moment a task finishes, without watching the terminal.

Canonical: https://herdbell.com/blog/codex-notifications-when-task-finishes
Last updated: 2026-10-27

Codex works through a task, then stops: it wants approval for a command, asks you a question, or has simply finished. Codex has notification settings of its own, but they are specific to Codex. If you also use other agents, you want one place that covers them all.

## What Herdbell shows and lets you do for Codex

- **Permission requests:** the command shows as a card with Allow and Deny.
- **Questions with choices:** when Codex asks a multiple-choice question, you can tap an answer in Herdbell and it is sent back as your reply.
- **Finished:** the pointer glows green, and you can reply to continue in the same chat.
- **Stopped by you:** if you stop Codex yourself, Herdbell notices within a few seconds.

## Terminal and app

Codex running in a **terminal** can also be stopped from Herdbell. A chat inside the **Codex app** is stopped in the app, because Herdbell never signals the app's shared engine. If the Codex app has a chat open, nothing else can write to it, so Herdbell says to reply in Codex.

## Set it up

1. Connect Codex in onboarding or on the Agents page. Herdbell adds its hooks to `~/.codex/hooks.json` after backing up the file.
2. Start a Codex task. It appears in Herdbell by itself.
3. The first time, Codex may ask you to approve the new hooks once. Open Codex, type `/hooks` and approve Herdbell.

## Common questions

### Does Herdbell replace Codex's own notifications?
No. They can run side by side. Herdbell adds one place that also covers Claude Code, Cursor and Antigravity, and lets you answer.

### Can I reply to Codex from Herdbell after it finishes?
Yes, right after a turn ends. In the Codex app, a chat that is open there has to be answered in the app.

## Related
- [Herdbell: pricing](https://herdbell.com/#pricing)
- [All posts](https://herdbell.com/blog)
- [Claude Code vs Codex vs Cursor: how to monitor all of them in one place](https://herdbell.com/blog/claude-code-vs-codex-vs-cursor)
- [How to approve Claude Code permissions without switching windows](https://herdbell.com/blog/approve-claude-code-permissions)