You ask Claude Code to refactor a component. You then switch to Teams to answer a message, Outlook to reply to an email. By that time it should be done, right? Since I don’t run in YOLO mode, then no. The agent has been sitting on it’s hands the whole time, waiting for permission to modify a file. I’m happy to be a bit skeptical about agents making changes without approval, so I don’t mind having guardrails in place. But I don’t want to babysit the terminal either. I want to delegate work and then get notified when it’s done, without having to check back every few minutes.
This is the hidden cost of AI pair programming. The agents are fast, but they need guardrails (for good reason). Permission prompts are necessary for safety, but they absolutely disrupt flow state. You end up hovering over the terminal, watching for that approval dialog, or keep a terminal on a separate screen, always open. This defeats the entire purpose of delegating work in the first place. I don’t want to micromanage the agent.
Enter Peon-Ping
Peon-ping adds game character voice lines to your terminal. When Claude Code completes a task or needs permission, you hear it. No more babysitting the terminal.
I use Claude Code in VSCode, and the sound effects work there as well. I can context switch guilt-free, knowing I’ll get an audio cue when my attention is needed.
Why This Brings Me Joy
If you played Warcraft 2 in the 90s, you know exactly what happens when you spam-click on peons and orcs. They get progressively more annoyed with you.
Yes, milord?
Yes?
What?
Stop poking me!
Why do you keep touching me?!
Peon-ping brings that energy to your terminal. The default sound pack uses the Warcraft III Orc Peon, and it takes me right back to those LAN party days. There are 40+ packs available, and you can preview them all at peonping.com.
Honestly, half the reason I installed this was nostalgia… maybe more than half. I’m sure that there’s some legitimate productivity gains… but nostalgia!
Installation
I’m on a Mac, so the fastest way to get started is with Homebrew:
brew install PeonPing/tap/peon-ping
peon-ping-setupThe setup script will:
- Install the default peon sound pack
- Configure hooks for Claude Code
- Create a config file at
~/.claude/hooks/peon-ping/config.json
It also works on Linux and Windows, check the GitHub repo for those details.
Installing Additional Sound Packs
The default pack is the Orc Peon, but there are 40+ packs available. Here are my favorites:
- Warcraft III: Orc Peon (default), Human Peasant
- Red Alert 2: Soviet Engineer (affirmative)
- Helldivers 2: Helldiver (for when you need some more democracy)
- Star Trek: Worf (it’s a good day to try this one)
- Rick and Morty: Rick Sanchez (if you want your terminal to be… existentially sarcastic)
To see all installed packs:
peon packs listTo switch to a different pack:
peon packs use rickYou can also install multiple packs and set up rotation (random or round-robin) in the config. I honestly can’t pick a favorite, so mine rotates between peon, rick, and the Soviet engineer.
Quick Commands
Mute and Unmute
peon pause # Silence all sounds
peon resume # Turn them back on
peon status # Check current stateIn Claude Code, you can also use /peon-ping-toggle to mute/unmute without leaving the IDE. (This is handy during meetings when you don’t want Rick Sanchez interrupting your standup.)
Preview Sounds
Before committing to a pack, you can preview it:
peon preview task.completeThis plays a random sound from the task.complete category so you can decide if you like it. Trust me, you want to test before switching to the annoyed sounds pack in the middle of a client demo.
Give It a Try
If you regularly use AI coding agents and find yourself context switching (or just want your terminal to have more personality), give peon-ping a shot.
Your terminal will thank you. Or yell at you. Depends on the sound pack.