CLI Usage

After installation, display a temporary notice:

macnotif --title "Layout changed: Tiles" --mode temporary --duration 1

The explicit mode and duration make this example independent of your configured notice defaults. Quote text containing spaces so your shell passes it as one argument.

Options

macnotif --title TEXT [--description TEXT] [--mode temporary|permanent] [--duration SECONDS]
macnotif --clear

Option	Behavior
--title TEXT	Required for a new notice; must contain non-whitespace text.
--description TEXT	Optional supporting detail below the title.
--mode MODE	temporary or permanent. Built-in default: temporary.
--duration SECONDS	A finite positive number of seconds, including decimals. Built-in default: 1. Only temporary notices expire.
--clear	Used alone, clears the permanent notice.

The optional TOML configuration can change mode and duration defaults; explicit --mode and --duration values take precedence for that invocation. Duration does not affect a permanent notice, although a supplied value must still be valid.

Temporary notices

macnotif --title "Build complete" --description "All checks passed" --mode temporary --duration 3.5

A temporary notice disappears when its duration expires. A new temporary notice replaces the previous temporary notice, without replacing a permanent notice.

Permanent notices and replacement

macnotif --title "Working" --description "Deployment in progress" --mode permanent
macnotif --title "Ready" --description "Deployment complete" --mode permanent

The second command replaces the first permanent notice. New notices always replace only the existing notice of the same kind. A permanent notice stays above any temporary notice until replaced or cleared.

Clearing

macnotif --clear

Clearing removes the permanent notice if present; it does not clear a temporary notice, which must expire on its own or be replaced by another temporary notice. Clearing when no permanent notice exists is harmless.

Do not combine --clear with other arguments. There is no clear-all command. The HUD hides when neither kind has an active notice.

Errors and background behavior

Invalid modes, missing values, empty titles, invalid durations, and unsupported options produce a diagnostic on stderr and a nonzero exit status. Configuration is read before every CLI operation: an invalid or unreadable configuration also stops --clear, even when CLI overrides are supplied.

--border-color is no longer supported. Appearance is configured through TOML, not CLI flags. The old mode NAME and end commands are not aliases.

Running the executable with no arguments starts the background HUD rather than printing help; there is no --help flag. New notices start the HUD as needed. Notice state is stored in ~/Library/Application Support/MacNotif/.