Your tailbone hurts while Copilot works.
It relaxes when Copilot is ready.

A Chrome toolbar button that shows whether GitHub Copilot CLI is working, with optional desktop notifications. It works on macOS, Ubuntu and Windows.

pilonidal (adj.): at the tailbone. Pilonidal disease comes from long hours in the seat. In World War II it was called “jeep driver's disease”.

Install View on GitHub

Three states, one glance

Hover over the icon to see how many sessions are working.

Working

Copilot CLI is working on a task in at least one session.

Ready

Copilot has finished, or is waiting for your permission or an answer.

Not connected

The local helper isn't running. Run the installer.

What you get

Small, local, and with no dependencies beyond Python 3.

Live toolbar statusThe icon changes the moment Copilot starts or finishes, with no polling delay.
Every sessionThe tailbone hurts while any Copilot CLI session is working.
OS notificationsOptional alerts when Copilot finishes or needs your permission, with or without sound.
Three platformsmacOS, Ubuntu/Linux and Windows. The installer detects which one you're on.
Stays out of the wayIts hooks live in a file of their own in ~/.copilot/hooks. Your other hooks and settings are never touched.
Fully localNothing leaves your machine. The status goes from Copilot CLI hooks to Chrome over native messaging.

Install

Requires Python 3.9 or newer, Google Chrome and GitHub Copilot CLI.

git clone https://github.com/Tpojka/copilonidal.git
cd copilonidal
./install.sh

sudo apt install python3 libnotify-bin   # notify-send, for the notifier
git clone https://github.com/Tpojka/copilonidal.git
cd copilonidal
./install.sh

winget install Python.Python.3.12        # if Python isn't installed
git clone https://github.com/Tpojka/copilonidal.git
cd copilonidal
install.cmd

Choose what to install

  1) Chrome extension
  2) Chrome extension + OS notifier
  3) Nothing (exit)
Choose 1, 2 or 3: 2
Play a sound with notifications? [Y/n]:

Load the extension (once)

Open chrome://extensions and turn on Developer mode.
Click Load unpacked and pick the extension folder the installer printed.
Pin Copilonidal to the toolbar.
Restart any running Copilot CLI sessions so they load the hooks.

OS notifier

You get a notification when Copilot finishes a turn or needs your permission. The title includes the project name.

Change settings any time

Run these from the repository. They take effect with the next notification, with no restart:

python3 -m copilonidal.install set sound off           # silent notifications
python3 -m copilonidal.install set sound on
python3 -m copilonidal.install set notifications off   # no notifications at all
python3 -m copilonidal.install set notifications on

On Windows, use py -3 instead of python3.

Or use your OS settings

OS	Where
macOS	System Settings → Notifications → Script Editor
Ubuntu (GNOME)	Settings → Sound → System Sounds, or Notifications → Do Not Disturb
Windows	Settings → System → Notifications → Windows PowerShell

How it works

Copilot CLI hooks write each session's state. A small local helper sends changes to Chrome.

Copilot CLI ──hook──► copilonidal.pyz hook ──► sessions/<id>   (busy | ready)
                                 └──────────► desktop notification (optional)

Chrome ──starts──► copilonidal.pyz host
                      watches sessions/, pushes status on change
                                  │  native messaging
                                  ▼
                   extension swaps the icon

It covers GitHub Copilot CLI, and Copilot's agent in VS Code with gaps: VS Code has no event for “needs you” notifications. It doesn't cover the Copilot cloud agent or Microsoft Copilot.