Notifications and status
Follow what each conversation is doing, answer requests from a desktop notification, and choose which events notify you.
Vato tells you what every conversation is doing without opening it: a status in the sidebar, live output while commands run, and desktop notifications when an agent finishes, fails or needs you.
Conversation status
Each conversation in the sidebar shows its current state:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Working | The agent is running a turn, or one of its sub-agents is still working. |
| Approval | The agent waits for you to allow an action. |
| Question | The agent asked you a question. |
| Waiting | The answer is ready but background work (sub-agents, background shells or terminals) is still running. |
| Limited | A provider usage limit stopped the turn. |
| Failed | The last turn stopped on an error. It stays until the next successful answer. |
| Interrupted | Vato stopped while the turn was running. You can resume it. |
| Done | The agent finished and you have not opened the answer yet. |
Stopping a turn yourself never shows Failed.
Long commands and background work
While a command runs, its output appears live in the conversation and in the work log on the right, together with how long it has been running. With Codex on Windows, most commands go through Vato's PowerShell tool instead; their output appears when they finish.
When an agent starts a command in the background — a dev server, a watcher, a long build — it gets its own card in the work log with the latest output and a Stop button. With Codex, background terminals keep running after the agent answers: the conversation shows Waiting and the message field reads Reply ready — 1 background task(s) still running. You can reply at any time; stopping the wait stops the background terminals.
Background agents
When an agent delegates work to sub-agents, a Background agents bar appears right above the message field, for example 2 background agents. Expand it to see one line per sub-agent with what it is doing: is working, is awaiting instruction, is awaiting approval, is done, failed or stopped. Hover a line for its model and how long it has been running; select it to follow its work.
Sub-agents that finished stay listed until your next message. The stop button, Stop all subagents in this chat, stops every sub-agent still running without stopping the conversation itself.
Desktop notifications
Vato sends a desktop notification when:
- an agent finishes a turn (Response ready);
- a turn fails (Turn failed);
- an agent needs your approval;
- an agent asks you a question;
- a monitoring check finishes or fails.
Notifications for the conversation you are looking at are skipped while the Vato window is focused, if Quiet while Vato is focused is on.
Act from the notification
On Windows, the notification itself has buttons:
| Notification | Buttons |
|---|---|
| Approval request | Approve, Approve for session, Decline |
| Question | Answer opens the question |
| Response ready | A reply field and Send: your reply starts the next turn without opening Vato |
| Turn failed | Open |
Approval and question notifications stay on screen until you act. When you answer the request anywhere else — in the conversation, on your phone or in Remote — Vato removes the notification. Clicking the body of any notification opens the conversation.
On macOS and Linux, notifications open the conversation but do not show these buttons.
Choose what notifies you
Go to Settings → Notifications:
- Desktop: response ready, Desktop: turn failed, Desktop: permission required, Desktop: question and Desktop: monitoring finished turn each kind on or off.
- Quiet while Vato is focused skips notifications for the conversation you are viewing.
- Include a preview adds the end of the answer, the error or the requested action to the notification.
- Notification sound picks the sound: System default, Chime, Ping, Pop, Alert or None. Choosing a sound plays a sample notification.
Every notification is also kept in the notification center (bell icon), including failures and questions.
Taskbar badge and tray menu
The Vato icon shows how many conversations need you: answers you have not opened yet, failed turns, and conversations waiting for an approval, a question or a plan.
- On Windows, a number appears on the taskbar icon (9+ above nine). It turns red when an approval, a question or a plan is waiting.
- On macOS, the number appears as the Dock badge.
Right-click the Vato icon in the notification area (Windows) or open the menu bar icon to see your conversations in three sections: Running, Needs attention and Recent, three per section with the rest under More. Select one to open it. Hovering the icon shows a summary such as 2 running · 1 need you.