# Notifications: native toasts that actually do something

Adom Bridge speaks to you through real native Windows toasts, under its own identity (the Adom logo, Action Center history like any first-class app). A cloud AI or a bridge fires them to reach you wherever you are: a build finished, an export is ready, a browser is waiting on your sign-in.

![A basic Adom Bridge toast](toast-basic.png)

## A toast can do two different things

These are separate, and both are available on every notification:

1. **Get your answer back to the AI.** A sticky toast can carry buttons, and the button you click is reported back to the AI that asked (it either waits inline for your click or polls for it). So "Ship it / Hold" is a real decision round-trip, not a decoration.

![A sticky toast with decision buttons](toast-buttons.png)

2. **Take you to the right window when you click.** Most notifications are about something else on screen: a browser waiting on a login, a dialog, an app that needs you. The AI can attach a focus target, and clicking the toast body brings that window to the front instead of opening Adom Bridge. When Adom Bridge runs embedded, the AI can even target "the app hosting me" (Hydrogen) without knowing its window handle.

## Progress bars

Long jobs show a live progress bar that updates in place as the work advances.

![A progress bar toast](toast-progress.png)

## The toast types at a glance

| Type | What it looks like | When it is used |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | auto-dismisses in about 7 seconds | awareness: a job finished, a file is ready |
| Warning / error | stays about 25 seconds | needs attention but not blocking |
| Emergency | long duration plus a taskbar flash | something genuinely urgent |
| Sticky reminder | stays until you act, with buttons | the AI needs your decision |
| Progress | live bar, updated in place | a long export or build |

## If a toast does not appear

Check the Action Center (Win+N). Windows Focus Assist or Do Not Disturb can route toasts straight to the center without showing a banner. To let Adom Bridge toasts through, add it to the priority list: Settings, System, Notifications, Set priority notifications, add "Adom Bridge". That is a Windows setting Adom Bridge cannot override for you.

## For the AI

The full contract (the `notify_user` verb, `focus` targets, `wait`, polling `notify_events`, sticky scenarios, progress updates) lives in the `adom-bridge-notify` skill, which installs automatically with the package and with the Windows app.