Error Sound Alert

Automatically plays the legendary “fahhh” whenever your terminal throws an error, so every failed build comes with the emotional damage it truly deserves.

NEW: Success and Emotional Damage sounds added as per user feedback NOTE: Success sound effect is purely organic and made by Muhammad Basil P V. Grateful to him for the idea too.

Features

Plays audio alerts when code errors are detected via diagnostics
Support for custom MP3/WAV files or built-in system sounds
Highly configurable with various options
Easy enable/disable toggle
Volume control

Installation

Clone this repository
Run npm install to install dependencies
Press F5 to open the extension in debug mode

Usage

Basic Setup

The extension activates automatically when VSCode opens. By default, it will:

Monitor your code for errors (via the Diagnostics API)
Play the built-in "fahhhh" alert sound when errors are detected
Work on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Commands

Error Sound Alert: Play Test Sound - Manually trigger a sound alert to test the extension
Error Sound Alert: Run Command With Sound - Prompt for a shell command, run it as a task, and play a sound if it fails
Error Sound Alert: Run Default Command With Sound - Run the configured or detected default command
Error Sound Alert: Set Default Command - Save a default shell command for automatic runs
Error Sound Alert: Reset to Auto-Detect - Clear the default command and use auto-detection again

Status Bar

Use the Run With Sound status bar button to run the configured or auto-detected command without opening the command palette.

Configuration

Configure the extension via VSCode Settings (Ctrl+, / Cmd+,):

`errorSoundAlert.enabled`

Type: boolean
Default: true
Description: Enable or disable the error sound alert

`errorSoundAlert.soundFile`

Type: string
Default: bundled:fahhhh.wav
Description: Path to a custom sound file (MP3/WAV/M4A), use bundled:fahhhh.wav for the included sound, or builtin-alert for system beep

Examples:

{
  "errorSoundAlert.soundFile": "bundled:fahhhh.wav",
  "errorSoundAlert.soundFile": "/path/to/alert.wav",
  "errorSoundAlert.soundFile": "~/sounds/error.mp3"
}

`errorSoundAlert.volume`

Type: number
Default: 1
Range: 0 - 1
Description: Volume level for the sound (0 = silent, 1 = maximum)

`errorSoundAlert.playOnDiagnostics`

Type: boolean
Default: true
Description: Play sound when diagnostic errors are detected in code

`errorSoundAlert.playOnTerminalError`

Type: boolean
Default: true
Description: Play sound when terminal detects exit code indicating error

`errorSoundAlert.defaultCommand`

Type: string
Default: ""
Description: Default shell command to run for terminal error detection. Supports ${workspaceFolder}, ${file}, ${fileBasename}, ${fileDirname}, and ${fileBasenameNoExtension}.

`errorSoundAlert.autoRunCommand`

Type: boolean
Default: true
Description: Run the default command automatically when VS Code starts. If defaultCommand is empty, the extension tries to auto-detect one from common project files.

`errorSoundAlert.preferActiveFileDetection`

Type: boolean
Default: true
Description: Prefer auto-detection based on the active file even when a default command is set

Supported Audio Formats

MP3 (.mp3)
WAV (.wav)
M4A (.m4a)
Built-in system sounds (cross-platform)

Platform Support

Platform	Built-in Sound	Custom Audio
Windows	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
macOS	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Linux	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

Detecting Compiler Errors (C/C++, Java, etc.)

For the extension to detect compiler errors from terminal builds, you can either use the Run Command With Sound command, set a default command for automatic runs, or set up a build task with a problem matcher. The sound triggers when the task exits with a non-zero code and diagnostics are produced.

Auto-detection looks for common project files (like package.json, pom.xml, build.gradle, Cargo.toml, go.mod, or Makefile) and active file types (C/C++, Python, Java, JavaScript) to set a reasonable default command.

C/C++ Example

Create or edit .vscode/tasks.json:

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "label": "build",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": "gcc",
      "args": ["-g", "${file}", "-o", "${workspaceFolder}/a.out"],
      "group": {
        "kind": "build",
        "isDefault": true
      },
      "problemMatcher": "$gcc"
    }
  ]
}

Then run Ctrl+Shift+B to build - when errors appear in the Problems panel, the sound will play!

How It Works

You create a build task (above example compiles with gcc)
VSCode's problem matcher captures compiler errors into the Problems panel
The extension detects new errors and plays the sound
The sound only plays once per error (not repeatedly)

Configuration Examples

Use a custom alert sound

{
  "errorSoundAlert.soundFile": "${workspaceFolder}/sounds/alert.wav",
  "errorSoundAlert.volume": 0.8
}

Disable on terminal errors but keep diagnostics alerts

{
  "errorSoundAlert.playOnDiagnostics": true,
  "errorSoundAlert.playOnTerminalError": false
}

Only play sounds at low volume

{
  "errorSoundAlert.volume": 0.3
}

Troubleshooting

Sound doesn't play on Windows

Ensure your system volume is not muted
Check that audio output device is connected
Verify file path is correct in settings

Sound doesn't play on macOS

Make sure audio output is not muted
Try using a different audio file format

Sound doesn't play on Linux

Install pulseaudio or alsa: sudo apt-get install pulseaudio
Or use paplay, aplay command line tools

Tips

Test the extension - Use the "Play Test Sound" command to verify audio is working before relying on automatic alerts
Custom sounds - Place audio files in your project's sounds directory for non-absolute paths
Performance - The extension has minimal performance impact as it only listens to error events

Future Enhancements

[ ] Multiple sounds for different error types
[ ] Configurable sound for warnings vs. errors
[ ] Terminal exit code detection
[ ] Sound intensity based on error severity

License

MIT

fahhhk

LestlinRobins