HearError

HearError plays an alert sound when errors are detected in your workspace.

It can alert on:

• terminal command failures
• editor diagnostics with error severity

Features

• Automatic terminal error alerts.
  • Primary detection uses terminal shell integration exit codes.
  • Fallback detection scans terminal output for common failure patterns.
• Diagnostics error alerts when Problems include errors.
• Sound selection UI in the HearError sidebar.
• Custom sound upload (.mp3 or .wav).
• Persisted sound choice across restarts.
• Works even when the HearError sidebar is closed.

Usage

1. Install and enable the extension.
2. (Optional) Open the HearError sidebar from the Activity Bar to:
   • choose Default 1 / Default 2
   • upload a custom sound
3. Trigger an error:
   • terminal: run an invalid command
   • editor: introduce a syntax error

Requirements

• VS Code 1.109.0 or newer.
• On Linux, paplay or aplay is recommended for host-level playback fallback.

Notes

• If the sidebar is visible, playback can use webview audio.
• If the sidebar is hidden/closed, playback falls back to host-level audio.
• Logs are available in the HearError output channel.

Known Limitations

• Terminal fallback detection is pattern-based and may miss uncommon shell error formats.

Release Notes

0.1.0

• Improved terminal error detection with shell-integration + fallback parsing.
• Added reliable playback routing for open/closed sidebar states.
• Added custom sound persistence and legacy custom sound migration.
• Added internal output-channel diagnostics.