Error Sounds for Terminal

A Visual Studio Code extension that plays a sound when a terminal command fails, terminal error output is detected or VS Code reports new editor errors.

ESFT is mainly used through the status bar menu. After installation, click the ESFT item in the VS Code status bar and configure everything from there.

Quick start

Install the extension.
Click the ESFT item in the status bar:

Open Quick Setup:

Choose what should trigger sounds:

Option	Use when
Terminal + Editor errors	You want sounds for failed terminal commands and new red editor errors. Recommended.
Terminal only	You only want sounds for terminal failures and terminal error output.
Editor red errors only	You only want sounds when VS Code shows new red editor diagnostics.

The status bar menu contains the important actions:

Menu item	What it does
Quick Setup	Chooses the best detection setup with one click.
Choose What Triggers Sounds	Switches between terminal errors, editor errors, or both.
Test Sound	Plays the currently selected sound.
Toggle Enabled	Turns ESFT on or off.
Choose Built-in Sound	Selects one of the included sounds.
Manage Custom Sounds	Imports, selects, renames, or deletes custom `.wav` sounds.
Manage Sound Rules	Plays different sounds for specific terminal error patterns.
Set Cooldown	Sets the delay between repeated sounds.
Show Trigger History	Shows why a sound was played.
Check Setup	Helps debug sound playback or detection problems.

Most users only need Quick Setup, Test Sound and Choose Built-in Sound.

What ESFT detects

ESFT can react to:

failed terminal commands
common terminal error messages
custom terminal error patterns
new red VS Code editor diagnostics
avoids false positives

Editor diagnostics are the red errors shown by VS Code language extensions, for example TypeScript, Python, Java, or C/C++ errors in the Problems panel.

Troubleshooting

Use Check Setup from the status bar menu if something does not work.

It checks whether ESFT is enabled, which triggers are active, whether the selected sound exists, which sound backend is available, and whether Terminal Shell Integration is likely active.

Requirements

ESFT works best with the VS Code integrated terminal and Terminal Shell Integration enabled.

The extension does not monitor external terminal apps.

Platform	Sound backend
Windows	PowerShell SoundPlayer
macOS	`afplay`
Linux	`paplay`, `aplay`, or `ffplay`

On Linux, install at least one supported sound backend if sound playback does not work.

Sound credits

Some built-in notification sounds were sourced from Zedge.
All sound rights remain with their respective creators.

License

MIT

Contact

Created by Nillan Sivarasa.

For questions, feedback or issues, please open an issue on GitHub.

Error Sounds for Terminal

nlln19

Error Sounds for Terminal

Quick start

Status bar menu

What ESFT detects

Troubleshooting

Requirements

Sound credits

License

Contact