FahhAlert 🔊

Created by Pranav.

Plays the viral Fahh meme sound when new errors appear in your code. Zero dependencies. Works on Windows, macOS & Linux.

Includes Success and Emotional Damage sounds.

Features

• Plays audio alerts when code errors are detected via diagnostics
• Support for custom MP3/WAV/M4A files or built-in system sounds
• Highly configurable with various options
• Easy enable/disable toggle
• Volume control
• Status bar button for quick runs

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 VS Code 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
• Error Sound Alert: Toggle Mute Sounds - Temporarily mute alerts
• Error Sound Alert: Set Volume - Set volume level
• Error Sound Alert: Open Settings Menu - Quick settings menu
• Error Sound Alert: Open Settings Panel - Sidebar settings view

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 VS Code 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.playOnSuccess Type: boolean Default: false Description: Play the success sound (success.wav) when a command exits with code 0

• 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

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)
• VS Code'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 the audio output device is connected
• Verify the 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 or aplay command line tools

Tips

• Test the extension with Error Sound Alert: Play Test Sound 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