Subagent / Background Agent notifications fire while Cursor notifications are set to quiet (macOS)

[nwalker85 (Nate Walker)]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

macOS System Settings → Notifications → Cursor → Allow notifications = OFF. Cursor IDE stays quiet as
expected. Multitask subagents Cursor spawns still beep.
The OS notification contract binds the parent Cursor app identity; the Multitask delegate does not appear
to inherit it. Beeps often have no matching Notification Center banner (sound without UI).
Environment:

• MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5), 32 GB
• macOS Tahoe 26.6
• Cursor IDE 3.13.25 (Universal), Jul 28 2026
• Feature: Multitask (“Coordinate parallel tasks…”)
• Model in UI at the time: Fable 5 High
• Notifications: Allow notifications OFF (Play sound grayed out)
  Attribution via noise-watch (CoreAudio + Notification Center records):
  GitHub - nwalker85/noise-watch: Who just made noise on this Mac — CoreAudio + Notification Center CLI · GitHub
  Personal: The Beep | Nathan Walker
  Happy to attach redacted noise-watch JSON (bundle ID, auth state, timestamp, text) on request.

Steps to Reproduce

1. System Settings → Notifications → Cursor → turn Allow notifications OFF.
2. Confirm Play sound for notification is grayed out / inactive.
3. In Cursor, enable Multitask (pill: “Coordinate parallel tasks…”).
4. Run work that spawns Multitask subagents / parallel tasks.
5. Observe beeps from the spawned subagent while the parent Cursor app remains notification-disallowed.

Expected Behavior

If Cursor notifications are disallowed at the OS level, Multitask / subagent activity under Cursor must
not notify or play completion/beep sounds. Agent/subagent audio and notification identity should honor
the parent Cursor Notification Center setting (or be separately documented and controllable).

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

IDE 3.13.25

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[kevinn (Kevin Neilson)]

Hi @nwalker85 Thanks for the forum post!

Cursor has two separate channels here. macOS only controls one of them. OS notifications go through Notification Center. With Allow notifications off for Cursor, those are suppressed, so no banner is expected.

Completion Sound is an in-app chime Cursor plays itself when an agent finishes or needs attention, including Multitask / subagent work. It does not go through Notification Center, so macOS cannot mute it. That matches a beep with no banner, and the CoreAudio-only records you captured.

Turn it off in Cursor Settings → General → Notifications → Completion Sound, or search Settings for Completion Sound.