Give GitHub its own notification sound on your Mac

Why GitHub notifications all blur together on a Mac

macOS plays one alert sound for every notification and only lets you switch an app's sound on or off — never change it. So a “review requested” pings exactly like a newsletter, and it's easy to miss the one that's blocking a teammate.

GitHub is also a moving target on a Mac. It doesn't have a first-party notification app; it reaches you through the browser (web push from github.com in Chrome or Safari) or by email. From the browser, macOS labels the banner with the browser's name, not “GitHub,” which makes it even harder to pick out of the pile.

What you can do without TrillMark

• GitHub's own notification settings. You can tune what you're notified about — participating vs. watching, per-repository, and whether it routes to web or email. This is the most important lever for cutting noise, but it doesn't change how anything sounds on your Mac.
• System Settings › Notifications. Toggle the sound for your browser or mail client on or off — but there's no custom sound, and silencing the browser mutes every website's notifications, not just GitHub.
• Filters and scheduled reminders. GitHub and email filters can route or batch notifications so you can triage them later — but they don't make an urgent one stand out in the moment.
• Scripting tools. Hammerspoon or Keyboard Maestro can react to notifications, but they take real setup and upkeep for something you just want to hear differently.

How TrillMark makes the GitHub notifications that matter stand out

TrillMark reacts to the banner macOS already shows, so it works whether GitHub reaches you through the browser or email. Add that app, give it a sound and a color, and because TrillMark can read the notification's text, you can add a rule that fires only for the events that need you — a review request, an @mention of your username, an assignment, or a failed check — while the steady stream of watched-repo activity stays quiet.

So a “review requested” or a red CI run arrives as a louder sound you know plus a labeled flash, and everything else stays soft or silent. If GitHub comes through the browser, the same rule keeps it from firing on every other website's notifications.

It reads that text only on your Mac, only to decide how to react, and never sends it anywhere.

Set it up in about a minute

1. Work out how GitHub notifies you — the browser (Chrome/Safari) or your email app — and add that app in TrillMark.
2. Give it a sound you'll know by ear and a color; TrillMark labels the flash with the app's name.
3. Add a rule that matches the notifications you can't miss — the text contains “review requested,” “mentioned,” your username, or “failed” — and give it a louder sound.
4. Optional: let everything else use a soft tone or no sound, so only the important events reach you by ear.
5. Turn off the system sound for that app in Notification settings so you hear only the sound you chose.