Unformal Notifications

4. Parse & summarize with Python (read from the temp file to keep heredoc stdin clean):
   

5. Update marker: python3 -c "import time; print(int(time.time()*1000))" > ~/.unformal/last-seen
6. Report briefly if NONE, or present a clean digest if FOUND.

Setting the schedule

After creating the SKILL.md file, the routine appears in the Claude Code desktop sidebar under "Routines". Set the cron schedule from the desktop UI — click the routine and pick Daily / Weekdays / Custom / etc. The schedule is stored by the desktop app; the SKILL.md only defines the task.

Key points

Option B — Local desktop listener (real-time macOS notifications)

Best for: live in-session awareness while you're actively working. Runs on your machine, shows native OS notifications the second a response comes in.

One-time install

mkdir -p ~/bin
curl -fsS https://unformal.ai/unformal-listen.sh > ~/bin/unformal-listen
chmod +x ~/bin/unformal-listen
export UNFORMAL_API_KEY=unf_xxx   # add to ~/.zshrc for persistence

Run

unformal-listen                    # lists your Pulses
unformal-listen          # starts listening

Leave it running in a spare terminal tab. Every completion:

Option C — On-demand check (no setup)

Best for: one-off lookups. The user asks "any new responses?" and you query the API right there.

# Responses completed in the last hour
SINCE=$(python3 -c "import time; print(int(time.time()*1000) - 3600000)")
curl -fsS "https://unformal.ai/api/v1/pulses//conversations?completedSince=$SINCE" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $UNFORMAL_API_KEY" | \
  jq '[.data[] | select(.status=="completed")] | sort_by(.completedAt) | reverse'

For "since last check" semantics with a local marker file:

mkdir -p ~/.unformal
LAST=$(cat ~/.unformal/last-seen 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
curl -fsS "https://unformal.ai/api/v1/pulses//conversations?completedSince=$LAST" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $UNFORMAL_API_KEY"
python3 -c "import time; print(int(time.time()*1000))" > ~/.unformal/last-seen

Usage patterns (when the user asks you to check)

If Option B (listener) is running

Summarize the newest events from the inbox:

ls -t ~/.unformal/inbox/*.json 2>/dev/null | head -5 | while read f; do
  cat "$f" | jq -r '{
    completedAt: .completedAt,
    summary: (.echo.summary // .summary // "no summary"),
    sentiment: .echo.sentimentScore,
    quotes: (.echo.keyQuotes // [] | .[0:2])
  }'
done

If no listener is running

Fall back to the on-demand API call (Option C above).

After acting on events, archive

mkdir -p ~/.unformal/processed
mv ~/.unformal/inbox/*.json ~/.unformal/processed/ 2>/dev/null || true

What Claude can do with new responses

Inbox event shape

Each file in ~/.unformal/inbox/ (and each element of the API .data[] array) looks like:

{
  "conversationId": "k17abc...",
  "pulseId": "k97xyz...",
  "echo": {
    "fields": {"budget_range": "$10k-20k", "timeline": "Q3"},
    "summary": "Strong fit. Mid-size agency ready to pilot.",
    "keyQuotes": ["We spend 3 hours weekly on status reports"],
    "sentimentScore": 7
  },
  "completedAt": "2026-04-17T10:32:01Z",
  "metadata": {"duration": 240, "messageCount": 12}
}

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