From bc6ad113ad2d47ec82ff15dd6bed9b08887dd580 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Joshua Yuen <joshuayuen99@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2026 20:15:33 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Show friendly app names and make dictation notifications
 toast-only

---
 modules/home/ags/app/widget/Notifications.tsx | 48 ++++++++++++++++---
 modules/home/dictation.nix                    |  4 +-
 2 files changed, 45 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/modules/home/ags/app/widget/Notifications.tsx b/modules/home/ags/app/widget/Notifications.tsx
index 1324eb8..fa42706 100644
--- a/modules/home/ags/app/widget/Notifications.tsx
+++ b/modules/home/ags/app/widget/Notifications.tsx
@@ -14,11 +14,43 @@ export const dndIcon = Variable.derive([bind(notifd, "dontDisturb")], (dnd) =>
 
 // every notification received this session is kept until it is explicitly
 // cleared, so popups that time out remain in the dropdown's list. only
-// notifications dismissed directly from their popup skip the list.
+// notifications dismissed directly from their popup skip the list, and
+// transient status toasts never enter it at all.
 export const history = Variable<Notifd.Notification[]>([])
 
 export const notifCount = bind(history).as((ns) => ns.length)
 
+// apps whose notifications are transient status updates: they surface as
+// toasts only and never enter the dropdown history or the bar count
+const EPHEMERAL_APPS = new Set(["dictation"])
+
+// irregular ids the generic capitalization rule can't fix up
+const FRIENDLY_NAMES: Record<string, string> = {
+    "notify-send": "Notification",
+}
+
+// per-app icons for notifications that don't supply one
+const APP_ICONS: Record<string, string> = {
+    dictation: "audio-input-microphone-symbolic",
+}
+
+// apps like discord report a bare binary id; make words of those while
+// names with any uppercase ("Spotify") pass through untouched
+function displayName(n: Notifd.Notification) {
+    const raw = n.app_name || "Notification"
+
+    const mapped = FRIENDLY_NAMES[raw.toLowerCase()]
+    if (mapped) return mapped
+
+    if (raw === raw.toLowerCase() && /[a-z]/.test(raw)) {
+        return raw
+            .split(/[-_ ]+/)
+            .map((w) => w.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + w.slice(1))
+            .join(" ")
+    }
+    return raw
+}
+
 export function DndToggle() {
     return (
         <button
@@ -49,6 +81,8 @@ notifd.connect("notified", (_, id: number) => {
     const n = notifd.get_notification(id)
     if (!n) return
 
+    if (EPHEMERAL_APPS.has(n.app_name.toLowerCase())) return
+
     // re-notified ids update the existing entry instead of adding a duplicate
     if (!history.get().some((m) => m.id === id)) {
         history.set([...history.get(), n])
@@ -99,6 +133,11 @@ function formatTime(n: Notifd.Notification) {
 
 export function NotificationCard(n: Notifd.Notification, toast = false) {
     const critical = n.urgency === Notifd.Urgency.CRITICAL
+    const appName = displayName(n)
+    const appIcon =
+        n.app_icon ||
+        APP_ICONS[appName.toLowerCase()] ||
+        "preferences-system-notifications-symbolic"
 
     return (
         <button
@@ -113,13 +152,10 @@ export function NotificationCard(n: Notifd.Notification, toast = false) {
         >
             <box vertical>
                 <box className="notif-header">
-                    <icon
-                        pixelSize={16}
-                        icon={n.app_icon || "preferences-system-notifications-symbolic"}
-                    />
+                    <icon pixelSize={16} icon={appIcon} />
                     <label
                         className="notif-app-name"
-                        label={n.app_name || "Notification"}
+                        label={appName}
                         halign={Gtk.Align.START}
                         hexpand
                     />
diff --git a/modules/home/dictation.nix b/modules/home/dictation.nix
index 294a68c..b8a7a0c 100644
--- a/modules/home/dictation.nix
+++ b/modules/home/dictation.nix
@@ -45,7 +45,9 @@ let
     wav="$dir/clip.wav"
 
     notify() {
-      notify-send -t 2500 "Dictation" "$1" 2>/dev/null || true
+      # -a sets the app name shown by the notification daemon; the bar
+      # treats "Dictation" as transient (toast only, never listed)
+      notify-send -a "Dictation" -t 2500 "$1" 2>/dev/null || true
     }
 
     case "''${1:-}" in