Get Notified When Long-Running Commands Finish in PowerShell 7

Source: Dev.to

How this works

When you press Enter, a timestamp is recorded. After the command finishes, the next prompt compares the current time with the stored timestamp. If the elapsed time exceeds the threshold, a toast notification is triggered using the BurntToast module.

Steps

Step 1 – Install the BurntToast module

Install-Module BurntToast

Step 2 – Find your PowerShell 7 profile path

$PROFILE

Typical output:

C:\Users\<UserName>\Documents\PowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

Step 3 – Open the profile in your editor

code $PROFILE

(Use any editor you prefer.)

Step 4 – Import the module

Import-Module BurntToast

Note: This import should be at the top of the profile; otherwise the following code won’t work.

Step 5 – Add the notification logic

Paste the following at the top of your profile after the Import-Module line:

$OriginalPrompt = (Get-Command prompt).ScriptBlock   # capture original prompt

# Notification needs a logo; we’ll use PowerShell’s icon
$applogo = "C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\assets\Powershell_av_colors.png"

$ExecutionNotifyThreshold = 3 # seconds
$global:__commandStart = $null

function Format-Elapsed([TimeSpan]$timestamp) {
    if ($timestamp.TotalSeconds -lt 60) {
        return ('{0:0.0}s' -f $timestamp.TotalSeconds)
    }

    $parts = New-Object System.Collections.Generic.List[string]

    if ($timestamp.Days -gt 0)    { $parts.Add("{0}d" -f $timestamp.Days) }
    if ($timestamp.Hours -gt 0)   { $parts.Add("{0}h" -f $timestamp.Hours) }
    if ($timestamp.Minutes -gt 0) { $parts.Add("{0}m" -f $timestamp.Minutes) }

    $parts.Add("{0}s" -f $timestamp.Seconds)

    return ($parts -join ' ')
}

function global:prompt {
    if ($global:__commandStart) {
        $elapsed = (Get-Date) - $global:__commandStart
        if ($elapsed.TotalSeconds -ge $ExecutionNotifyThreshold) {
            $lastCmd = (Get-History -Count 1).CommandLine
            $text = @(
                'PS7 Finished:'
                "`$ $lastCmd"
                ("Took {0}" -f (Format-Elapsed $elapsed))
            )
            New-BurntToastNotification -Text $text -AppLogo $applogo
        }
        $global:__commandStart = $null
    }
    & $OriginalPrompt
}

Adjust $ExecutionNotifyThreshold (in seconds) to suit your needs.

Step 6 – Record the start time on Enter

Add this at the end of your profile so nothing overrides it:

Set-PSReadLineKeyHandler -Key Enter -ScriptBlock {
    $global:__commandStart = Get-Date
    [Microsoft.PowerShell.PSConsoleReadLine]::AcceptLine()
}

Save the file and either restart your shell or run:

. $PROFILE

Now run a command that takes longer than the threshold; you should see a toast similar to the one below:

Notes & Caveats

• This works fine with oh‑my‑posh, starship, or other prompt frameworks as long as you load the above code after the framework configures its prompt.
• It overrides the global prompt function. If you have another custom prompt, merge the logic accordingly.
• The Enter key is hooked via PSReadLine. If you already have a custom Enter handler, combine the scripts.

Removing the behavior

If you decide you no longer want notifications, run:

Remove-PSReadLineKeyHandler -Key Enter

That’s it! You can now run long‑running commands without constantly watching the console. 🎉