diff --git a/apps/x/apps/main/src/main.ts b/apps/x/apps/main/src/main.ts
index eea21481..7d701400 100644
--- a/apps/x/apps/main/src/main.ts
+++ b/apps/x/apps/main/src/main.ts
@@ -32,10 +32,11 @@ import started from "electron-squirrel-startup";
 import { execSync, exec, execFileSync } from "node:child_process";
 import { promisify } from "node:util";
 import { init as initChromeSync } from "@x/core/dist/knowledge/chrome-extension/server/server.js";
-import { registerBrowserControlService } from "@x/core/dist/di/container.js";
+import { registerBrowserControlService, registerNotificationService } from "@x/core/dist/di/container.js";
 import { browserViewManager, BROWSER_PARTITION } from "./browser/view.js";
 import { setupBrowserEventForwarding } from "./browser/ipc.js";
 import { ElectronBrowserControlService } from "./browser/control-service.js";
+import { ElectronNotificationService } from "./notification/electron-notification-service.js";
 
 const execAsync = promisify(exec);
 
@@ -231,6 +232,7 @@ app.whenReady().then(async () => {
   await initConfigs();
 
   registerBrowserControlService(new ElectronBrowserControlService());
+  registerNotificationService(new ElectronNotificationService());
 
   setupIpcHandlers();
   setupBrowserEventForwarding();
diff --git a/apps/x/apps/main/src/notification/electron-notification-service.ts b/apps/x/apps/main/src/notification/electron-notification-service.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..04f28449
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/x/apps/main/src/notification/electron-notification-service.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import { BrowserWindow, Notification, shell } from "electron";
+import type { INotificationService, NotifyInput } from "@x/core/dist/application/notification/service.js";
+
+const HTTP_URL = /^https?:\/\//i;
+
+export class ElectronNotificationService implements INotificationService {
+    isSupported(): boolean {
+        return Notification.isSupported();
+    }
+
+    notify({ title = "Rowboat", message, link }: NotifyInput): void {
+        const notification = new Notification({
+            title,
+            body: message,
+        });
+
+        notification.on("click", () => {
+            if (link && HTTP_URL.test(link)) {
+                shell.openExternal(link).catch((err) => {
+                    console.error("[notification] failed to open link:", err);
+                });
+                return;
+            }
+            this.focusMainWindow();
+        });
+
+        notification.show();
+    }
+
+    private focusMainWindow(): void {
+        const [win] = BrowserWindow.getAllWindows();
+        if (!win) return;
+        if (win.isMinimized()) win.restore();
+        win.show();
+        win.focus();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/lib/builtin-tools.ts b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/lib/builtin-tools.ts
index 52083277..f390ddae 100644
--- a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/lib/builtin-tools.ts
+++ b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/lib/builtin-tools.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import { getAccessToken } from "../../auth/tokens.js";
 import { API_URL } from "../../config/env.js";
 import { updateContent, updateTrackBlock } from "../../knowledge/track/fileops.js";
 import type { IBrowserControlService } from "../browser-control/service.js";
+import type { INotificationService } from "../notification/service.js";
 // Parser libraries are loaded dynamically inside parseFile.execute()
 // to avoid pulling pdfjs-dist's DOM polyfills into the main bundle.
 // Import paths are computed so esbuild cannot statically resolve them.
@@ -1514,4 +1515,37 @@ export const BuiltinTools: z.infer<typeof BuiltinToolsSchema> = {
             }
         },
     },
+
+    'notify-user': {
+        description: "Show a native OS notification to the user. Clicking the notification opens the provided link in the default browser, or focuses the Rowboat app if no link is given.",
+        inputSchema: z.object({
+            title: z.string().min(1).max(120).optional().describe("Bold headline shown at the top of the notification. Defaults to 'Rowboat'."),
+            message: z.string().min(1).describe("Body text of the notification."),
+            link: z.string().url().refine((v) => /^https?:\/\//i.test(v), {
+                message: "link must be an http:// or https:// URL",
+            }).optional().describe("Optional http(s) URL opened when the user clicks the notification."),
+        }),
+        isAvailable: async () => {
+            try {
+                return container.resolve<INotificationService>('notificationService').isSupported();
+            } catch {
+                return false;
+            }
+        },
+        execute: async ({ title, message, link }: { title?: string; message: string; link?: string }) => {
+            try {
+                const service = container.resolve<INotificationService>('notificationService');
+                if (!service.isSupported()) {
+                    return { success: false, error: 'Notifications are not supported on this system' };
+                }
+                service.notify({ title, message, link });
+                return { success: true };
+            } catch (error) {
+                return {
+                    success: false,
+                    error: error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'Unknown error',
+                };
+            }
+        },
+    },
 };
diff --git a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/notification/service.ts b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/notification/service.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5e596853
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/notification/service.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+export interface NotifyInput {
+    title?: string;
+    message: string;
+    link?: string;
+}
+
+export interface INotificationService {
+    isSupported(): boolean;
+    notify(input: NotifyInput): void;
+}
diff --git a/apps/x/packages/core/src/di/container.ts b/apps/x/packages/core/src/di/container.ts
index 93ba9ebd..9382de8b 100644
--- a/apps/x/packages/core/src/di/container.ts
+++ b/apps/x/packages/core/src/di/container.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import { FSAgentScheduleRepo, IAgentScheduleRepo } from "../agent-schedule/repo.
 import { FSAgentScheduleStateRepo, IAgentScheduleStateRepo } from "../agent-schedule/state-repo.js";
 import { FSSlackConfigRepo, ISlackConfigRepo } from "../slack/repo.js";
 import type { IBrowserControlService } from "../application/browser-control/service.js";
+import type { INotificationService } from "../application/notification/service.js";
 
 const container = createContainer({
     injectionMode: InjectionMode.PROXY,
@@ -49,3 +50,9 @@ export function registerBrowserControlService(service: IBrowserControlService):
         browserControlService: asValue(service),
     });
 }
+
+export function registerNotificationService(service: INotificationService): void {
+    container.register({
+        notificationService: asValue(service),
+    });
+}