AppleScript to close all notifications on macOS Big Sur, Monterey, and Ventura

close_notifications_applescript.js

function run(input, parameters) {

  const appNames = [];
  const skipAppNames = [];
  const verbose = true;

  const scriptName = "close_notifications_applescript";

  const CLEAR_ALL_ACTION = "Clear All";
  const CLEAR_ALL_ACTION_TOP = "Clear";
  const CLOSE_ACTION = "Close";

  const notNull = (val) => {
    return val !== null && val !== undefined;
  };

  const isNull = (val) => {
    return !notNull(val);
  };

  const notNullOrEmpty = (val) => {
    return notNull(val) && val.length > 0;
  };

  const isNullOrEmpty = (val) => {
    return !notNullOrEmpty(val);
  };

  const isError = (maybeErr) => {
    return notNull(maybeErr) && (maybeErr instanceof Error || maybeErr.message);
  };

  const systemVersion = () => {
    return Application("Finder").version().split(".").map(val => parseInt(val));
  };

  const systemVersionGreaterThanOrEqualTo = (vers) => {
    return systemVersion()[0] >= vers;
  };

  const isBigSurOrGreater = () => {
    return systemVersionGreaterThanOrEqualTo(11);
  };

  const V11_OR_GREATER = isBigSurOrGreater();
  const V12 = systemVersion()[0] === 12;
  const APP_NAME_MATCHER_ROLE = V11_OR_GREATER ? "AXStaticText" : "AXImage";
  const hasAppNames = notNullOrEmpty(appNames);
  const hasSkipAppNames = notNullOrEmpty(skipAppNames);
  const hasAppNameFilters = hasAppNames || hasSkipAppNames;
  const appNameForLog = hasAppNames ? ` [${appNames.join(",")}]` : "";

  const logs = [];
  const log = (message, ...optionalParams) => {
    let message_with_prefix = `${new Date().toISOString().replace("Z", "").replace("T", " ")} [${scriptName}]${appNameForLog} ${message}`;
    console.log(message_with_prefix, optionalParams);
    logs.push(message_with_prefix);
  };

  const logError = (message, ...optionalParams) => {
    if (isError(message)) {
      let err = message;
      message = `${err}${err.stack ? (" " + err.stack) : ""}`;
    }
    log(`ERROR ${message}`, optionalParams);
  };

  const logErrorVerbose = (message, ...optionalParams) => {
    if (verbose) {
      logError(message, optionalParams);
    }
  };

  const logVerbose = (message) => {
    if (verbose) {
      log(message);
    }
  };

  const getLogLines = () => {
    return logs.join("\n");
  };

  const getSystemEvents = () => {
    let systemEvents = Application("System Events");
    systemEvents.includeStandardAdditions = true;
    return systemEvents;
  };

  const getNotificationCenter = () => {
    try {
      return getSystemEvents().processes.byName("NotificationCenter");
    } catch (err) {
      logError("Could not get NotificationCenter");
      throw err;
    }
  };

  const getNotificationCenterGroups = (retryOnError = false) => {
    try {
      let notificationCenter = getNotificationCenter();
      if (notificationCenter.windows.length <= 0) {
        return [];
      }
      if (!V11_OR_GREATER) {
        return notificationCenter.windows();
      }
      if (V12) {
        return notificationCenter.windows[0].uiElements[0].uiElements[0].uiElements();
      }
      return notificationCenter.windows[0].uiElements[0].uiElements[0].uiElements[0].uiElements();
    } catch (err) {
      logError("Could not get NotificationCenter groups");
      if (retryOnError) {
        logError(err);
        log("Retrying getNotificationCenterGroups...");
        return getNotificationCenterGroups(false);
      } else {
        throw err;
      }
    }
  };

  const isClearButton = (description, name) => {
    return description === "button" && name === CLEAR_ALL_ACTION_TOP;
  };

  const matchesAnyAppNames = (value, checkValues) => {
    if (isNullOrEmpty(checkValues)) {
      return false;
    }
    let lowerAppName = value.toLowerCase();
    for (let checkValue of checkValues) {
      if (lowerAppName === checkValue.toLowerCase()) {
        return true;
      }
    }
    return false;
  };

  const matchesAppName = (role, value) => {
    if (role !== APP_NAME_MATCHER_ROLE) {
      return false;
    }
    if (hasAppNames) {
      return matchesAnyAppNames(value, appNames);
    }
    return !matchesAnyAppNames(value, skipAppNames);
  };

  const notificationGroupMatches = (group) => {
    try {
      let description = group.description();
      if (V11_OR_GREATER && isClearButton(description, group.name())) {
        return true;
      }
      if (V11_OR_GREATER && description !== "group") {
        return false;
      }
      if (!V11_OR_GREATER) {
        let matchedAppName = !hasAppNameFilters;
        if (!matchedAppName) {
          for (let elem of group.uiElements()) {
            if (matchesAppName(elem.role(), elem.description())) {
              matchedAppName = true;
              break;
            }
          }
        }
        if (matchedAppName) {
          return notNull(findCloseActionV10(group, -1));
        }
        return false;
      }
      if (!hasAppNameFilters) {
        return true;
      }
      let checkElem = group.uiElements[0];
      if (checkElem.value().toLowerCase() === "time sensitive") {
        checkElem = group.uiElements[1];
      }
      return matchesAppName(checkElem.role(), checkElem.value());
    } catch (err) {
      logErrorVerbose(`Caught error while checking window, window is probably closed: ${err}`);
      logErrorVerbose(err);
    }
    return false;
  };

  const findCloseActionV10 = (group, closedCount) => {
    try {
      for (let elem of group.uiElements()) {
        if (elem.role() === "AXButton" && elem.title() === CLOSE_ACTION) {
          return elem.actions["AXPress"];
        }
      }
    } catch (err) {
      logErrorVerbose(`(group_${closedCount}) Caught error while searching for close action, window is probably closed: ${err}`);
      logErrorVerbose(err);
      return null;
    }
    log("No close action found for notification");
    return null;
  };

  const findCloseAction = (group, closedCount) => {
    try {
      if (!V11_OR_GREATER) {
        return findCloseActionV10(group, closedCount);
      }
      let checkForPress = isClearButton(group.description(), group.name());
      let clearAllAction;
      let closeAction;
      for (let action of group.actions()) {
        let description = action.description();
        if (description === CLEAR_ALL_ACTION) {
          clearAllAction = action;
          break;
        } else if (description === CLOSE_ACTION) {
          closeAction = action;
        } else if (checkForPress && description === "press") {
          clearAllAction = action;
          break;
        }
      }
      if (notNull(clearAllAction)) {
        return clearAllAction;
      } else if (notNull(closeAction)) {
        return closeAction;
      }
    } catch (err) {
      logErrorVerbose(`(group_${closedCount}) Caught error while searching for close action, window is probably closed: ${err}`);
      logErrorVerbose(err);
      return null;
    }
    log("No close action found for notification");
    return null;
  };

  const closeNextGroup = (groups, closedCount) => {
    try {
      for (let group of groups) {
        if (notificationGroupMatches(group)) {
          let closeAction = findCloseAction(group, closedCount);

          if (notNull(closeAction)) {
            try {
              closeAction.perform();
              return [true, 1];
            } catch (err) {
              logErrorVerbose(`(group_${closedCount}) Caught error while performing close action, window is probably closed: ${err}`);
              logErrorVerbose(err);
            }
          }
          return [true, 0];
        }
      }
      return false;
    } catch (err) {
      logError("Could not run closeNextGroup");
      throw err;
    }
  };

  try {
    let groupsCount = getNotificationCenterGroups(true).filter(group => notificationGroupMatches(group)).length;

    if (groupsCount > 0) {
      logVerbose(`Closing ${groupsCount}${appNameForLog} notification group${(groupsCount > 1 ? "s" : "")}`);

      let startTime = new Date().getTime();
      let closedCount = 0;
      let maybeMore = true;
      let maxAttempts = 2;
      let attempts = 1;
      while (maybeMore && ((new Date().getTime() - startTime) <= (1000 * 30))) {
        try {
          let closeResult = closeNextGroup(getNotificationCenterGroups(), closedCount);
          maybeMore = closeResult[0];
          if (maybeMore) {
            closedCount = closedCount + closeResult[1];
          }
        } catch (innerErr) {
          if (maybeMore && closedCount === 0 && attempts < maxAttempts) {
            log(`Caught an error before anything closed, trying ${maxAttempts - attempts} more time(s).`)
            attempts++;
          } else {
            throw innerErr;
          }
        }
      }
    } else {
      throw Error(`No${appNameForLog} notifications found...`);
    }
  } catch (err) {
    logError(err);
    logError(err.message);
    getLogLines();
    throw err;
  }

  return getLogLines();
}

also works great 👍 Thanks!

Just FYI, to me, separating and doing "Cleare All" first then "Close" works better.

tell application "System Events"
  try
    repeat
      set _groups to groups of UI element 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window "Notification Center" of application process "NotificationCenter"
      set numGroups to number of _groups
      if numGroups = 0 then
        exit repeat
      end if
      repeat with _group in _groups
        set _actions to actions of _group
        set actionPerformed to false
        repeat with _action in _actions
          if description of _action is in {"Clear All"} then
            perform _action
            set actionPerformed to true
            exit repeat
          end if
        end repeat
        repeat with _action in _actions
          if description of _action is in {"Close"} then
            perform _action
            set actionPerformed to true
            exit repeat
          end if
        end repeat
        if actionPerformed then
          exit repeat
        end if
      end repeat
    end repeat
  end try
end tell

Just FYI, to me, separating and doing "Cleare All" first then "Close" works better.

That's strange, semantically there shouldn't be any difference - once you act "Clear All"/Close on group or notification, it will be dismissed immediately and there's no point in running the other action on it....

Anyway, I do anticipate weird behaviour because of bugs in all this applescript/accessibility feature of MacOS - and I'm sure there are many. After several more days of usage I do see that even my solution doesn't clear all the notifications if there are many (>5) notifications/groups present. I'm currently experimenting with putting delays between loop iterations in various places, may be that will help.

I wish I could understand what's going on here. I'm on Monterey but not a single script on this page works. Most do absolutely nothing at all.

The OP's gist, saved as a javascript AS application and granted the accessibility permissions, is incredibly slow, waits a long time before very slowly closing a small fraction of my notifications, not all of them, and then simply quits. I've run it three times now and I still haven't gotten rid of all my notifications.

The rest of the code samples on this page do nothing at all on my machine, except for @Ptujec's, which aborts with error "The variable _descriptions is not defined." number -2753 from "_descriptions" even though I do have notifications showing. The rest of them, I run them, they run, and I still have notifications showing, nothing at all happened.

I wish I could understand what's going on here. I'm on Monterey but not a single script on this page works. Most do absolutely nothing at all.

The OP's gist, saved as a javascript AS application and granted the accessibility permissions, is incredibly slow, waits a long time before very slowly closing a small fraction of my notifications, not all of them, and then simply quits. I've run it three times now and I still haven't gotten rid of all my notifications.

The rest of the code samples on this page do nothing at all on my machine, except for @Ptujec's, which aborts with error "The variable _descriptions is not defined." number -2753 from "_descriptions" even though I do have notifications showing. The rest of them, I run them, they run, and I still have notifications showing, nothing at all happened.

Scripts that involve GUI scripting are prone to break with new OS versions. Not sure to which version of my script you are referring but this one should work under Monterey

Has anyone been able to get this to work within BetterTouchTool (BTT) and if so, what did you do? I am having trouble getting it to fire and unsure if I'm tripping up on something due to BTT or something else... thanks in advance!

FYI: BetterTouchTool offers this feature built-in: Close All Notification Alerts, for those who would prefer a paid solution: https://community.folivora.ai/t/clear-notifications-with-a-keyboard-shortcut/30335

(I already use BetterTouchTool for dozens of other use cases, so I already had it.)

(and if you're wondering how I came across this thread: I didn't realize BTT already offered this feature until today...)

Does this script still work with Sonoma?

I've been trying this script out as an Alfred workflow (courtesy of https://github.com/bpetrynski/alfred-notification-dismisser), and it doesn't seem like the script is doing anything.

I created an Alfred Workflow based on your script. Works perfectly, tested with macOS Monterey 12.6: https://github.com/bpetrynski/alfred-notification-dismisser

OMG Thank YOU!!!! Been needing this for a long time. :-)

Just FYI, to me, separating and doing "Cleare All" first then "Close" works better.

tell application "System Events"
  try
    repeat
      set _groups to groups of UI element 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window "Notification Center" of application process "NotificationCenter"
      set numGroups to number of _groups
      if numGroups = 0 then
        exit repeat
      end if
      repeat with _group in _groups
        set _actions to actions of _group
        set actionPerformed to false
        repeat with _action in _actions
          if description of _action is in {"Clear All"} then
            perform _action
            set actionPerformed to true
            exit repeat
          end if
        end repeat
        repeat with _action in _actions
          if description of _action is in {"Close"} then
            perform _action
            set actionPerformed to true
            exit repeat
          end if
        end repeat
        if actionPerformed then
          exit repeat
        end if
      end repeat
    end repeat
  end try
end tell

I'm getting the following error on macOS Sonoma 14.3.

My old script for closing notifications broke with the upgrade to Sequoia, but after looking at the UI hierarchy I've got a new one working:

tell application "System Events" to tell application process "NotificationCenter"
        try
                perform (actions of UI elements of UI element 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of group 1 of window "Notification Center" of application process "NotificationCenter" of application "System Events" whose name starts with "Name:Close" or name starts with "Name:Clear All")
        end try
end tell

I have not tested it extensively at all, but it is working for my simple case of using a hotkey (via Hammerspoon) to dismiss the occasional notifications that pop up. It is of course highly prone to breaking with macOS updates.

edit: I've updated it to work with groups of notifications as well (which requires the "Clear All" action instead of the "Close" action)

@evannjohnson
Your Applescript works on my machine – so far so good.

OS: macOS Sequoia 15.0 arm64

@evannjohnson hmm, when I try to run that on Sequoia 15.0 (M2 Air), I get:

System Events got an error: Can’t get window "Notification Center" of application process "NotificationCenter".

Actually I think that error only occurs when the Notification Center is not visible. When it is visible, I get the error missing label which I'm guessing has something to do with retrieving the button Clear All. 🤔

@evannjohnson you are a life saver man, thanks, my notifications dismissed script got messed up when I upgraded to Sequoia.

bur now no notifications messing with me again.

When it is visible, I get the error missing label which I'm guessing has something to do with retrieving the button Clear All. 🤔

Updated script to account for Notifications found in a Stack (i.e. grouped):

tell application "System Events" to tell application process "NotificationCenter"
	try
		perform (actions of UI elements of UI element 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of group 1 of window "Notification Center" of application process "NotificationCenter" of application "System Events" whose name starts with "Name:Close" or name starts with "Name:Clear All")
	end try
end tell

@nicksergeant I added or name starts with "Name:Clear All" to the whose query.

---

Note

This script may not work if your localization isn't English.

@MrJarnould strange. Still getting the missing value error. Localization is English. Maybe I have some strange conflict between Karabiner, Keyboard Maestro, or something.

I also wonder if a better approach is attempting to click this bottom Clear All button instead of the groups of notifications. I tried figuring out what that button was labeled w/ Accessibility Inspector but no luck:

I think it is unlikely that is a better approach, as since this UI scripting, to click that button programmatically requires the full Notification Center to be open, showing the button that we want to click. Meaning, you'll need to have either opened the full notification center, or have the script open it just so it can click the button (unless there is something I'm missing).

Clicking the dismiss buttons of just the notifications that are visible on screen is likely what most people will want.

Can you please make this a real repository as everyone keeps getting unnecessary notifications. We only need the bug fix updates to be tracked.

Also, how may we code sign this applescript to avoid tampering?

@evannjohnson ahh, that explains why this isn't working for me 😅. The original gist here works when the Notification Center is open. It may also work when it's closed - I'm not sure - but I only ever use this after opening the Notification Center, seeing the notifications, and then clearing all of them.

Here you have tested, multi-language Apple Script for macOS 15.0 Sequoia: https://github.com/bpetrynski/alfred-notification-dismisser/raw/refs/heads/main/notification-dismisser-macos15.scpt

@bpetrynski thanks! worked for me.

@bpetrynski awesome! That's definitely in the right direction. It only will clear one notification grouping at a time but I can probably add in some looping here. Thanks!

I updated my version for macOS 15. If you have a group of notifications expanded it will collapse the group first which may speed things up a little in some cases.

@Ptujec Which version of macOS 15 are you using? I tried your script and couldn't get it to work.

@Ptujec Which version of macOS 15 are you using? I tried your script and couldn't get it to work.

15.0.1
I just updated the script so it should now should give you an error message.

@Ptujec Which version of macOS 15 are you using? I tried your script and couldn't get it to work.

@MrJarnould I just updated to 15.1 and adjusted the script(s). Apple changed things again from 15.0.1 to 15.1.

Has anyone been able to get this to work within BetterTouchTool (BTT) and if so, what did you do? I am having trouble getting it to fire and unsure if I'm tripping up on something due to BTT or something else... thanks in advance!

FYI: BetterTouchTool offers this feature built-in: Close All Notification Alerts, for those who would prefer a paid solution: https://community.folivora.ai/t/clear-notifications-with-a-keyboard-shortcut/30335

(I already use BetterTouchTool for dozens of other use cases, so I already had it.)

(and if you're wondering how I came across this thread: I didn't realize BTT already offered this feature until today...)

The BTT action was working for me until I updated to Sequoia (Version 15.1). Has anyone found a solution that works well in BTT?