diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index c10e984..ccf1f9b 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -198,8 +198,33 @@ question.
 
 ### Notifications
 
-When the user is away, notify him when you're done and there
-is nothing left to do.
+Two states call for a notify; nothing else does:
+
+1. **Done-state.** The autonomous queue is empty — the milestone
+   closed, the audit ratified, and no further iteration is obvious
+   from the spec or the roadmap (or, in a user-scoped session,
+   every objective the user named has been completed and there is
+   nothing else queued). A finished sub-goal inside a still-open
+   milestone is *not* done-state. If the next iteration is obvious
+   and substantive, keep dispatching — "test suite landed", "audit
+   clean before close-fixes", "iter N done with N+1 in scope" are
+   internal progress, not notify events.
+
+2. **Problem-state.** A bounce-back trigger per §"Direction
+   freedom" — design fork I cannot resolve, an unexpected
+   invariant violation, an external dependency failure, or the
+   user has explicitly asked for a checkpoint.
+
+A user-specified stop trigger ("until X is done, then notify")
+counts as done-state only if X is truly the last actionable item
+in the autonomous queue at that moment. If hitting X still leaves
+an open milestone with obvious follow-up iters, the right action
+is to continue past X without notifying — the user's intent
+behind the trigger is "wake me when there's nothing else to do",
+not "wake me at this specific checkpoint".
+
+Mid-flow progress notifications burn the user's attention without
+giving him a decision to make. When in doubt, continue.
 
 ~/.claude/notify.sh "Text"
 
@@ -208,7 +233,7 @@ summary: what I need from them, in one short line. Skip the
 "hi, I" framing — just the gist. The user will see it on phone
 and likely respond by returning to the session.
 
-By default, you act autonomous. The notification is the
+By default, I act autonomous. The notification is the
 exception, not the rule.
 
 ### Done-state notifications: WhatsNew.md