Why does Slack have a "hummus" notification sound?
The story behind the name
Slack has always leaned into personality. Loading messages, emoji reactions, and notification sound names all reflect the company’s playful brand. If you’ve been exploring Slack notification sounds, you’ve probably noticed names like Hummus, Boing, Woah, and Here You Go. They’re designed to be memorable and a little surprising.
“Hummus” doesn’t sound like hummus the food. It’s a soft, rounded chime—warm and understated. The name is pure brand whimsy.
Slack’s other quirky sound names
Hummus sits alongside sounds like:
- Boing — bouncy, slightly cartoonish
- Woah — a rising “whoa” effect
- Here you go — a polite handoff tone
- Knock Brush — a muted tapping sound
- Plink — a clean, minimal ping
You can preview all of them in Preferences → Sound & appearance on the Slack desktop app.
How to use Hummus (or any Slack sound)
- Open Slack and click your profile photo.
- Select Preferences.
- Go to Sound & appearance.
- Click the notification sound dropdown and choose Hummus.
- The change applies immediately to all message notifications.
The catch: every channel still sounds the same
Whether you pick Hummus or Ding, the sound applies uniformly. A message in #general sounds identical to a message in #production-incidents. That’s fine if you only use a few low-traffic channels, but it falls apart in busy workspaces.
Chirpy solves this on macOS by letting you map specific channels, people, or keywords to distinct sounds. You could keep Hummus as your default and assign a sharper alert to the channels that actually need your attention. Try Chirpy free.
Frequently asked questions
Hummus is a soft, warm chime. It’s more muted than Slack’s default Ding and has a rounded, gentle quality. The best way to hear it is to select it in Slack’s Sound & appearance preferences and click to preview.
No. Slack’s sound names are fixed. You can only choose from the list they provide.