diff --git a/src/App.zig b/src/App.zig
index f933b71268..4708d9c223 100644
--- a/src/App.zig
+++ b/src/App.zig
@@ -178,6 +178,15 @@ pub fn focusedSurface(self: *const App) ?*Surface {
     return surface;
 }
 
+/// Is this the last focused surface. This is only valid while on the main
+/// thread before tick is called.
+pub fn isFocused(self: *const App, surface: *const Surface) bool {
+    if (!self.hasSurface(surface)) return false;
+    const focused = self.focused_surface orelse return false;
+    if (!self.hasSurface(focused)) return false;
+    return surface == focused;
+}
+
 /// Returns true if confirmation is needed to quit the app. It is up to
 /// the apprt to call this.
 pub fn needsConfirmQuit(self: *const App) bool {
diff --git a/src/Surface.zig b/src/Surface.zig
index d597938818..982d741181 100644
--- a/src/Surface.zig
+++ b/src/Surface.zig
@@ -816,6 +816,8 @@ pub fn handleMessage(self: *Surface, msg: Message) !void {
         .renderer_health => |health| self.updateRendererHealth(health),
 
         .report_color_scheme => try self.reportColorScheme(),
+
+        .present_surface => try self.presentSurface(),
     }
 }
 
@@ -4158,6 +4160,14 @@ fn crashThreadState(self: *Surface) crash.sentry.ThreadState {
     };
 }
 
+/// Tell the surface to present itself to the user. This may involve raising the
+/// window and switching tabs.
+fn presentSurface(self: *Surface) !void {
+    if (@hasDecl(apprt.Surface, "presentSurface")) {
+        self.rt_surface.presentSurface();
+    } else log.warn("runtime doesn't support presentSurface", .{});
+}
+
 pub const face_ttf = @embedFile("font/res/JetBrainsMono-Regular.ttf");
 pub const face_bold_ttf = @embedFile("font/res/JetBrainsMono-Bold.ttf");
 pub const face_emoji_ttf = @embedFile("font/res/NotoColorEmoji.ttf");
diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig b/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
index a1843b9ac5..2a42757dcd 100644
--- a/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
@@ -813,17 +813,52 @@ fn gtkActionQuit(
     };
 }
 
+/// Action sent by the window manager asking us to present a specific surface to
+/// the user. Usually because the user clicked on a desktop notification.
+fn gtkActionPresentSurface(
+    _: *c.GSimpleAction,
+    parameter: *c.GVariant,
+    ud: ?*anyopaque,
+) callconv(.C) void {
+    const self: *App = @ptrCast(@alignCast(ud orelse return));
+
+    // Make sure that we've receiived a u64 from the system.
+    if (c.g_variant_is_of_type(parameter, c.G_VARIANT_TYPE("t")) == 0) {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    // Convert that u64 to pointer to a core surface.
+    const surface: *CoreSurface = @ptrFromInt(c.g_variant_get_uint64(parameter));
+
+    // Send a message through the core app mailbox rather than presenting the
+    // surface directly so that it can validate that the surface pointer is
+    // valid. We could get an invalid pointer if a desktop notification outlives
+    // a Ghostty instance and a new one starts up, or there are multiple Ghostty
+    // instances running.
+    _ = self.core_app.mailbox.push(
+        .{
+            .surface_message = .{
+                .surface = surface,
+                .message = .{ .present_surface = {} },
+            },
+        },
+        .{ .forever = {} },
+    );
+}
+
 /// This is called to setup the action map that this application supports.
 /// This should be called only once on startup.
 fn initActions(self: *App) void {
     const actions = .{
-        .{ "quit", &gtkActionQuit },
-        .{ "open_config", &gtkActionOpenConfig },
-        .{ "reload_config", &gtkActionReloadConfig },
+        .{ "quit", &gtkActionQuit, null },
+        .{ "open_config", &gtkActionOpenConfig, null },
+        .{ "reload_config", &gtkActionReloadConfig, null },
+        // https://docs.gtk.org/gio/type_func.Action.name_is_valid.html
+        .{ "present-surface", &gtkActionPresentSurface, c.G_VARIANT_TYPE("t") },
     };
 
     inline for (actions) |entry| {
-        const action = c.g_simple_action_new(entry[0], null);
+        const action = c.g_simple_action_new(entry[0], entry[2]);
         defer c.g_object_unref(action);
         _ = c.g_signal_connect_data(
             action,
diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig b/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig
index eb317e6402..f9f07d8bbe 100644
--- a/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig
@@ -1144,19 +1144,28 @@ pub fn showDesktopNotification(
         else => title,
     };
 
-    const notif = c.g_notification_new(t.ptr);
-    defer c.g_object_unref(notif);
-    c.g_notification_set_body(notif, body.ptr);
+    const notification = c.g_notification_new(t.ptr);
+    defer c.g_object_unref(notification);
+
+    c.g_notification_set_body(notification, body.ptr);
 
     const icon = c.g_themed_icon_new("com.mitchellh.ghostty");
     defer c.g_object_unref(icon);
-    c.g_notification_set_icon(notif, icon);
+
+    c.g_notification_set_icon(notification, icon);
+
+    const pointer = c.g_variant_new_uint64(@intFromPtr(&self.core_surface));
+    c.g_notification_set_default_action_and_target_value(
+        notification,
+        "app.present-surface",
+        pointer,
+    );
 
     const g_app: *c.GApplication = @ptrCast(self.app.app);
 
     // We set the notification ID to the body content. If the content is the
     // same, this notification may replace a previous notification
-    c.g_application_send_notification(g_app, body.ptr, notif);
+    c.g_application_send_notification(g_app, body.ptr, notification);
 }
 
 fn showContextMenu(self: *Surface, x: f32, y: f32) void {
@@ -1967,3 +1976,14 @@ fn translateMods(state: c.GdkModifierType) input.Mods {
     if (state & c.GDK_LOCK_MASK != 0) mods.caps_lock = true;
     return mods;
 }
+
+pub fn presentSurface(self: *Surface) void {
+    if (self.container.window()) |window| {
+        if (self.container.tab()) |tab| {
+            if (window.notebook.getTabPosition(tab)) |position|
+                window.notebook.gotoNthTab(position);
+        }
+        c.gtk_window_present(window.window);
+    }
+    self.grabFocus();
+}
diff --git a/src/apprt/surface.zig b/src/apprt/surface.zig
index b05da88ff6..d73dcea055 100644
--- a/src/apprt/surface.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/surface.zig
@@ -61,6 +61,10 @@ pub const Message = union(enum) {
     /// Report the color scheme
     report_color_scheme: void,
 
+    /// Tell the surface to present itself to the user. This may require raising
+    /// a window and switching tabs.
+    present_surface: void,
+
     pub const ReportTitleStyle = enum {
         csi_21_t,