diff --git a/kitty/cocoa_window.m b/kitty/cocoa_window.m
index 9b81b276a..5add7934b 100644
--- a/kitty/cocoa_window.m
+++ b/kitty/cocoa_window.m
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@
 #include "state.h"
 #include "monotonic.h"
 #include <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>
+#ifndef KITTY_USE_DEPRECATED_MACOS_NOTIFICATION_API
 #include <UserNotifications/UserNotifications.h>
+#endif
 
 #include <AvailabilityMacros.h>
 // Needed for _NSGetProgname
@@ -135,6 +137,68 @@ get_dock_menu(id self UNUSED, SEL _cmd UNUSED, NSApplication *sender UNUSED) {
 
 static PyObject *notification_activated_callback = NULL;
 
+static PyObject*
+set_notification_activated_callback(PyObject *self UNUSED, PyObject *callback) {
+    if (notification_activated_callback) Py_DECREF(notification_activated_callback);
+    notification_activated_callback = callback;
+    Py_INCREF(callback);
+    Py_RETURN_NONE;
+}
+
+#ifdef KITTY_USE_DEPRECATED_MACOS_NOTIFICATION_API
+
+@interface NotificationDelegate : NSObject <NSUserNotificationCenterDelegate>
+@end
+
+@implementation NotificationDelegate
+    - (void)userNotificationCenter:(NSUserNotificationCenter *)center
+            didDeliverNotification:(NSUserNotification *)notification {
+        (void)(center); (void)(notification);
+    }
+
+    - (BOOL) userNotificationCenter:(NSUserNotificationCenter *)center
+            shouldPresentNotification:(NSUserNotification *)notification {
+        (void)(center); (void)(notification);
+        return YES;
+    }
+
+    - (void) userNotificationCenter:(NSUserNotificationCenter *)center
+            didActivateNotification:(NSUserNotification *)notification {
+        (void)(center); (void)(notification);
+        if (notification_activated_callback) {
+            PyObject *ret = PyObject_CallFunction(notification_activated_callback, "z",
+                    notification.userInfo[@"user_id"] ? [notification.userInfo[@"user_id"] UTF8String] : NULL);
+            if (ret == NULL) PyErr_Print();
+            else Py_DECREF(ret);
+        }
+    }
+@end
+
+static PyObject*
+cocoa_send_notification(PyObject *self UNUSED, PyObject *args) {
+    char *identifier = NULL, *title = NULL, *informativeText = NULL, *subtitle = NULL;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "zsz|z", &identifier, &title, &informativeText, &subtitle)) return NULL;
+    NSUserNotificationCenter *center = [NSUserNotificationCenter defaultUserNotificationCenter];
+    if (!center) {PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "Failed to get the user notification center"); return NULL; }
+    if (!center.delegate) center.delegate = [[NotificationDelegate alloc] init];
+    NSUserNotification *n = [NSUserNotification new];
+#define SET(x) { \
+    if (x) { \
+        NSString *t = @(x); \
+        n.x = t; \
+        [t release]; \
+    }}
+    SET(title); SET(subtitle); SET(informativeText);
+#undef SET
+    if (identifier) {
+        n.userInfo = @{@"user_id": @(identifier)};
+    }
+    [center deliverNotification:n];
+    Py_RETURN_NONE;
+}
+
+#else
+
 @interface NotificationDelegate : NSObject <UNUserNotificationCenterDelegate>
 @end
 
@@ -213,14 +277,6 @@ drain_pending_notifications(BOOL granted) {
     }
 }
 
-PyObject*
-set_notification_activated_callback(PyObject *self UNUSED, PyObject *callback) {
-    if (notification_activated_callback) Py_DECREF(notification_activated_callback);
-    notification_activated_callback = callback;
-    Py_INCREF(callback);
-    Py_RETURN_NONE;
-}
-
 static PyObject*
 cocoa_send_notification(PyObject *self UNUSED, PyObject *args) {
     char *identifier = NULL, *title = NULL, *body = NULL, *subtitle = NULL;
@@ -244,6 +300,8 @@ cocoa_send_notification(PyObject *self UNUSED, PyObject *args) {
     Py_RETURN_NONE;
 }
 
+#endif
+
 @interface ServiceProvider : NSObject
 @end
 
@@ -539,10 +597,14 @@ cleanup() {
     if (dockMenu) [dockMenu release];
     dockMenu = nil;
     Py_CLEAR(notification_activated_callback);
+
+#ifndef KITTY_USE_DEPRECATED_MACOS_NOTIFICATION_API
     drain_pending_notifications(NO);
     free(notification_queue.notifications);
     notification_queue.notifications = NULL;
     notification_queue.capacity = 0;
+#endif
+
     } // autoreleasepool
 }
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 3aaedd36c..fe4eed68b 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -213,7 +213,10 @@ def get_sanitize_args(cc: str, ccver: Tuple[int, int]) -> List[str]:
 
 def test_compile(cc: str, *cflags: str, src: Optional[str] = None) -> bool:
     src = src or 'int main(void) { return 0; }'
-    p = subprocess.Popen([cc] + list(cflags) + ['-x', 'c', '-o', os.devnull, '-'], stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
+    p = subprocess.Popen(
+        [cc] + list(cflags) + ['-x', 'c', '-o', os.devnull, '-'],
+        stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL, stdin=subprocess.PIPE
+    )
     stdin = p.stdin
     assert stdin is not None
     try:
@@ -336,8 +339,12 @@ def kitty_env() -> Env:
     if is_macos:
         platform_libs = [
             '-framework', 'CoreText', '-framework', 'CoreGraphics',
-            '-framework', 'UserNotifications'
         ]
+        user_notifications_framework = first_successful_compile(ans.cc, '-framework UserNotifications')
+        if user_notifications_framework:
+            platform_libs.extend(shlex.split(user_notifications_framework))
+        else:
+            cppflags.append('-DKITTY_USE_DEPRECATED_MACOS_NOTIFICATION_API')
         # Apple deprecated OpenGL in Mojave (10.14) silence the endless
         # warnings about it
         cppflags.append('-DGL_SILENCE_DEPRECATION')