📄 Concepts
What is NotificationAPI exactly?
It is a managed service that removes a lot of your notification-related tasks:
- Send Emails, SMS, in-app, and more in a single API without third-party services
- Handle server-side notification logic: per-user notification preferences, throttling, etc.
- Handle client-side logic: live notifications (websockets), permissions, in-app, etc.
- Manage and host notification templates, user preferences, tokens
- Handle compliance (Google Bulk Sender, 10DLC, etc.)
Detailed Flow by Channel
Each notification channel has its own unique flow and requirements. Select a channel below to see exactly how NotificationAPI handles the complexity for you:
sequenceDiagram
participant App as Your App
participant API as NotificationAPI
participant Channels as All Channels
participant User as End User
App->>API: Single API call
Note right of App: One request, all channels
API->>API: Process & Route
Note right of API: Templates, preferences, compliance
API->>Channels: Deliver simultaneously
Note right of Channels: Email, SMS, Push, In-App
Channels->>User: Multi-channel delivery
User->>API: Engagement tracking
API->>App: Analytics & webhooks
🔍 Click to enlarge diagram
Key Benefits:
- One API call reaches users across all channels
- Automatic routing based on user preferences
- Built-in compliance and delivery optimization
- Unified tracking and analytics
sequenceDiagram
participant App as Your App
participant API as NotificationAPI
participant Email as Email Infrastructure
participant User as End User
App->>API: Send email request
API->>API: Apply template & preferences
alt User opted in
API->>Email: Queue for delivery
Note right of Email: DKIM, SPF, reputation
Email->>User: Email delivered
User->>API: Opens/clicks (tracked)
else User opted out
API->>API: Respect preferences
end
API->>App: Delivery status
🔍 Click to enlarge diagram
What we handle for you:
- Email deliverability (DKIM signing, reputation management)
- Template processing (HTML/text generation, responsive design)
- User preferences (opt-in/opt-out, frequency controls)
- Compliance (CAN-SPAM, GDPR requirements)
sequenceDiagram
participant App as Your App
participant API as NotificationAPI
participant SMS as SMS Network
participant User as End User
App->>API: Send SMS request
API->>API: Validate & check compliance
Note right of API: 10DLC, time zones, opt-ins
alt Compliant & opted in
API->>SMS: Route to carrier
Note right of SMS: Twilio, AWS, direct routes
SMS->>User: SMS delivered
User->>SMS: Reply (optional)
SMS->>API: Handle STOP/START
else Non-compliant
API->>API: Block & log
end
API->>App: Delivery receipt
🔍 Click to enlarge diagram
What we handle for you:
- 10DLC A2P registration (required for US business messaging)
- Carrier relationships (Twilio, AWS SNS, direct routes)
- Compliance checking (time zones, content filtering)
- Auto-replies (STOP/START keyword handling)
sequenceDiagram
participant App as Your App
participant API as NotificationAPI
participant SDK as React SDK
participant User as End User
App->>API: Send in-app notification
API->>API: Store & process
par Real-time
API->>SDK: WebSocket push
SDK->>User: Instant notification
and Fallback
SDK->>API: Poll for updates
API->>SDK: Return notifications
end
User->>SDK: View notification center
SDK->>API: Fetch notification list
API->>SDK: Return formatted list
SDK->>User: Display notifications
User->>SDK: Mark as read
SDK->>API: Update status
🔍 Click to enlarge diagram
What we handle for you:
- Real-time delivery (WebSocket infrastructure)
- Persistent storage (notification history, read status)
- UI components (notification bell, feed, preferences)
- Batching logic (grouping related notifications)
sequenceDiagram
participant App as Your App
participant API as NotificationAPI
participant FCM as FCM/APNS
participant Device as Mobile Device
participant User as End User
App->>API: Send push notification
API->>API: Look up device tokens
Note right of API: iOS & Android devices
loop For each device
API->>FCM: Send to FCM/APNS
FCM->>Device: Push to device
Device->>User: Display notification
opt User taps
User->>Device: Open app
Device->>API: Track engagement
end
end
API->>App: Delivery stats
🔍 Click to enlarge diagram
What we handle for you:
- Token management (registration, cleanup, validation)
- Platform routing (iOS via APNS, Android via FCM)
- Certificate handling (Apple certificates, Firebase keys)
- Delivery optimization (retry logic, best practices)
sequenceDiagram
participant App as Your App
participant API as NotificationAPI
participant Browser as Web Browser
participant User as End User
Note over User,Browser: One-time setup
User->>Browser: Grant push permission
Browser->>API: Register subscription
Note over App,User: Sending notifications
App->>API: Send web push
API->>Browser: Send via Push API
Browser->>User: Display notification
opt User clicks
User->>Browser: Click notification
Browser->>API: Track click
end
API->>App: Engagement data
🔍 Click to enlarge diagram
What we handle for you:
- Service worker setup and management
- Browser compatibility (Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
- Subscription management (registration, cleanup)
- Push API integration (FCM, Mozilla, WebKit)
sequenceDiagram
participant App as Your App
participant API as NotificationAPI
participant Voice as Voice Network
participant User as End User
App->>API: Send voice notification
API->>API: Text-to-speech conversion
API->>API: Check compliance
Note right of API: Time zones, do-not-call
alt Compliant
API->>Voice: Initiate call
Voice->>User: Ring phone
alt User answers
User->>Voice: Answer
Voice->>User: Play message
opt Interactive
User->>Voice: Press keys
Voice->>API: Capture input
end
else No answer
Voice->>API: Log attempt
end
end
API->>App: Call results
🔍 Click to enlarge diagram
What we handle for you:
- Text-to-speech (natural voice synthesis)
- Telecom routing (SIP, carrier selection)
- Compliance (do-not-call lists, time restrictions)
- Interactive responses (keypress capture, speech recognition)
How it works at a glance
Despite the behind-the-scenes complexity, the product experience is simple:
- Design your notification in the dashboard (channels, content, branding, preferences).
- From your back-end, trigger a notification by referencing the template ID and the user.
- NotificationAPI applies your template, user preferences, batching/digest rules, and compliance checks.
- We route to the right channels (email, SMS, push, in-app) and handle retries and regional routing.
- Users receive notifications; in-app experiences are handled by our front-end SDKs and components.
- You monitor logs, metrics, and events in the dashboard or via webhooks.
For implementation details, see:
INFO
You don’t need any third‑party email/SMS services or custom infrastructure. We manage deliverability, compliance, queuing, retries, and analytics for you.
Perfect for these use cases
NotificationAPI works especially well for product notifications like:
- User onboarding (welcome sequences, tutorials)
- Activity alerts (comments, mentions, updates)
- System notifications (security alerts, maintenance)
- Workflow updates (approvals, status changes)
- Transaction confirmations (payments, orders)
Next steps
Ready to implement notifications in your app?
TIP
Start with our free plan - no credit card required. You get 100 free notifications per month to test everything out.