Novu — Open-Source Notification Infrastructure

Novu Features

Multi-Channel Delivery

One trigger call -> Multiple channels:

  novu.trigger('alert') → ┌─ In-App Inbox
                          ├─ Email (SendGrid/SES)
                          ├─ SMS (Twilio)
                          ├─ Push (FCM/APNs)
                          └─ Chat (Slack/Discord)

Visual Workflow Builder

Define notification logic with code or the visual editor:

import { workflow } from '@novu/framework';

const aiAlert = workflow('ai-task-alert', async ({ step, payload }) => {
    // Step 1: Always send in-app
    await step.inApp('inbox', async () => ({
        body: `Task "${payload.taskName}" ${payload.status}`,
    }));

    // Step 2: Wait, then send email if unread
    await step.delay('wait', () => ({ amount: 5, unit: 'minutes' }));

    await step.email('email-fallback', async () => ({
        subject: `AI Task: ${payload.taskName}`,
        body: `Your task completed in ${payload.duration}.`,
    }));
});

Embeddable Inbox (React)

import { Inbox } from '@novu/react';

function NotificationCenter() {
    return (
        <Inbox
            applicationIdentifier="app-id"
            subscriberId="user-123"
            appearance={{ colorPrimary: '#E8654A' }}
        />
    );
}
// Renders a full notification inbox with read/unread, actions, and preferences

AI App Notification Patterns

Subscriber Preferences

Let users control their notification channels:

// Users can toggle: email ✅, SMS ❌, in-app ✅, Slack ✅
await novu.subscribers.setPreferences('user-123', {
    channels: { email: true, sms: false, in_app: true, chat: true }
});

FAQ

Q: What is Novu? A: Novu is open-source notification infrastructure with 38,800+ GitHub stars providing a unified API for in-app, email, SMS, push, and chat notifications with visual workflows and React inbox components.

Q: Why use Novu for AI apps? A: AI applications need notifications for task completion, pipeline alerts, cost thresholds, and user engagement. Novu handles all channels with one API call, includes subscriber preferences, and provides an embeddable React inbox.

Q: Is Novu free? A: Yes, open-source under MIT. Self-host for free. Novu Cloud has a free tier (30K events/month).