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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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Novu Has a Free API That Handles All Your App Notifications

#novu #notifications #api #opensource

Novu is the open-source notification infrastructure that manages email, SMS, push, in-app, and chat notifications through a single API.

What Is Novu?

Novu gives you a unified API for all notification channels. Instead of integrating SendGrid for email, Twilio for SMS, and Firebase for push separately — Novu handles them all.

Quick Start 

npm install @novu/node
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import { Novu } from '@novu/node'

const novu = new Novu(process.env.NOVU_API_KEY!)

// Send notification
await novu.trigger('welcome-email', {
  to: {
    subscriberId: 'user-123',
    email: 'user@example.com',
    firstName: 'Alice',
  },
  payload: {
    welcomeMessage: 'Thanks for signing up!',
    ctaLink: 'https://app.example.com/onboarding',
  },
})
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REST API 

export NOVU_KEY="your-api-key"

# Trigger notification
curl -s -X POST 'https://api.novu.co/v1/events/trigger' \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey $NOVU_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "name": "order-shipped",
    "to": {"subscriberId": "user-123"},
    "payload": {"trackingUrl": "https://tracking.example.com/abc"}
  }'

# Create subscriber
curl -s -X POST 'https://api.novu.co/v1/subscribers' \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey $NOVU_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"subscriberId": "user-456", "email": "bob@example.com", "firstName": "Bob"}'

# Get notifications feed
curl -s 'https://api.novu.co/v1/notifications?page=0&limit=10' \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey $NOVU_KEY" | jq '.data | length'
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Multi-Channel Workflow 

// Novu workflow (defined in dashboard or code):
// 1. Send email immediately
// 2. If not read in 1 hour -> send push notification
// 3. If not read in 24 hours -> send SMS
// All from ONE trigger call

await novu.trigger('payment-reminder', {
  to: { subscriberId: 'user-789' },
  payload: {
    amount: '$49.99',
    dueDate: '2026-04-15',
    invoiceUrl: 'https://app.example.com/invoice/123'
  }
})
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In-App Notification Center 

// React component
import { NovuProvider, PopoverNotificationCenter, NotificationBell } from '@novu/notification-center'

function App() {
  return (
    <NovuProvider subscriberId="user-123" applicationIdentifier="APP_ID">
      <PopoverNotificationCenter>
        {({ unseenCount }) => <NotificationBell unseenCount={unseenCount} />}
      </PopoverNotificationCenter>
    </NovuProvider>
  )
}
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Supported Channels

Channel Providers
Email SendGrid, Mailgun, SES, Postmark, Resend
SMS Twilio, Vonage, Plivo, SNS
Push FCM, APNs, Expo
Chat Slack, Discord, MS Teams
In-App Novu Notification Center

Free Tier

Feature Free Business
Events 30K/mo 250K/mo
Channels All All
Team members Unlimited Unlimited
Self-hosted Yes Yes

Need to notify users about scraped data changes? Scrapfly + Novu = automated data monitoring. Email spinov001@gmail.com for custom solutions.

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