Builder.io Notifications
notify() is the framework's "tell the user something" primitive. Every call persists a row to the inbox (drives the bell UI) and fans out to any registered server-side channels. Channels follow the same pluggable-provider pattern as tracking — register at startup, notify() fans out, errors are isolated.
Use for: agent progress milestones, automation triggers firing, background job completions, critical errors. Don't use for chat replies — those go through the conversation.
Tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
notify |
Send a notification (severity + title + optional body/metadata/channels) |
list-notifications |
Show recent notifications for the current user |
Sending
notify --severity info --title "Booking confirmed" --body "Jane at 3pm"
| Severity | When |
|---|---|
info |
FYI / progress / confirmation |
warning |
Something to look at soon |
critical |
Needs immediate attention |
Optional: --metadataJson '{"threadId":"abc"}', --channels inbox,webhook (omit to run all registered).
Delivery
notify() always inserts into the notifications table (unless channels explicitly excludes inbox), then fans out to every registered channel in parallel (best-effort; a failing channel doesn't block others). Finally it emits notification.sent on the event bus so automations can chain — e.g. "when a critical notification fires, also page on-call."
Built-in Channels
| Channel | How | Requires |
|---|---|---|
inbox |
INSERT → drives bell UI | (always on) |
webhook |
POST JSON to NOTIFICATIONS_WEBHOOK_URL (+ optional NOTIFICATIONS_WEBHOOK_AUTH); both support ${keys.NAME} + URL allowlists from the ad-hoc-keys system |
env var set |
The webhook channel resolves ${keys.NAME} server-side — the raw value never enters the agent context.
Registering a Custom Channel
// server/plugins/notifications-slack.ts
import { registerNotificationChannel } from "@agent-native/core/notifications";
export default () => {
registerNotificationChannel({
name: "slack-ops",
async deliver(input, meta) {
await fetch(process.env.OPS_SLACK_WEBHOOK!, {
method: "POST",
headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
body: JSON.stringify({ text: `*${input.severity}* — ${input.title}`, owner: meta.owner }),
});
},
});
};
Names are unique — re-registering replaces. deliver() must be best-effort; a thrown error is logged and ignored. Do NOT call notify() from inside a channel (recursion).
HTTP API
Mounted at /_agent-native/notifications/* by core-routes-plugin, all session-scoped:
GET /notifications?unread=true&limit=50&before=<iso>GET /notifications/countPOST /notifications/:id/readPOST /notifications/read-allDELETE /notifications/:id
UI
import { NotificationsBell } from "@agent-native/core/client/notifications";
<NotificationsBell browserNotifications />
Bell icon + unread badge + lazy-loaded dropdown. Pass browserNotifications to also fire system new Notification(...) popups for items that arrive after mount (dedups by id, renders an "Enable" prompt until permission is granted, silently no-ops on denied / unsupported). Styled with shadcn tokens — adapts to the host theme.
Related
automations— event-triggered bodies can callnotify.secrets—${keys.NAME}substitution + URL allowlists powering the webhook channel.tracking— analytics; separate concern, don't route through notifications.