Laravel Notifications

laravel-notifications

When to use

Use this skill when sending notifications to users or external systems:

• Email, Slack, SMS, or database notifications
• Custom notification channels
• On-demand notifications (to non-user recipients)
• Notification preferences and opt-out logic

For Mailables (complex email templates, attachments), see laravel-mail.

Procedure: Create a notification

1. Inspect existing notifications — Read app/Notifications/ and the notifiable models for current channels, queue defaults, and per-user preferences.
2. Generate class — php artisan make:notification InvoiceCreated.
3. Choose channels — Mail, database, Slack, or custom. Implement via().
4. Build content — Implement toMail(), toArray(), etc. for each channel.
5. Queue it — Add ShouldQueue interface for non-blocking delivery.
6. Verify — Send test notification, confirm delivery on all channels.

Example

php artisan make:notification InvoiceCreated

class InvoiceCreated extends Notification implements ShouldQueue
{
    use Queueable;

    public function __construct(
        private readonly Invoice $invoice,
    ) {}

    /** @return array<int, string> */
    public function via(object $notifiable): array
    {
        return ['mail', 'database'];
    }

    public function toMail(object $notifiable): MailMessage
    {
        return (new MailMessage())
            ->subject('New Invoice #' . $this->invoice->getNumber())
            ->greeting('Hello ' . $notifiable->getName())
            ->line('A new invoice has been created.')
            ->action('View Invoice', url('/invoices/' . $this->invoice->getId()))
            ->line('Thank you for your business.');
    }

    /** @return array<string, mixed> */
    public function toArray(object $notifiable): array
    {
        return [
            'invoice_id' => $this->invoice->getId(),
            'amount' => $this->invoice->getAmount(),
        ];
    }
}

Sending notifications

// Via the Notifiable trait on the model
$user->notify(new InvoiceCreated($invoice));

// Via the Notification facade (multiple recipients)
Notification::send($users, new InvoiceCreated($invoice));

// On-demand (no user model needed)
Notification::route('mail', 'admin@example.com')
    ->route('slack', '#billing')
    ->notify(new InvoiceCreated($invoice));

Database notifications

Requires the notifications table migration:

php artisan notifications:table
php artisan migrate

// Read notifications
$user->notifications;           // all
$user->unreadNotifications;     // unread only

// Mark as read
$notification->markAsRead();
$user->unreadNotifications->markAsRead();

Slack notifications

public function toSlack(object $notifiable): SlackMessage
{
    return (new SlackMessage())
        ->text('Invoice #' . $this->invoice->getNumber() . ' created')
        ->headerBlock('New Invoice')
        ->sectionBlock(function (SectionBlock $block) {
            $block->text('Amount: ' . $this->invoice->getAmount());
        });
}

Notification preferences

public function via(object $notifiable): array
{
    // Respect user preferences
    $channels = ['database'];

    if ($notifiable->wantsEmailNotifications()) {
        $channels[] = 'mail';
    }

    if ($notifiable->wantsSlackNotifications()) {
        $channels[] = 'slack';
    }

    return $channels;
}

Core rules

• Always queue notifications — implement ShouldQueue to avoid blocking requests.
• Keep payloads small in toArray() — store IDs, not full objects.
• Use via() for channel logic — don't hardcode channels, respect user preferences.
• On-demand for external recipients — use Notification::route() for non-user targets.
• Database notifications for in-app — use the notifications table for in-app notification centers.

Output format

1. Notification class with via() and channel-specific methods
2. Queued dispatch with proper serialization

Auto-trigger keywords

• notification
• notify
• Notifiable
• MailMessage
• SlackMessage
• database notification

Gotcha

• Don't send notifications synchronously in request lifecycle — always queue them.
• The model forgets to implement toArray() for database notifications — it throws silently.
• via() method must return an array even for a single channel — return ['mail'], not return 'mail'.

Do NOT

• Do NOT store large objects in database notification data — use IDs and fetch on read.
• Do NOT use notifications for complex emails — use Mailables instead.