Novu

REST API at api.novu.co/v1/. Trigger workflow: POST /events/trigger with name (workflow identifier), to (subscriber), and payload (template variables). Subscriber management: POST /subscribers for creation with channel credentials (email, phone, push tokens). Template management: define workflows with channel steps (email, SMS, push, in-app, chat) and Handlebars content templates. Topic management enables broadcasting to subscriber groups. Preference management: GET/PATCH /subscribers/{id}/preferences. In-app notifications: GET /notifications returns in-app feed items. The API design follows Knock's pattern with some differences: workflow definition is API-driven (not just dashboard), and the topic system provides pub/sub-style subscriber grouping. Batch triggers send notifications to multiple subscribers.

API errors return JSON with statusCode, message, and error fields. Standard HTTP status codes. Workflow execution provides per-step status tracking. Channel provider errors surface in the activity feed with provider error messages. Self-hosted reliability depends on deployment quality (Redis, MongoDB, API server). Novu Cloud handles infrastructure reliability. Rate limits on Novu Cloud are per-plan. The open-source project is actively developed with regular releases — some features may be less mature than Knock's managed platform. The activity feed provides notification delivery observability. For agents, monitoring the activity feed for delivery failures enables proactive error handling. The main maturity consideration: Novu's feature set is comprehensive but some areas (digest, delay, topic management) have evolved rapidly with occasional breaking changes.

Novu is an open-source notification infrastructure platform — the open-source alternative to Knock. For agents, the model is similar: define notification workflows (templates with multi-channel steps), trigger workflows via API, and Novu handles delivery across email, push, SMS, in-app, and chat channels. The open-source model enables self-hosted deployment for data sovereignty and customization. Subscriber management tracks user channel preferences and credentials. The in-app notification center provides pre-built UI components. Content management uses templates with Handlebars variable injection. For agents choosing between Knock and Novu, the decision often comes down to managed simplicity (Knock) vs. self-hosted control and cost (Novu). Novu Cloud provides the managed option for teams preferring hosted infrastructure.

API key authentication via Authorization: ApiKey header. Keys are per-environment. Application identifier (app_id) is used for client-side SDK initialization. The self-hosted model provides full control over the authentication infrastructure, encryption, and data storage. Novu Cloud uses the standard API key model. No OAuth for third-party integrations. HMAC subscriber authentication enables secure client-side operations. For agents, the self-hosted option means API keys and data never leave their infrastructure. The API key grants broad access within the environment — no fine-grained scoping. For agents needing notification infrastructure with complete data control, self-hosted Novu is the primary option.

Documentation at docs.novu.co covers API reference, SDK guides, self-hosting, and workflow configuration. The API reference documents endpoints with parameters and examples. Self-hosting documentation covers Docker and Kubernetes deployment. SDK documentation covers server (Node, Python, Go, Ruby, PHP, Java, .NET, Kotlin) and client (React, Vue, Angular, Web Components) libraries. The in-app notification center documentation includes component customization. Community is active on GitHub and Discord. The open-source nature means code-level documentation is available for deep understanding. For agents, the trigger API and subscriber management docs are the essential starting points. The documentation is adequate and improving as the project matures.