useNotifications

API reference for the useNotifications hook return types and data models in the React SDK

The useNotifications hook provides a way to fetch and manage notifications in your application. It includes support for pagination, filtering, and real-time updates.

Hook Parameters

Property	Type	Description
tags	TagsFilter
data	Record<string, unknown>
read	boolean
archived	boolean
snoozed	boolean
seen	boolean
severity	SeverityLevelEnum | SeverityLevelEnum[]
createdGte	number
createdLte	number
limit	number
realtime	boolean	When false, disables the WebSocket subscription that auto-injects newly received notifications into the list. Built-in mutations like readAll, seenAll, archiveAll, and archiveAllRead continue to update local state. Use this when you want to drive new-notification updates yourself (e.g. via your own novu.on('notifications.notification_received', ...) handler combined with refetch()). When set, this prop takes precedence over the realtime config on <NovuProvider />. When omitted, the provider value (default true) is used.
onSuccess	(data: Notification[]) => void
onError	(error: NovuError) => void

Return Value

Property	Type	Description
notifications	Notification[]
error	NovuError
isLoading	boolean
isFetching	boolean
hasMore	boolean
readAll	() => Promise<{ data?: void | undefined; error?: NovuError | undefined; }>
seenAll	() => Promise<{ data?: void | undefined; error?: NovuError | undefined; }>
archiveAll	() => Promise<{ data?: void | undefined; error?: NovuError | undefined; }>
archiveAllRead	() => Promise<{ data?: void | undefined; error?: NovuError | undefined; }>
refetch	() => Promise<void>
fetchMore	() => Promise<void>

Notification Type

The Notification type from @novu/react includes many properties. Here are the most commonly used ones:

Property	Type	Description
id	string
transactionId	string
subject	string
body	string
to	Subscriber
isRead	boolean
isSeen	boolean
isArchived	boolean
isSnoozed	boolean
snoozedUntil	string
deliveredAt	string[]
createdAt	string
readAt	string
firstSeenAt	string
archivedAt	string
avatar	string
primaryAction	Action
secondaryAction	Action
channelType	ChannelType
tags	string[]
redirect	Redirect
data	NotificationData
workflow	Workflow
severity	SeverityLevelEnum
read	() => Result<Notification>
unread	() => Result<Notification>
seen	() => Result<Notification>
archive	() => Result<Notification>
unarchive	() => Result<Notification>
delete	() => Result<void>
snooze	(snoozeUntil: string) => Result<Notification>
unsnooze	() => Result<Notification>
completePrimary	() => Result<Notification>
completeSecondary	() => Result<Notification>
revertPrimary	() => Result<Notification>
revertSecondary	() => Result<Notification>
on	<Key extends EventNames>(eventName: Key, listener: EventHandler<Events[Key]>) => () => void
off	<Key extends EventNames>(eventName: Key, listener: EventHandler<Events[Key]>) => void

Example Usage

Here’s how to use the useNotifications hook to fetch and display notifications:

import { useNotifications } from "@novu/react";

function NotificationsList() {
  const { notifications, hasMore, isLoading, error, fetchMore } =
    useNotifications();

  if (isLoading) return <div>Loading...</div>;
  if (error) return <div>Error: {error.message}</div>;

  return (
    <div className="space-y-4">
      {notifications?.map((notification) => (
        <div key={notification.id} className="p-4 border rounded-lg">
          <h3 className="font-medium">{notification.subject}</h3>
          <p>{notification.body}</p>
          <div className="flex justify-between text-sm text-gray-500 mt-2">
            <span>{new Date(notification.createdAt).toLocaleString()}</span>
            <span>{notification.isRead ? "Read" : "Unread"}</span>
          </div>
        </div>
      ))}
      {hasMore && (
        <button
          onClick={fetchMore}
          className="w-full p-2 bg-blue-50 text-blue-600 rounded-md"
        >
          Load More
        </button>
      )}
    </div>
  );
}

With Filtering

You can filter notifications by various properties:

• read - Filter notifications by read status
• seen - Filter notifications by seen status
• tags - Filter notifications by tags. If multiple tags are provided, Novu evaluates them using OR logic, meaning a notification is included if it contains at least one of the specified tags.
• data - Filter notifications by data attributes (key-value pairs).
• severity - Filter notifications by severity
• limit - Fetch notifications per page
• createdGte - Fetch notifications created after the given date (in milliseconds)
• createdLte - Fetch notifications created before the given date (in milliseconds)

import { useNotifications } from "@novu/react";
import dayjs from "dayjs";

const now = dayjs();
// convert to milliseconds
const startDate = now.subtract(60, "days").valueOf();
const endDate = now.valueOf();  

function FilteredNotifications() {
  const { notifications, isLoading } = useNotifications({
    read: false, // Only unread notifications
    seen: false, // Only unseen notifications
    tags: ["important", "urgent"], // Only notifications with these tags (OR logic applied)
    // data attributes
    data: {
      type: "login",
      userName: "John Doe",
    },
    severity: SeverityLevelEnum.HIGH, // Only high severity notifications
    limit: 20, // Fetch 20 notifications per page
    createdGte: startDate, // Fetch notifications created in the last 60 days
    createdLte: endDate,
  });

  if (isLoading) return <div>Loading...</div>;

  return (
    <div className="space-y-4">
      {notifications?.map((notification) => (
        <div key={notification.id} className="p-4 border rounded-lg">
          <h3 className="font-medium">{notification.subject}</h3>
          <p>{notification.body}</p>
        </div>
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}

With Infinite Scroll

You can implement infinite scroll using the fetchMore function:

import { useEffect, useRef } from "react";
import { useNotifications } from "@novu/react";

function InfiniteNotificationsList() {
  const { notifications, hasMore, isLoading, fetchMore } = useNotifications();
  const observerTarget = useRef(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    const observer = new IntersectionObserver(
      (entries) => {
        if (entries[0].isIntersecting && hasMore && !isLoading) {
          fetchMore();
        }
      },
      { threshold: 0.5 },
    );

    if (observerTarget.current) {
      observer.observe(observerTarget.current);
    }

    return () => observer.disconnect();
  }, [hasMore, isLoading, fetchMore]);

  if (!notifications) return <div>Loading...</div>;

  return (
    <div className="space-y-4">
      {notifications.map((notification) => (
        <div key={notification.id} className="p-4 border rounded-lg">
          <h3 className="font-medium">{notification.subject}</h3>
          <p>{notification.body}</p>
        </div>
      ))}
      {hasMore && <div ref={observerTarget} className="h-10" />}
    </div>
  );
}

Using Notification Actions

The hook provides several actions to manage notifications:

import { useNotifications } from "@novu/react";

function NotificationManager() {
  const { notifications, readAll, seenAll, archiveAll, archiveAllRead, isLoading } =
    useNotifications();

  const handleReadAll = async () => {
    const { error } = await readAll();
    if (error) {
      console.error("Failed to mark all as read:", error);
    }
  };

  const handleArchiveAll = async () => {
    const { error } = await archiveAll();
    if (error) {
      console.error("Failed to archive all:", error);
    }
  };

  const handleSeenAll = async () => {
    const { error } = await seenAll();
    if (error) {
      console.error("Failed to mark all as seen:", error);
    }
  };

  const handleArchiveAllRead = async () => {
    const { error } = await archiveAllRead();
    if (error) {
      console.error("Failed to archive read notifications:", error);
    }
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <div className="flex gap-2 mb-4">
        <button
          onClick={handleReadAll}
          className="px-3 py-1 bg-blue-500 text-white rounded-md"
          disabled={isLoading}
        >
          Mark All as Read
        </button>
        <button
          onClick={handleSeenAll}
          className="px-3 py-1 bg-green-500 text-white rounded-md"
          disabled={isLoading}
        >
          Mark All as Seen
        </button>
        <button
          onClick={handleArchiveAll}
          className="px-3 py-1 bg-gray-500 text-white rounded-md"
          disabled={isLoading}
        >
          Archive All
        </button>
        <button
          onClick={handleArchiveAllRead}
          className="px-3 py-1 bg-gray-500 text-white rounded-md"
          disabled={isLoading}
        >
          Archive Read
        </button>
      </div>

      <div className="space-y-4">
        {notifications?.map((notification) => (
          <div key={notification.id} className="p-4 border rounded-lg">
            <h3 className="font-medium">{notification.subject}</h3>
            <p>{notification.body}</p>
          </div>
        ))}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}

Real-time notifications updates

The notifications list is automatically updated in real-time when new notifications arrive or when notifications state (read, seen, archived, snoozed) changes.