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Send transactional notifications through Novu by triggering a workflow when a business event occurs in your application. Novu delivers the message across in-app, email, SMS, push, or chat based on your workflow steps and the subscriber’s contact details. Common transactional events include order confirmations, shipping updates, payment failures, and subscription renewals.

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How do I send a transactional notification?

  1. Create a workflow in the Novu Dashboard with the channels you need (for example, email + in-app).
  2. Register or upsert a subscriber with the recipient’s subscriberId, email, and phone.
  3. Trigger the workflow from your backend with the workflow identifier, subscriberId, and event payload.
curl -X POST https://api.novu.co/v1/events/trigger \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey <NOVU_SECRET_KEY>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "order-shipped",
    "to": { "subscriberId": "user_123" },
    "payload": { "orderId": "ORD-456", "trackingUrl": "https://example.com/track/456" }
  }'

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What channels should I use for transactional messages?

Event typeRecommended channels
Order confirmationEmail + in-app
Shipping updateEmail, SMS, or push
Payment failureEmail + in-app, with SMS fallback
Password resetEmail (see password reset guide)

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Frequently asked questions

No. You can pass subscriber details inline when triggering a workflow. Novu creates or updates the subscriber automatically if the subscriberId does not exist yet.
Yes. Connect providers such as SendGrid, Postmark, or Amazon SES in the Integrations store and use them in email workflow steps.