Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM)

This guide explains the process of configuring and using FCM with Novu, from getting your credentials to sending your first notification.

Step 1: Generate your service account key from Firebase

Get your project's service account credentials from the Firebase Console.

1. Log in to the Firebase console.
2. Create a new Firebase project or select an existing project.
3. Click the gear icon ⚙️ next to Project Overview.
4. Select Project settings.
5. Click the Service accounts tab.
6. Click the Generate new private key button. A confirmation menu appears.
7. Click Generate key to download a JSON file containing your credentials.
8. Open the downloaded JSON file and ensure it contains these fields:

   {
     "type": "service_account",
     "project_id": "PROJECT_ID",
     "private_key_id": "PRIVATE_KEY_ID",
     "private_key": "PRIVATE_KEY",
     "client_email": "FIREBASE_ADMIN_SDK_EMAIL",
     "client_id": "CLIENT_ID",
     "auth_uri": "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth",
     "token_uri": "https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token",
     "auth_provider_x509_cert_url": "https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v1/certs",
     "client_x509_cert_url": "CLIENT_X509_CERT_URL"
   }

Step 2: Connect FCM to Novu

Add the credentials to your FCM integration in the Novu dashboard.

1. Log in to the Novu dashboard.
2. Navigate to the Integration Store.
3. Click Connect provider.
4. Click the Push tab, then select Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM).
5. Open the JSON file you downloaded from Firebase in Step 1.
6. Copy the entire content of the JSON file and paste it into the Service Account field in the FCM integration modal.
7. Click Create Integration to save the integration.

Step 3: Register a subscriber's device token

Before Novu can send a push notification to your subscriber, you must associate their device's unique push token with their Novu subscriber profile.

You can do this by making an API call to update the subscriber's credentials.

import { Novu } from "@novu/api";
import { ChatOrPushProviderEnum } from "@novu/api/models/components";
 
const novu = new Novu({ secretKey: "YOUR_SECRET_KEY_HERE",});
 
async function run() {
  const result = await novu.subscribers.credentials.update({
    providerId: ChatOrPushProviderEnum.Fcm,
    credentials: {
      deviceTokens: [
        "token1",
        "token2",
      ],
    },
  }, "subscriberId");
}
run();

Step 4: Send a notification

Now you're ready to send a push notification. You can trigger a notification to a subscriber who has a registered device token.

import { Novu } from '@novu/node';
 
const novu = new Novu('YOUR_NOVU_API_KEY');
 
await novu.trigger('your-workflow-id', {
  to: {
    subscriberId: 'SUBSCRIBER_ID',
  },
  payload: {
    // Your payload data
  },
});

Using multiple FCM integrations

If you have multiple active FCM integrations, then you can specify which integration to associate the tokens with by providing the integrationIdentifier.

You can find this identifier in your Novu dashboard on the integration's settings page.

import { Novu } from '@novu/api';
 
const novu = new Novu({
  secretKey: "<NOVU_SECRET_KEY>",
});
 
await novu.subscribers.credentials.update(
  {
    providerId: "fcm",
    // Use integrationIdentifier to store device tokens for a specific integration
    integrationIdentifier: "string",
    credentials: {
      deviceTokens: [
        "token1",
        "token2"
      ]
    },
  },
  "subscriberId"
);

Using overrides to customize notifications

Novu lets you customize the behavior of push notifications by using the overrides field when triggering workflows. Overrides give you full control over message content and delivery parameters that aren’t configurable from the Novu workflow editor.

To learn more about how overrides work across all channels, see the Trigger Overrides documentation.

Override FCM field

Overrides let you send platform-specific data that is not available in the workflow editor. The overrides field supports:

• apns overrides
• android overrides
• webpush overrides
• fcmOptions overrides

You can use these fields to customize how notifications are sent to Android, iOS via APNS, or web clients.

await novu.trigger('your-workflow-id', {
  to: {
    subscriberId: 'SUBSCRIBER_ID',
  },
  payload: {
    // Your payload data
  },
  overrides: {
    fcm: {
      // For a data-only notification (silent push)
      type: 'data',
      data: {
        custom_key: 'custom_value',
      },
      // Platform-specific overrides
      android: {
        // See FCM AndroidConfig options
      },
      apns: {
        // See FCM ApnsConfig options
      },
      webPush: {
        // See FCM WebpushConfig options
      },
      fcmOptions: {
        // See FCM FcmOptions
      }
    },
  },
});

Override FCM notification content

By default, Novu sends the FCM notification content written in the step editor workflow. However, you can override the notification content by using the overrides field.

import { Novu } from '@novu/api';
 
const novu = new Novu({
  secretKey: "<NOVU_SECRET_KEY>",
  // Use serverURL for EU region
  // serverURL: "https://eu.api.novu.co",
});
 
await novu.trigger({
  workflowId: "workflowId",
  to: {
    subscriberId: "subscriberId",
  },
  payload: {
    key: "value",
  },
  overrides: {
    providers: {
      fcm: {
        type: "data",
 
        // URL of an image to be displayed in the notification.
        imageUrl: "https://domain.com/image.png",
 
        // If type is not set, you can use the "data" override to send notification messages with optional data payload
        data: {
          key: "value",
        },
 
        // Check FCM Overrides section above for these types
        android: {},
        apns: {},
        webPush: {},
        fcmOptions: {},
      },
    },
  },
});

Sending notifications to FCM topics

FCM topics are used to send notifications to multiple devices at once. In the overrides, you need to specify the topic you want to send the notification to.

import { Novu } from '@novu/api';
 
const novu = new Novu({
  secretKey: "<NOVU_SECRET_KEY>",
  // Use serverURL for EU region
  // serverURL: "https://eu.api.novu.co",
});
 
await novu.trigger({
  workflowId: "workflowId",
  to: {
    subscriberId: "subscriberId",
  },
  payload: {
    key: "value",
  },
  overrides: {
    providers: {
      fcm: {
        topic: "topic-123",
      },
    },
  },
});

Web push with relative links

Suppose you're using the Firebase (FCM) provider to send push notifications to web browsers via Novu and want users to be returned to the website after clicking the notification.

In that case, you must use the link property with a relative URL.

import { Novu } from '@novu/api';
 
const novu = new Novu({
  secretKey: "<NOVU_SECRET_KEY>",
  // Use serverURL for EU region
  // serverURL: "https://eu.api.novu.co",
});
 
await novu.trigger({
  workflowId: "workflowId",
  to: {
    subscriberId: "subscriberId",
  },
  payload: {
    key: "value",
  },
  overrides: {
    providers: {
      fcm: {
        webPush: {
          fcmOptions: {
            link: "/foo",
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
});

Frequently asked questions