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# Notifications

A notification inbox record is durable state stored by `agent.sendNotificationSignal()`. It's not the same object as the notification signal delivered to a thread. The record tracks routing, priority, delivery state, deduplication, and retry history. The signal carries a summary and a snapshot of that record in its metadata.

Use [`Agent.sendNotificationSignal()`](https://mastra.ai/reference/agents/agent) to create records and the [Notifications guide](https://mastra.ai/docs/signals/notifications) for the delivery flow.

## Notification records

`NotificationRecord` is the stored inbox record.

**id** (`string`): Unique notification record ID.

**threadId** (`string`): Thread the notification targets.

**source** (`string`): External system that produced the notification, such as github, slack, or email.

**kind** (`string`): Notification kind within the source, such as ci-status, mention, or direct-message.

**priority** (`NotificationPriority`): Delivery priority. Defaults to medium when the notification is created.

**status** (`NotificationStatus`): Current lifecycle status of the record.

**summary** (`string`): LLM-facing summary used as the notification signal contents.

**payload** (`unknown`): Structured payload stored for tools or application code. The model never receives this field as part of the signal.

**resourceId** (`string`): Resource that owns the thread, when known.

**agentId** (`string`): Agent that owns the notification, when known.

**sourceId** (`string`): Identifier of the source object, such as a pull request or message ID.

**dedupeKey** (`string`): Key used to coalesce duplicate pending notifications from the same source and thread.

**coalesceKey** (`string`): Key used to combine related pending notifications from the same source and thread.

**coalescedCount** (`number`): Number of notifications folded into this record.

**attributes** (`NotificationSignalAttributes`): Extra attributes copied onto the emitted notification signal as XML attributes.

**createdAt** (`Date`): Time the record was created.

**updatedAt** (`Date`): Time the record was last updated.

**deliveredAt** (`Date`): Time a full notification was delivered.

**seenAt** (`Date`): Time the notification was marked seen, including when the inbox tool read it.

**dismissedAt** (`Date`): Time the notification was dismissed.

**archivedAt** (`Date`): Time the notification was archived.

**discardedAt** (`Date`): Time the notification was discarded by the delivery policy.

**deliverAt** (`Date`): Earliest time the dispatcher may attempt full delivery.

**summaryAt** (`Date`): Time the dispatcher should emit a summary for this record. Cleared after the summary is emitted.

**deliveryReason** (`string`): Reason returned by the delivery policy for the current decision.

**deliveryAttempts** (`number`): Number of failed delivery attempts. Reaching five marks the record failed.

**lastDeliveryAttemptAt** (`Date`): Time of the most recent delivery attempt.

**lastDeliveryError** (`string`): Error from the most recent failed delivery attempt.

**deliveredSignalId** (`string`): Signal ID of the full notification delivery, when one was emitted.

**summarySignalId** (`string`): Signal ID of the most recent summary that included this record.

**metadata** (`Record<string, unknown>`): Application metadata stored on the record.

## Coalescing pending records

`sendNotificationSignal()` can merge a new notification into an existing pending record instead of creating another one. Merging only considers records on the same thread, source, kind, agent, and resource.

Each key serves a different purpose:

- `dedupeKey` identifies the same event. Reuse it when a retry or duplicate webhook should update the existing record.
- `coalesceKey` groups related events. Use it when several events should become one record, such as multiple failures from the same pipeline.

Both keys use the same matching rules. The difference is intent: a dedupe key represents one event that may arrive twice, while a coalesce key represents a set of related events.

When a notification merges:

- The latest `summary` and `payload` replace the previous values.
- `priority` updates when the new notification provides one.
- `attributes` and `metadata` merge, with the new values taking precedence.
- `coalescedCount` increments.

## Priorities and statuses

`NotificationPriority` controls default delivery timing.

```typescript
type NotificationPriority = 'low' | 'medium' | 'high' | 'urgent'
```

`NotificationStatus` is the record lifecycle.

```typescript
type NotificationStatus =
  | 'pending'
  | 'delivered'
  | 'seen'
  | 'dismissed'
  | 'archived'
  | 'discarded'
  | 'failed'
```

`pending` records are eligible for dispatch. `delivered` means a full notification signal was emitted. `seen`, `dismissed`, and `archived` are inbox states. `discarded` means the delivery policy rejected the notification. `failed` means delivery reached the five-attempt cap.

## Delivery decisions

A delivery policy returns a `NotificationDeliveryDecision`.

```typescript
type NotificationDeliveryAction =
  | 'deliver'
  | 'queue'
  | 'defer'
  | 'summarize'
  | 'persist'
  | 'discard'

type NotificationDeliveryDecision = {
  action: NotificationDeliveryAction
  deliverAt?: Date
  summaryAt?: Date
  reason?: string
  streamOptions?: AgentExecutionOptions<unknown>
  hold?: boolean
}
```

`deliver` emits a full notification signal immediately. `queue` and `defer` leave the record pending for later dispatch. `summarize` emits or schedules a summary. `persist` stores the record without emitting a signal. `discard` marks the record discarded without delivering it.

`streamOptions` are attached when delivery wakes an idle thread. They're resolved at delivery time, so a deferred or summarized notification can still carry the execution options the woken thread needs, such as model selection.

`hold` applies only at delivery time. It leaves the notification pending without counting an attempt, so another process's dispatcher can deliver it. Use it when a process shares the notification store but can't run the target thread. `hold` is ignored when the notification is first sent.

## Delivery policies

Configure a policy through the Agent constructor's `notifications.deliveryPolicy` option.

```typescript
type NotificationDeliveryPolicyConfig = {
  default?: NotificationDeliveryAction | NotificationDeliveryDecision
  priorities?: Partial<
    Record<NotificationPriority, NotificationDeliveryAction | NotificationDeliveryDecision>
  >
  sources?: Record<string, NotificationDeliveryAction | NotificationDeliveryDecision>
  decide?: (
    input: NotificationDeliveryPolicyInput,
  ) =>
    | NotificationDeliveryAction
    | NotificationDeliveryDecision
    | undefined
    | Promise<NotificationDeliveryAction | NotificationDeliveryDecision | undefined>
}

type NotificationDeliveryPolicyInput = {
  record: NotificationRecord
  threadState: 'active' | 'idle'
  now: Date
}
```

Mastra evaluates the policy in this order:

1. `decide`
2. `sources`, matched against `record.source`
3. `priorities`, matched against `record.priority`
4. `default`
5. The built-in priority policy

The built-in policy is:

| Priority | Idle thread          | Active thread                                                          |
| -------- | -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `urgent` | Deliver immediately  | Deliver immediately                                                    |
| `high`   | Deliver immediately  | Emit a summary immediately, then deliver later when the thread is idle |
| `medium` | Deliver immediately  | Batch into a summary                                                   |
| `low`    | Batch into a summary | Batch into a summary                                                   |

A custom `decide` function runs at receipt time and again at delivery time for records whose receipt-time decision deferred them or scheduled a summary. At delivery time, the record's persisted schedule already fixes when and how it delivers, so only `streamOptions` and `hold` are honored. Keep the decider side-effect free.

## Dispatch

`NotificationDispatchConfig` controls the scheduled dispatcher.

**enabled** (`boolean`): Whether automatic scheduled dispatch is enabled. Defaults to true; set false to opt out.

**cron** (`string`): Cron expression for the dispatcher schedule. Defaults to \*/1 \* \* \* \* (once per minute).

**batchSize** (`number`): Maximum notifications processed per dispatch. Defaults to 100.

The dispatcher schedule is created lazily on the first deferred or summarized notification, so an app with no deferred notifications never starts it. A record that fails delivery five times is marked `failed` and stops being due. The cap is exported as `MAX_NOTIFICATION_DELIVERY_ATTEMPTS`.

## Delivered signal metadata

When a record delivers, the stream consumer receives a notification signal with `NotificationSignalMetadata`.

```typescript
type NotificationSignalMetadata = {
  signal: 'notification'
  recordId: string
  source: string
  kind: string
  priority: NotificationPriority
  status: NotificationStatus
  coalescedCount?: number
  deliveredAt?: string
  seenAt?: string
}
```

When Mastra emits a summary, the consumer receives a summary signal with `NotificationSummarySignalMetadata`.

```typescript
type NotificationSummarySignalMetadata = {
  signal: 'summary'
  pending: number
  groups: Array<{ source: string; count: number }>
  byPriority: Partial<Record<NotificationPriority, number>>
  notificationIds: string[]
  priority?: NotificationPriority
}
```

These metadata shapes describe the signals. The stored record isn't the signal, and the signal doesn't include the record's `payload` or retry history.

## Storage

Notification records require a storage domain that supports `notifications`, such as libSQL, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB. Without it, `sendNotificationSignal()` can't store records.

`sendSignal({ type: 'notification' })` bypasses inbox storage and delivers notification-shaped context directly. Use [`createNotificationInboxTool()`](https://mastra.ai/reference/signals/create-notification-inbox-tool) to read and manage stored records from an agent.

## Related

- [`Agent.sendNotificationSignal()`](https://mastra.ai/reference/agents/agent)
- [`createNotificationInboxTool()`](https://mastra.ai/reference/signals/create-notification-inbox-tool)
- [Notifications guide](https://mastra.ai/docs/signals/notifications)
- [Thread streams](https://mastra.ai/docs/signals/thread-streams)