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Overview

The Royalti.io notification system keeps users informed about important events across your workspace through multiple delivery channels. This guide covers how to retrieve, manage, and customize notification preferences for your users.

Why Use Notifications?

  • Stay Informed: Get real-time updates about critical events in your workspace
  • Multi-Channel Delivery: Receive notifications via in-app, email, and push notifications
  • Customizable: Control which events trigger notifications and through which channels
  • Centralized: All notifications are accessible through a unified API
  • Actionable: Notifications link directly to relevant resources for quick action

Notification Channels

Royalti.io supports three notification channels: Users can customize which channels they want to receive for each notification type through their preferences.

Notification Types

Royalti.io generates notifications for events across multiple categories:

Royalty File Processing

User & Collaboration Events

Artist Management

Catalog Management (Tracks & Releases)

Financial & Payment Events

Billing & Subscription

Release Management & Distribution

File Processing

DDEX Provider Delivery


Default Notification Configuration

When users first sign up or are invited to a workspace, Royalti.io automatically creates smart default notification preferences based on event priority and importance.

Default Settings Overview

Philosophy: In-app notifications for all events, email only for high-priority actions that require attention or represent critical workflow changes.

Disabled by Default

These low-priority CRUD events are disabled by default to reduce notification noise: Note: Users can re-enable these through their notification preferences if needed.

Email-Enabled by Default

These high-priority events include both in-app and email notifications by default: Royalty File Processing (Critical)
  • ROYALTY_FILE_PROCESSED - Completion requires review
  • ROYALTY_FILE_PROCESSING_FAILED - Requires immediate attention
Payment Requests (Action Required)
  • PAYMENT_REQUEST_SENT - Approval workflow initiated
  • PAYMENT_REQUEST_APPROVED - Financial decision confirmed
  • PAYMENT_REQUEST_REJECTED - Requires follow-up action
User Collaboration (Important)
  • USER_INVITATION_SENT - New team member notification
  • USER_ADDED_TO_SPLIT - Revenue sharing change
Deletions (Data Loss Awareness)
  • ARTIST_DELETED, ASSET_DELETED, PRODUCT_DELETED
  • EXPENSE_DELETED, REVENUE_DELETED, USER_DELETED
Release Management (Workflow-Critical)
  • RELEASE_SUBMITTED - Distribution workflow step
  • RELEASE_APPROVED, RELEASE_REJECTED - Decision notification
  • RELEASE_FEEDBACK_ADDED - Requires review

In-App Only by Default

All other notification types use in-app notifications only by default. Users receive these notifications in the dashboard but not via email unless they explicitly enable email delivery.

Customizing Defaults

Admin Note: Default preferences are automatically initialized when:
  • A new user signs up
  • A user accepts an invitation
  • A user logs in for the first time
Users can customize their preferences at any time through the notification preferences API. Best Practice: Encourage users to review their notification preferences after joining to ensure they receive the right balance of updates for their workflow.

Quick Start

1

Get Notifications

Retrieve notifications for the authenticated user:
Response:
2

Check Unread Count

Get the count of unread notifications:
Response:
3

Mark as Read

Mark a specific notification as read:
Or mark all notifications as read:
4

Configure Preferences

Customize notification preferences:

Notification Structure

All notifications follow a standardized structure:

Field Descriptions


API Endpoints

Get Notifications

Retrieve paginated notifications with optional filtering. Endpoint: GET /notifications Query Parameters: Example:

Get Unread Count

Get the count of unread notifications for quick badge display. Endpoint: GET /notifications/unread/count Example:
Response:

Mark Notification as Read

Mark a specific notification as read. Endpoint: PATCH /notifications/{notificationId}/read Path Parameters: Example:

Mark All Notifications as Read

Mark all notifications as read for the authenticated user. Endpoint: PATCH /notifications/mark-all-read Example:
Response:

Notification Preferences

Users can customize which notifications they receive and through which channels.

Get Notification Preferences

Retrieve the current notification preferences for the authenticated user. Endpoint: GET /notifications/preferences Example:
Response:

Update Notification Preferences

Customize which notifications to receive and through which channels. Endpoint: PUT /notifications/preferences Request Body:
Example:
Response:

Preference Configuration

Available Channels

Notification Batching

Some notification types support batching to reduce email volume:
  • Immediate: Critical notifications (payments, failures) are sent immediately
  • Hourly Aggregation: Non-critical notifications (asset created, updates) are batched and sent hourly
  • Daily Cleanup: Expired notifications are automatically removed

Integration Patterns

Real-Time Notification Display

Implement a notification bell with unread count:

Notification List Component

Fetch and display notifications with pagination:

Preference Management UI

Allow users to customize notification preferences:

Best Practices

✅ User Experience
  1. Display unread count prominently in your UI (bell icon with badge)
  2. Mark notifications as read when user views them
  3. Provide action links to relevant resources when applicable
  4. Group similar notifications to reduce clutter
  5. Auto-refresh notification count periodically (every 30-60 seconds)
  6. Show timestamps in user-friendly format (e.g., “5 minutes ago”)
  7. Highlight important notifications with visual indicators
  8. Allow bulk actions (mark all as read, archive, etc.)
✅ Performance Optimization
  1. Use pagination to limit the number of notifications loaded at once
  2. Cache unread count to reduce API calls
  3. Implement lazy loading for notification details
  4. Batch preference updates when changing multiple settings
  5. Use WebSockets or polling for real-time updates (if available)
✅ Preference Management
  1. Provide granular controls for each notification type
  2. Set sensible defaults based on notification importance
  3. Allow channel-specific preferences (email vs. in-app vs. push)
  4. Explain notification types so users understand what they’re opting into
  5. Respect user preferences immediately - no delay in applying changes
⚠️ Common Pitfalls
  1. Don’t overwhelm users with too many notifications
  2. Don’t ignore unread status - always mark as read when viewed
  3. Don’t hardcode notification types - use the API to get available types
  4. Don’t skip error handling - API calls may fail
  5. Don’t forget to implement pagination - notification lists can grow large

Troubleshooting

Notifications Not Appearing

✅ Checklist:
  1. Check notification preferences - is the event type enabled?
  2. Verify the user has the correct permissions
  3. Check if notifications are filtered by isRead or isArchived
  4. Ensure the tenant ID matches the authenticated user’s workspace
  5. Check the API response for errors

Missing Notification Preferences

✅ Solutions:
  1. Preferences are created on-demand when first updated
  2. Default preferences are used if none are set
  3. Call GET /notifications/preferences to see current state
  4. Update preferences with PUT /notifications/preferences

High Unread Count

✅ Management:
  1. Implement “Mark all as read” functionality
  2. Allow users to archive old notifications
  3. Set expiration dates for less important notifications
  4. Encourage users to customize preferences to reduce noise

FAQ

Yes, notifications are workspace-scoped. When events occur in your workspace (e.g., a teammate creates an asset), all relevant users receive notifications based on their preferences and permissions.
Notifications are stored indefinitely unless they have an expiresAt date. Expired notifications are automatically removed by the daily cleanup job at 2 AM UTC.
Yes, you can disable notifications by setting isEnabled: false for each notification type in your preferences. Alternatively, you can choose to only enable the IN_APP channel and manage notifications within the dashboard.
In-app and push notifications are sent in real-time. Email notifications for non-critical events may be batched and sent hourly to reduce email volume. Critical notifications (payments, failures) are always sent immediately.
Currently, notifications are workspace-level and cannot be filtered by specific resources. You can control notification types and channels, but not individual resources. This feature may be added in future updates.
Failed notifications are automatically retried based on the channel’s retry strategy. If all retry attempts fail, the notification is logged for debugging but the in-app notification remains accessible through the API.
Notification templates are currently managed by Royalti.io and cannot be customized per workspace. However, you can control which notifications you receive through your preferences.

Support & Resources

API Documentation: Related Guides: External Resources:
Last Updated: January 2025 Version: 1.0