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Project 11: Notification System (Multi-channel)

Phase 3: Advanced Integration
Why This Project?

Notifications keep users engaged and informed. Every modern application needs them - order updates, social interactions, system alerts, reminders. Learning to build notification systems makes you more valuable.

This project teaches you about multi-channel communication. Users want flexibility - some prefer email, others want push notifications, some want both. You'll learn how to manage user preferences and route messages to the right channels.

You'll also learn about delivery tracking and failure handling. Not all emails arrive, not all push notifications get through. Building reliable notification systems requires planning for failures.

Why This Project?

Notifications keep users engaged. Apps use them to alert users about important events, messages, or updates. Building a notification system teaches you about multi-channel communication.

This project shows you how to handle user preferences. Some users want email, some want push notifications, some want both or neither. Respecting preferences is important for good user experience.

You'll learn about delivery tracking and retry logic. Sometimes emails fail to send or networks are down. Your system needs to handle these situations gracefully.

Overview

Create a comprehensive notification service that sends alerts via email, push notifications, and in-app notifications with user preferences and delivery tracking. Learn how to build scalable notification systems that respect user preferences and track delivery success.

Core Requirements

In-app notification center with unread count

Email notifications using nodemailer

Push notifications for web and mobile

User notification preferences per channel

Notification templates for different event types

Mark as read/unread functionality

Notification history and archive

Real-time delivery using WebSockets

Delivery status tracking

Learning Objectives

Build multi-channel notification delivery

Implement user preference management

Create notification templates

Handle delivery failures gracefully

Track notification engagement

Queue notifications for batching

Notification Types

System announcements (new features, maintenance)

Social interactions (likes, comments, follows)

Account activity (login from new device, password change)

Transactional (order confirmation, payment received)

Reminders (scheduled tasks, upcoming events)

Alerts (security warnings, errors)

Technical Challenges

Build notification queue with Bull or BullMQ

Implement batch sending to avoid spam

Create template engine for notifications

Handle delivery failures with retry logic

Implement do-not-disturb hours

Track notification engagement metrics

Support notification grouping and summarization

Helpful Resources

Nodemailer: Send emails with Node.js. Docs show SMTP setup and templates.

Push Notifications: Look up "Web Push API" for browser notifications.

Firebase Cloud Messaging: FCM docs for mobile push notifications.

Email Templates: Search for "HTML email templates" and "responsive email design".

Message Queues: Learn about Bull or BullMQ for queuing notifications.

Notification Patterns: Read about "notification center UI" for in-app notifications.

Helpful Resources

Nodemailer: For email notifications. Docs show how to send with different providers.

Push API: MDN docs on Web Push API. Learn about service workers and push subscriptions.

Template Engines: Look up Handlebars or EJS for email templates.

Bull Queue: Bull documentation on npm. Used for queuing and background jobs.

Firebase Cloud Messaging: For mobile push notifications. Free and reliable.

Notification Best Practices: Search for "notification UX best practices" for user experience tips.

Success Criteria

Notifications deliver within 5 seconds

User preferences are respected

Failed deliveries are logged and retried

In-app notifications update in real-time

Email templates render correctly

Push notifications appear on devices

Hint: Build the in-app notification system first, then add email, then push. Each channel has its own complexity, so tackle them incrementally.

Submit Your Project

Once you've completed this project, submit your GitHub repository link below: