payload-notifications/WEBPUSH.md

Web Push Notifications

The @xtr-dev/payload-notifications plugin includes built-in support for web push notifications for PWA and mobile browser users.

Features

• 🔔 Web Push Notifications for mobile PWA support
• 📲 Service Worker integration for offline notifications
• 🔐 VAPID keys support for secure push messaging
• 🎯 Auto-push on notification creation
• 🔄 Custom notification transformers
• 👤 Anonymous user notification support

Setup VAPID Keys

Step 1: Generate VAPID keys for secure push messaging:

npx web-push generate-vapid-keys

This will output something like:

=======================================
Public Key:
BNde-uFUkQB5BweFbOt_40Tn3xZahMop2JKT8kqRn4UqMMinieguHmVCTxwN_qfM-jZ0YFpVpIk3CWehlXcTl8A

Private Key:
RVtnLcW8qlSkuhNskz8lwBwYcam78x-zO0Ssm_P2bmE
=======================================

Step 2: Add the keys to your environment variables:

VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY=BNde-uFUkQB5BweFbOt_40Tn3xZahMop2JKT8kqRn4UqMMinieguHmVCTxwN_qfM-jZ0YFpVpIk3CWehlXcTl8A
VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY=RVtnLcW8qlSkuhNskz8lwBwYcam78x-zO0Ssm_P2bmE

Step 3: Restart your application to load the new environment variables.

⚠️ Important: Keep your private key secure and never commit it to version control!

Plugin Configuration

Basic Web Push Setup

import { notificationsPlugin } from '@xtr-dev/payload-notifications'

notificationsPlugin({
  webPush: {
    enabled: true,
    autoPush: true, // Automatically send push notifications when notifications are created
    vapidPublicKey: process.env.VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY,
    vapidPrivateKey: process.env.VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY,
    vapidSubject: 'mailto:your-email@example.com',
  }
})

Advanced Configuration

notificationsPlugin({
  webPush: {
    enabled: true,
    autoPush: true,
    vapidPublicKey: process.env.VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY,
    vapidPrivateKey: process.env.VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY,
    vapidSubject: 'mailto:your-email@example.com',
    // Optional: Custom notification transformer
    transformNotification: (notification) => ({
      title: `🔔 ${notification.title}`,
      body: extractTextFromRichText(notification.message).substring(0, 120) + '...',
      icon: '/icons/notification-icon.png',
      badge: '/icons/notification-badge.png',
      data: {
        notificationId: notification.id,
        url: `/admin/collections/notifications/${notification.id}`
      },
      actions: [
        { action: 'view', title: 'View', icon: '/icons/view.png' },
        { action: 'dismiss', title: 'Dismiss' }
      ]
    }),
    // Optional: Custom hook for finding push subscriptions (for anonymous notifications)
    findSubscriptions: async (notification, payload) => {
      // Custom logic to find subscriptions based on notification data
      // Return array of push subscription documents
      return []
    }
  }
})

Anonymous Notifications Support

For scenarios where you need to send notifications to anonymous users or have custom recipient logic (e.g., notifications based on email addresses, phone numbers, or custom identifiers), you can use the findSubscriptions hook combined with custom fields.

Example: Email-based notifications

notificationsPlugin({
  // Add custom email field to notifications collection
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'recipientEmail',
      type: 'email',
      label: 'Recipient Email',
      admin: {
        description: 'Email address of the notification recipient',
      },
    }
  ],
  webPush: {
    enabled: true,
    autoPush: true,
    vapidPublicKey: process.env.VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY,
    vapidPrivateKey: process.env.VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY,
    vapidSubject: 'mailto:your-email@example.com',
    // Custom hook to find subscriptions based on email
    findSubscriptions: async (notification, payload) => {
      if (!notification.recipientEmail) return []

      // Find push subscriptions associated with this email
      const subscriptions = await payload.find({
        collection: 'push-subscriptions',
        where: {
          and: [
            { recipientEmail: { equals: notification.recipientEmail } },
            { isActive: { equals: true } },
            // Channel filtering (if specified)
            ...(notification.channel ? [{
              or: [
                { channels: { contains: notification.channel } },
                { channels: { contains: 'all' } },
                { channels: { exists: false } },
              ]
            }] : [])
          ]
        }
      })

      return subscriptions.docs
    }
  }
})

Example: Phone number-based notifications

notificationsPlugin({
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'recipientPhone',
      type: 'text',
      label: 'Recipient Phone',
      admin: {
        description: 'Phone number of the notification recipient',
      },
    }
  ],
  webPush: {
    enabled: true,
    autoPush: true,
    vapidPublicKey: process.env.VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY,
    vapidPrivateKey: process.env.VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY,
    vapidSubject: 'mailto:your-email@example.com',
    findSubscriptions: async (notification, payload) => {
      if (!notification.recipientPhone) return []

      // Custom logic to find subscriptions by phone number
      // You might have a separate mapping table or user lookup
      const user = await payload.find({
        collection: 'users',
        where: { phone: { equals: notification.recipientPhone } },
        limit: 1
      })

      if (!user.docs[0]) return []

      const subscriptions = await payload.find({
        collection: 'push-subscriptions',
        where: {
          and: [
            { user: { equals: user.docs[0].id } },
            { isActive: { equals: true } }
          ]
        }
      })

      return subscriptions.docs
    }
  }
})

Key Points:

• The default recipient field remains a user relationship for standard notifications
• Add custom recipient fields via the fields option for your specific use case
• Use the findSubscriptions hook to implement custom subscription lookup logic
• The hook receives the full notification document and payload instance
• Return an array of push subscription documents that should receive the notification
• The plugin will handle the actual push notification sending and error handling

Client-Side Integration

⚠️ Authentication Required: Users must be signed in to subscribe to push notifications. Push subscriptions are associated with user accounts.

React Hook

import { usePushNotifications } from '@xtr-dev/payload-notifications/client'

function NotificationSettings() {
  const {
    isSupported,
    isSubscribed,
    permission,
    subscribe,
    unsubscribe
  } = usePushNotifications(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_VAPID_KEY)

  if (!isSupported) return <div>Push notifications not supported</div>

  return (
    <div>
      <p>Status: {isSubscribed ? 'Subscribed' : 'Not subscribed'}</p>
      <p>Permission: {permission}</p>

      {!isSubscribed ? (
        <button onClick={subscribe}>Enable Notifications</button>
      ) : (
        <button onClick={unsubscribe}>Disable Notifications</button>
      )}
    </div>
  )
}

Vanilla JavaScript

import { ClientPushManager } from '@xtr-dev/payload-notifications/client'

const pushManager = new ClientPushManager('your-vapid-public-key')

// Subscribe to notifications
await pushManager.subscribe()

// Check subscription status
const isSubscribed = await pushManager.isSubscribed()

// Unsubscribe
await pushManager.unsubscribe()

Service Worker Setup

Generate a service worker file automatically:

npx @xtr-dev/payload-notifications generate-sw

This will create a /public/sw.js file with the complete service worker template that handles:

• Push notification events
• Notification click handling
• Service worker lifecycle management
• Error handling and fallbacks
• Notification tracking and analytics

Important Notes:

• The service worker file must be placed at /public/sw.js in Next.js projects
• This makes it accessible at https://yourdomain.com/sw.js
• Service workers must be served from the root domain for security
• After creating the file, restart your Next.js development server

Server-Side Push Notifications

import { WebPushManager } from '@xtr-dev/payload-notifications/rsc'

// Send push notification to a user
const pushManager = new WebPushManager(webPushConfig, payload)

await pushManager.sendToUser(
  userId,
  'Order Shipped!',
  'Your order #12345 has been shipped',
  {
    icon: '/icons/order-shipped.png',
    badge: '/icons/badge.png',
    data: { orderId: '12345', url: '/orders/12345' },
    actions: [
      { action: 'view', title: 'View Order', icon: '/icons/view.png' },
      { action: 'dismiss', title: 'Dismiss' }
    ]
  }
)

API Endpoints

The plugin automatically creates these endpoints when web push is enabled:

• POST /api/push-notifications/subscribe - Subscribe to push notifications ⚠️ Requires authentication
• POST /api/push-notifications/unsubscribe - Unsubscribe from push notifications
• GET /api/push-notifications/vapid-public-key - Get VAPID public key
• POST /api/push-notifications/send - Send notification to user ⚠️ Requires authentication
• POST /api/push-notifications/test - Send test notification ⚠️ Admin only
• POST /api/push-notifications/track - Track notification events

Integration with Notifications Collection

When creating notifications, you can automatically send push notifications:

// Create notification and send push notification
const notification = await payload.create({
  collection: 'notifications',
  data: {
    title: 'New Message',
    message: [{ children: [{ text: 'You have a new message!' }] }],
    recipient: userId,
    attachments: { message: messageId }
  }
})

// With autoPush enabled, push notifications are sent automatically
// Or manually send push notification
if (webPushEnabled) {
  await pushManager.sendToUser(
    userId,
    notification.title,
    'You have a new notification',
    {
      data: {
        notificationId: notification.id,
        url: `/notifications/${notification.id}`
      }
    }
  )
}