Skip to content
Merged
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from all commits
Commits
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions content/docs/platform/inbox/meta.json
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
{
"pages": [
"overview",
"setup-inbox",
"navigation-and-events",
"configuration",
Expand Down
75 changes: 47 additions & 28 deletions content/docs/platform/inbox/overview.mdx
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,38 +1,57 @@
---
title: 'Overview'
description: "Learn how to integrate Novu <Inbox />, a pre-built notification center component for real-time in-app notifications in your application."
icon: 'LayoutDashboard'
title: 'Introduction to Inbox'
description: "Learn how to integrate Novu Inbox component, a pre-built notification center component for real-time in-app notifications in your application."
icon: 'Inbox'
---

import { Card, Cards } from 'fumadocs-ui/components/card';
import { MessageSquare, Palette, Zap } from 'lucide-react';
The Novu Inbox is a prebuilt, ready-to-use, and fully customizable UI component for delivering real-time in-app notifications. It gives your subscribers a centralized place to view and manage notifications.

The Inbox component enables a rich context-aware in-app notifications center directly in your application, and with minimal effort.
With just a few lines of code, you can embed a polished, real-time notification experience directly into your application.

Novu provides a pre-built, ready-to-use, and customizable Inbox UI component. It's in React today, and soon will be available in other popular frameworks including Vue, React Native, and full headless.
![Introduction to inbox](/images/inbox/intro-to-inbox.png)

<img src="/images/inbox/[email protected]" alt="Fully functional and customizable React Inbox component" />
## Composable architecture

## Getting Started
The Novu Inbox is built with a composable architecture. It is composed of other sub-components:

<Cards>
<Card
title="Next.js"
href="/platform/quickstart/nextjs"
description="Get started with our pre-built UI component in Next.js"
/>
<Card
title="React"
href="/platform/quickstart/react"
description="Get started with our pre-built UI component in React"
/>
<Card
title="Remix"
href="/platform/quickstart/remix"
description="Get started with our pre-built UI component in Remix"
/>
</Cards>
- `<InboxContent />` – Renders the content of the `<Inbox />` popover.
- `<Preferences />` – Manages subscriber notification preferences.
- `<Bell />` – Shows an unread counter and opens the inbox.
- `<Notifications />` – Display the list of notifications.

![Fully functional and customizable React Inbox component](/images/inbox/[email protected])

By composing these individual components, you can create multiple popular inbox layouts that fit perfectly within your application's design.

<Callout type="info" title="Design files">To aid your design process, we provide a [free Figma file](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1425407348374863860) that contains all of the design assets. Make a copy of the file into your own account to get started with customizing your graphical Inbox elements.</Callout>

## Key feature
- Full stack integration: The Inbox handles UI, unread states, routing, and preferences all in one place.
- Highly customizable: Override styles, replace every UI elements and icons.
- Flexible layouts: Use the default Inbox UI layout or build your own.
- Built-in support for Tabs and filters, localization, snoozing, preferences management, and more.

## How it works

At a high level, the Inbox abstracts away the complexity of building a notification center.

1. When you drop the Inbox component into your application, it securely connects to Novu's services.
2. It automatically fetches user notifications and manages the real-time unread count displayed on the bell icon.
3. When a user clicks the bell, it presents the list of notifications and user preferences.
4. All user interactions, such as marking a notification as read or changing a preference, are automatically synchronized with the Novu backend in real-time.

## Ways to implement the Novu Inbox

There are two integration approaches, depending on your needs for speed versus customization.

### The "Plug-and-Play" approach

This is the fastest way to integrate the Novu Inbox. The Inbox component, encapsulate all the UI and logic. You simply drop the component into your application, configure it with the necessary properties, and you're done.

### Build-Your-Own" Approach

For maximum flexibility and complete control over the look and feel, use the [@novu/react SDK](/platform/sdks/react) for react hooks or [@novu/js SDK](/platform/sdks/javascript) for framework agnostic javascript methods.

You get the power of Novu's notification engine while building a user interface that perfectly matches your application's design system.

## Design Files

To aide your design process, we provide a free [Figma file](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1425407348374863860) that contains all of the design assets. Make a copy of the file into your own account to get started with customizing your graphical Inbox elements.
Binary file added public/images/inbox/intro-to-inbox.png
Loading
Sorry, something went wrong. Reload?
Sorry, we cannot display this file.
Sorry, this file is invalid so it cannot be displayed.