Show Notification

Show a native notification from a workflow, with options to replace an earlier one, keep it on screen or make it silent.

Try it

workflow · price-on-page-watch.awf 6 steps

Price On Page Watch: a workflow with 6 steps, starting with When the price changes and ending with Remember this price.

1. 1 When the price changes(Element Change — open its doc page) Element Change
2. 2 Read the price(Regex — open its doc page) Regex
3. 3 Read last price(Data Store — open its doc page) Data Store
4. 4 Did the price drop?(IF — open its doc page) IF
5. 5 Show the drop alert(Show Notification — open its doc page) Show Notification if true
6. 6 Remember this price(Data Store — open its doc page) Data Store

Open in AWFlow Copy .awf

What it does

Show Notification shows a system notification (through your computer’s notification center) with a Title and a Message. Under Options you can fine-tune it:

• Icon URL: a picture for the notification. Empty means the AWFlow icon.
• Notification ID: give the notification a fixed id. A new notification with the same id replaces the old one instead of piling up, which is handy for progress or status messages.
• Priority: Low, Normal (default) or High.
• Require Interaction: keep the notification on screen until you dismiss it (Chrome only; Firefox closes notifications on its own).
• Silent: show it without a sound (Chrome only).

The workflow does not wait for you to click the notification; it continues straight away.

When to use it

• Tell the user a background or triggered workflow has finished, or has found something.
• Show a status that updates during a long run, using the same Notification ID each time.
• For a notification with action buttons, use Browser Notification. To ask the user something and wait, use In-Page Form.

Inputs and settings

Setting	Type	What it does
Title REQ(required)	Text
Message REQ(required)	Long text
Options	Group
Options › Icon URL	Text
Options › Notification ID	Text	Optional stable ID used to replace an existing notification.
Options › Priority	Choice	Options: Low, Normal, High. Default: Normal
Options › Require Interaction	Toggle	Keep the notification on screen until it is dismissed. Chrome only: Firefox closes notifications on its own. Default: Off
Options › Silent	Toggle	Show the notification without a sound. Chrome only: Firefox ignores this option. Default: Off

Title and Message accept expressions, for example Message = Saved {{ $input.title }}. Notification ID can be any text you choose, such as price-watch.

Outputs

• Output

Each output item has these fields:

Field	Type	What it holds
notificationId	Text
title	Text
message	Text
created	Always true

Shape of an output item

{
  "notificationId": "…",
  "title": "…",
  "message": "…",
  "created": true
}

notificationId is your Notification ID, or a generated id when you left it empty. title and message are the text that was shown.

Dependencies and credentials

None. This node needs no connection and has no slots for other nodes.

No credential is needed. Notifications must be allowed for your browser in your operating system’s settings.

Example workflow

1. A Schedule trigger runs every 30 minutes.
2. Http Request checks a status page’s API.
3. IF checks whether {{ $input.status }} is not ok.
4. Show Notification on the true branch, with Title = Service problem, Notification ID = status-check and Require Interaction on, so the alert stays until you see it and each new alert replaces the previous one instead of stacking up.

Common issues

• Nothing appears. Notifications for your browser are turned off in the operating system’s settings, or a focus / do-not-disturb mode is on. Allow them and try again.
• “Notification title and message are required”. Title or Message is empty, often because an expression resolved to nothing.
• The notification closes by itself. Turn on Require Interaction. Firefox always closes notifications after a while.
• Notifications pile up. Set the same Notification ID on every run so each one replaces the last.

Recipes with this node

Get an alert when a price on a page drops intermediate · 8 min No setup

Related nodes

• Browser Notification: a system notification with up to two buttons.
• Display Markdown: show a longer result on the page.
• In-Page Form: ask the user and wait for the answer.