# Notifications Notifications are sent by Coder in response to specific internal events, such as a workspace being deleted or a user being created. Available events may differ between versions. For a list of all events, visit your Coder deployment's `https://coder.example.com/deployment/notifications`. ## Event Types Notifications are sent in response to internal events, to alert the affected user(s) of the event. Coder supports the following list of events: ### Task Events These notifications are sent to the owner of the workspace where the task is running: - Task Idle - Task Working ### Template Events These notifications are sent to users with **template admin** roles: - Report: Workspace builds failed for template - This notification is delivered as part of a weekly cron job and summarizes the failed builds for a given template. - Template deleted - Template deprecated ### User Events These notifications are sent to users with **owner** and **user admin** roles: - User account activated - User account created - User account deleted - User account suspended These notifications are sent to users themselves: - User account suspended - User account activated - User password reset (One-time passcode) ### Workspace Events These notifications are sent to the workspace owner: - Workspace automatic build failure - Workspace created - Workspace deleted - Workspace manual build failure - Workspace manually updated - Workspace marked as dormant - Workspace marked for deletion - Out of memory (OOM) / Out of disk (OOD) - Template admins can [configure OOM/OOD](#configure-oomood-notifications) notifications in the template `main.tf`. - Workspace automatically updated ## Delivery Methods Notifications can be delivered through the Coder dashboard Inbox and by SMTP or webhook. OOM/OOD notifications can be delivered to users in VS Code. You can configure: - SMTP or webhooks globally with [`CODER_NOTIFICATIONS_METHOD`](https://coder.com/docs/reference/cli/server.md#--notifications-method) (default: `smtp`). - Coder dashboard Inbox with [`CODER_NOTIFICATIONS_INBOX_ENABLED`](https://coder.com/docs/reference/cli/server.md#--notifications-inbox-enabled) (default: `true`). Premium customers can configure which method to use for each of the supported [Events](#workspace-events). See the [Preferences](#delivery-preferences) section for more details. ## Configuration You can modify the notification delivery behavior in your Coder deployment's `https://coder.example.com/settings/notifications`, or with the following server flags: | Required | CLI | Env | Type | Description | Default | |:--------:|-------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------| | ✔️ | `--notifications-dispatch-timeout` | `CODER_NOTIFICATIONS_DISPATCH_TIMEOUT` | `duration` | How long to wait while a notification is being sent before giving up. | 1m | | ✔️ | `--notifications-method` | `CODER_NOTIFICATIONS_METHOD` | `string` | Which delivery method to use (available options: 'smtp', 'webhook'). See [Delivery Methods](#delivery-methods) below. | smtp | | -️ | `--notifications-max-send-attempts` | `CODER_NOTIFICATIONS_MAX_SEND_ATTEMPTS` | `int` | The upper limit of attempts to send a notification. | 5 | | -️ | `--notifications-inbox-enabled` | `CODER_NOTIFICATIONS_INBOX_ENABLED` | `bool` | Enable or disable inbox notifications in the Coder dashboard. | true | ### Configure OOM/OOD notifications You can monitor out of memory (OOM) and out of disk (OOD) errors and alert users when they overutilize memory and disk. This can help prevent agent disconnects due to OOM/OOD issues. To enable OOM/OOD notifications on a template, follow the steps in the [resource monitoring guide](https://coder.com/docs/admin/templates/extending-templates/resource-monitoring.md). ## SMTP (Email) Use the `smtp` method to deliver notifications by email to your users. Coder does not ship with an SMTP server, so you will need to configure Coder to use an existing one. **Server Settings:** | Required | CLI | Env | Type | Description | Default | |:--------:|---------------------|-------------------------|----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------| | ✔️ | `--email-from` | `CODER_EMAIL_FROM` | `string` | The sender's address to use (e.g. `"Coder "`). | | | ✔️ | `--email-smarthost` | `CODER_EMAIL_SMARTHOST` | `string` | The SMTP relay to send messages (format: `hostname:port`) | | | ✔️ | `--email-hello` | `CODER_EMAIL_HELLO` | `string` | The hostname identifying the SMTP server. | localhost | **Authentication Settings:** | Required | CLI | Env | Type | Description | |:--------:|------------------------------|----------------------------------|----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | `--email-auth-username` | `CODER_EMAIL_AUTH_USERNAME` | `string` | Username to use with PLAIN/LOGIN authentication. | | - | `--email-auth-password` | `CODER_EMAIL_AUTH_PASSWORD` | `string` | Password to use with PLAIN/LOGIN authentication. | | - | `--email-auth-password-file` | `CODER_EMAIL_AUTH_PASSWORD_FILE` | `string` | File from which to load password for use with PLAIN/LOGIN authentication. | | - | `--email-auth-identity` | `CODER_EMAIL_AUTH_IDENTITY` | `string` | Identity to use with PLAIN authentication. | **TLS Settings:** | Required | CLI | Env | Type | Description | Default | |:--------:|-----------------------------|-------------------------------|----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------| | - | `--email-force-tls` | `CODER_EMAIL_FORCE_TLS` | `bool` | Force a TLS connection to the configured SMTP smarthost. If port 465 is used, TLS will be forced. See . | false | | - | `--email-tls-starttls` | `CODER_EMAIL_TLS_STARTTLS` | `bool` | Enable STARTTLS to upgrade insecure SMTP connections using TLS. Ignored if `CODER_EMAIL_FORCE_TLS` is set. | false | | - | `--email-tls-skip-verify` | `CODER_EMAIL_TLS_SKIPVERIFY` | `bool` | Skip verification of the target server's certificate (**insecure**). | false | | - | `--email-tls-server-name` | `CODER_EMAIL_TLS_SERVERNAME` | `string` | Server name to verify against the target certificate. | | | - | `--email-tls-cert-file` | `CODER_EMAIL_TLS_CERTFILE` | `string` | Certificate file to use. | | | - | `--email-tls-cert-key-file` | `CODER_EMAIL_TLS_CERTKEYFILE` | `string` | Certificate key file to use. | | **NOTE:** you _MUST_ use `CODER_EMAIL_FORCE_TLS` if your smarthost supports TLS on a port other than `465`. ### Send emails using G-Suite After setting the required fields above: 1. Create an [App Password](https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords) using the account you wish to send from. 1. Set the following configuration options: ```text CODER_EMAIL_SMARTHOST=smtp.gmail.com:465 CODER_EMAIL_AUTH_USERNAME=@ CODER_EMAIL_AUTH_PASSWORD="" ``` **Note:** The `CODER_EMAIL_AUTH_PASSWORD` must be entered without spaces. See [this help article from Google](https://support.google.com/a/answer/176600?hl=en) for more options. ### Send emails using Outlook.com After setting the required fields above: 1. Set up an account on Microsoft 365 or outlook.com 1. Set the following configuration options: ```text CODER_EMAIL_SMARTHOST=smtp-mail.outlook.com:587 CODER_EMAIL_TLS_STARTTLS=true CODER_EMAIL_AUTH_USERNAME=@ CODER_EMAIL_AUTH_PASSWORD="" ``` See [this help article from Microsoft](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/pop-imap-and-smtp-settings-for-outlook-com-d088b986-291d-42b8-9564-9c414e2aa040) for more options. ## Webhook The webhook delivery method sends an HTTP POST request to the defined endpoint. The purpose of webhook notifications is to enable integrations with other systems. **Settings**: | Required | CLI | Env | Type | Description | |:--------:|------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|-------|-----------------------------------------| | ✔️ | `--notifications-webhook-endpoint` | `CODER_NOTIFICATIONS_WEBHOOK_ENDPOINT` | `url` | The endpoint to which to send webhooks. | Here is an example payload for Coder's webhook notification: ```json { "_version": "1.0", "msg_id": "88750cad-77d4-4663-8bc0-f46855f5019b", "payload": { "_version": "1.0", "notification_name": "Workspace Deleted", "user_id": "4ac34fcb-8155-44d5-8301-e3cd46e88b35", "user_email": "danny@coder.com", "user_name": "danny", "user_username": "danny", "actions": [ { "label": "View workspaces", "url": "https://et23ntkhpueak.pit-1.try.coder.app/workspaces" }, { "label": "View templates", "url": "https://et23ntkhpueak.pit-1.try.coder.app/templates" } ], "labels": { "initiator": "danny", "name": "my-workspace", "reason": "initiated by user" } }, "title": "Workspace \"my-workspace\" deleted", "body": "Hi danny\n\nYour workspace my-workspace was deleted.\nThe specified reason was \"initiated by user (danny)\"." } ``` The top-level object has these keys: - `_version`: describes the version of this schema; follows semantic versioning - `msg_id`: the UUID of the notification (matches the ID in the `notification_messages` table) - `payload`: contains the specific details of the notification; described below - `title`: the title of the notification message (equivalent to a subject in SMTP delivery) - `body`: the body of the notification message (equivalent to the message body in SMTP delivery) The `payload` object has these keys: - `_version`: describes the version of this inner schema; follows semantic versioning - `notification_name`: name of the event which triggered the notification - `user_id`: Coder internal user identifier of the target user (UUID) - `user_email`: email address of the target user - `user_name`: name of the target user - `user_username`: username of the target user - `actions`: a list of CTAs (Call-To-Action); these are mainly relevant for SMTP delivery in which they're shown as buttons - `labels`: dynamic map of zero or more string key-value pairs; these vary from event to event ## User Preferences All users have the option to opt-out of any notifications. Go to **Account** -> **Notifications** to turn notifications on or off. The delivery method for each notification is indicated on the right hand side of this table. ![User Notification Preferences](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/coder/coder/main/docs/images/admin/monitoring/notifications/user-notification-preferences.png) ## Delivery Preferences > [!NOTE] > Delivery preferences is a Premium feature. > [Learn more](https://coder.com/pricing#compare-plans). Administrators can configure which delivery methods are used for each different [event type](#event-types). ![preferences](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/coder/coder/main/docs/images/admin/monitoring/notifications/notification-admin-prefs.png) You can find this page under `https://$CODER_ACCESS_URL/deployment/notifications?tab=events`. ## Custom notifications Custom notifications let you send an ad‑hoc notification to yourself using the Coder CLI. These are useful for surfacing the result of long-running tasks or important state changes. At this time, custom notifications can only be sent to the user making the request. To send a custom notification, execute [`coder notifications custom <message>`](https://coder.com/docs/reference/cli/notifications_custom.md). <!-- TODO(ssncferreira): Update when sending custom notifications to multiple users/roles is supported. Explain deduplication behaviour for multiple users/roles. See: https://github.com/coder/coder/issues/19768 --> **Note:** The recipient is always the requesting user as targeting other users or groups isn’t supported yet. ### Examples - Send yourself a quick update: ```shell coder templates push -y && coder notifications custom "Template push complete" "Template version uploaded." ``` - Use in a script after a long-running task: ```shell #!/usr/bin/env bash set -o pipefail if make test 2>&1 | tee test_output.log; then coder notifications custom "Tests Succeeded" $'Test results:\n • ✅ success' else failures=$(grep -Po '\d+(?=\s+failures)' test_output.log | tail -n1 || echo 0) coder notifications custom "Tests Failed" $'Test results:\n • ❌ failed ('"$failures"' tests failed)' exit 1 fi ``` ## Stop sending notifications Administrators may wish to stop _all_ notifications across the deployment. We support a killswitch in the CLI for these cases. To pause sending notifications, execute [`coder notifications pause`](https://coder.com/docs/reference/cli/notifications_pause.md). To resume sending notifications, execute [`coder notifications resume`](https://coder.com/docs/reference/cli/notifications_resume.md). ## Troubleshooting If notifications are not being delivered, use the following methods to troubleshoot: 1. Ensure notifications are being added to the `notification_messages` table. 1. Review any available error messages in the `status_reason` column 1. Review the logs. Search for the term `notifications` for diagnostic information. - If you do not see any relevant logs, set `CODER_LOG_FILTER=".*notifications.*"` to filter for notification-related logs. 1. If you are on version 2.15.x, notifications must be enabled using the `notifications` [experiment](https://coder.com/docs/install/releases/feature-stages.md#early-access-features). Notifications are enabled by default in Coder v2.16.0 and later. ## Internals The notification system is built to operate concurrently in a single- or multi-replica Coder deployment, and has a built-in retry mechanism. It uses the configured Postgres database to store notifications in a queue and facilitate concurrency. All messages are stored in the `notification_messages` table. Messages older than seven days are deleted. ### Message States ![states](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/coder/coder/main/docs/images/admin/monitoring/notifications/notification-states.png) _A notifier here refers to a Coder replica which is responsible for dispatching the notification. All running replicas act as notifiers to process pending messages._ - a message begins in `pending` state - transitions to `leased` when a Coder replica acquires new messages from the database - new messages are checked for every `CODER_NOTIFICATIONS_FETCH_INTERVAL` (default: 15s) - if a message is delivered successfully, it transitions to `sent` state - if a message encounters a non-retryable error (e.g. misconfiguration), it transitions to `permanent_failure` - if a message encounters a retryable error (e.g. temporary server outage), it transitions to `temporary_failure` - this message will be retried up to `CODER_NOTIFICATIONS_MAX_SEND_ATTEMPTS` (default: 5) - this message will transition back to `pending` state after `CODER_NOTIFICATIONS_RETRY_INTERVAL` (default: 5m) and be retried - after `CODER_NOTIFICATIONS_MAX_SEND_ATTEMPTS` is exceeded, it transitions to `permanent_failure` See [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting) above for more details.