ContextQMD
Back to Novu

Migrate from In-House Notifications to Novu

docs/guides/migrate-from-in-house-to-novu.mdx

3.18.02.8 KB
Original Source

Replace a custom in-house notification system with Novu to eliminate maintenance of delivery plumbing, provider integrations, and in-app feed infrastructure. Novu provides workflows, multi-channel delivery, observability, and a drop-in Inbox component.

Why replace an in-house notification system?

Building notifications in-house typically requires maintaining:

  • Provider integrations for email, SMS, and push
  • A real-time in-app feed with unread counts and WebSocket connections
  • User preference management
  • Retry logic, digests, and multi-step delivery rules
  • Delivery logs and debugging tools

Novu provides all of these out of the box as open-source infrastructure. Compare the build-vs-buy analysis on Novu vs building in-house.

How do I plan the migration?

<Steps> <Step title="Audit your current system"> List every notification type, channel, template, and trigger point in your codebase. Identify which map to Novu workflows. </Step> <Step title="Set up Novu"> Create a Novu account or [self-host Novu](/community/self-hosting-novu/overview). Connect your existing ESP, SMS, and push providers. </Step> <Step title="Rebuild workflows"> Create Novu workflows for each notification type. Use [delay](/platform/workflow/add-and-configure-steps/configure-action-steps/delay), [digest](/platform/workflow/add-and-configure-steps/configure-action-steps/digest), and [step conditions](/platform/workflow/add-and-configure-steps/step-conditions) to replicate your existing logic. </Step> <Step title="Replace the in-app feed"> Remove custom feed UI and add the [Novu Inbox](/platform/inbox). Use headless hooks if you need a fully custom design. </Step> <Step title="Migrate triggers incrementally"> Replace in-house notification calls one workflow at a time. Use Novu's [activity feed](/platform/workflow/monitor-and-debug-workflow) to validate delivery during the transition. </Step> <Step title="Decommission legacy code"> Remove provider SDKs, queue workers, and feed infrastructure once all notification types run through Novu. </Step> </Steps>

What about data migration?

  • Users: Map your user IDs to Novu subscriberId values. Pass contact details inline when triggering workflows for lazy migration.
  • Templates: Rebuild templates in Novu workflow steps. For code-based templates, use the Novu Framework with React Email or MJML.
  • Preferences: Import via the preferences API or let users reconfigure through the Inbox.