Transactional Notifications with Novu

Send transactional notifications through Novu by triggering a workflow when a business event occurs in your application. Novu delivers the message across in-app, email, SMS, push, or chat based on your workflow steps and the subscriber's contact details.

Common transactional events include order confirmations, shipping updates, payment failures, and subscription renewals.

How do I send a transactional notification?

1. Create a workflow in the Novu Dashboard with the channels you need (for example, email + in-app).
2. Register or upsert a subscriber with the recipient's subscriberId, email, and phone.
3. Trigger the workflow from your backend with the workflow identifier, subscriberId, and event payload.

const novu = new Novu({ secretKey: process.env.NOVU_SECRET_KEY });

await novu.trigger({ workflowId: 'order-shipped', to: { subscriberId: 'user_123' }, payload: { orderId: 'ORD-456', trackingUrl: 'https://example.com/track/456', }, });

  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Python">
```python
import os
import novu_py
from novu_py import Novu

with Novu(secret_key=os.getenv("NOVU_SECRET_KEY", "")) as novu:
    novu.trigger(trigger_event_request_dto=novu_py.TriggerEventRequestDto(
        workflow_id="order-shipped",
        to={"subscriber_id": "user_123"},
        payload={
            "orderId": "ORD-456",
            "trackingUrl": "https://example.com/track/456",
        },
    ))

novugo "github.com/novuhq/novu-go"
"github.com/novuhq/novu-go/models/components"

)

s := novugo.New(novugo.WithSecurity(os.Getenv("NOVU_SECRET_KEY")))

_, err := s.Trigger(context.Background(), components.TriggerEventRequestDto{ WorkflowID: "order-shipped", To: components.CreateToSubscriberPayloadDto(components.SubscriberPayloadDto{ SubscriberID: "user_123", }), Payload: map[string]any{ "orderId": "ORD-456", "trackingUrl": "https://example.com/track/456", }, }, nil)

  </Tab>
  <Tab title="PHP">
```php
use novu;
use novu\Models\Components;

$sdk = novu\Novu::builder()
    ->setSecurity('<YOUR_SECRET_KEY_HERE>')
    ->build();

$sdk->trigger(
    triggerEventRequestDto: new Components\TriggerEventRequestDto(
        workflowId: 'order-shipped',
        to: new Components\SubscriberPayloadDto(subscriberId: 'user_123'),
        payload: [
            'orderId' => 'ORD-456',
            'trackingUrl' => 'https://example.com/track/456',
        ],
    ),
);

var sdk = new NovuSDK(secretKey: "<YOUR_SECRET_KEY_HERE>");

await sdk.TriggerAsync(triggerEventRequestDto: new TriggerEventRequestDto() { WorkflowId = "order-shipped", To = To.CreateSubscriberPayloadDto(new SubscriberPayloadDto() { SubscriberId = "user_123", }), Payload = new Dictionary<string, object>() { { "orderId", "ORD-456" }, { "trackingUrl", "https://example.com/track/456" }, }, });

  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Java">
```java
import co.novu.Novu;
import co.novu.models.components.*;
import java.util.Map;

Novu novu = Novu.builder()
    .secretKey("<YOUR_SECRET_KEY_HERE>")
    .build();

novu.trigger()
    .body(TriggerEventRequestDto.builder()
        .workflowId("order-shipped")
        .to(To2.of(SubscriberPayloadDto.builder()
            .subscriberId("user_123")
            .build()))
        .payload(Map.ofEntries(
            Map.entry("orderId", "ORD-456"),
            Map.entry("trackingUrl", "https://example.com/track/456")))
        .build())
    .call();

What channels should I use for transactional messages?

Related guides

• Create a workflow
• Trigger a workflow
• Personalize content
• Multi-channel fallback workflows

Frequently asked questions