Hermetry tells people about alarms, Rules-card rules, flows and account events through one notification service. Every notification goes to a list of recipients; for each recipient the service decides which channels it may use, then hands it to those channels. This section explains the channels, the settings and the rules behind that decision.
The channels
| Channel | Id | Reaches | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-app (the bell) | inapp | Members, in the top bar | The bell |
mail | E-mail addresses | E-mail notifications | |
| SMS | sms | Phone numbers | SMS notifications |
| Push | push | Registered browsers and app installs | Browser push |
| Chat apps | one per platform | Members who linked a chat account | Chat platforms |
Which channels exist depends on your organisation’s setup and plan. See Channels.
Who decides what
| Decision | Who | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Who is told about an alarm, from which severity, how often reminded | Whoever writes the alarm rule (Admin) | The rule’s notify block. Alarm notifications in depth |
| Who a rule or flow tells, and with what text | Whoever writes the rule or flow | Notifications from rules and flows |
| Which channels the organisation has (mail server, SMS provider, chat platforms, push) | Administrators | Settings pages of each channel |
| Storm threshold, repeat window, critical bypass for alarms | Administrators | Alarms > Alarm settings |
| Which channels a person accepts | Each person | My Profile > Preferences, Chat apps. Your notification preferences |
The gates every notification passes
For each recipient and channel, in this order:
- Requested: the sender may restrict the channels (an alarm rule’s
channels, a flow’schannels). - Switched off for the organisation: a channel the organisation turned off is never used.
- Address blocked: an address that opted out or is suppressed is not used, even for critical alarms.
- The person’s choices: their channel switches (e-mail, SMS, push, each chat app) and quiet hours. A critical alarm skips this gate by default.
- An address to send to: the channel needs an e-mail address, a phone number, a registered browser or a linked chat account. Without one, that channel is skipped.
The in-app channel has no switch: it is the feed inside the product.
Delivery is best effort
A notification is a side effect: a channel that fails does not stop the others, and never undoes the alarm or rule that caused it. Each attempt is recorded in the delivery log. See The notification log.
For other systems
Notifications are for people. To reach other systems, use webhooks: every alarm change is sent, without throttling.