Frappe Notification System

Quick Reference

Channel	Method	Use Case
Email	frappe.sendmail()	Programmatic email with full control
Email	Notification DocType (Email)	No-code email on document events
System	frappe.publish_realtime()	In-app real-time alerts via socket.io
System	Notification DocType (System)	No-code in-app alerts
SMS	Notification DocType (SMS)	No-code SMS on document events
Slack	Notification DocType (Slack)	No-code Slack webhook messages
Assignment	frappe.desk.form.assign_to.add()	Assign document to user (creates ToDo)
ToDo	frappe.get_doc({"doctype": "ToDo", ...})	Direct task creation
Comment	doc.add_comment("Comment", text)	Timeline comment on document
Tag	doc.add_tag("tag_name")	Document tagging for filtering

---

Decision Tree

What notification mechanism do you need?
│
├─ Email on document event (no code)?
│  └─ Notification DocType → Channel: Email
│
├─ Programmatic email with custom logic?
│  └─ frappe.sendmail() in server script or hook
│
├─ Real-time in-app notification?
│  ├─ No-code → Notification DocType → Channel: System Notification
│  └─ Programmatic → frappe.publish_realtime()
│
├─ SMS on document event?
│  └─ Notification DocType → Channel: SMS (requires SMS Settings)
│
├─ Assign document to user?
│  ├─ No-code → Assignment Rule DocType
│  └─ Programmatic → frappe.desk.form.assign_to.add()
│
├─ Recurring document creation?
│  └─ Auto Repeat DocType
│
└─ Add comment or tag?
   ├─ Comment → doc.add_comment("Comment", text="...")
   └─ Tag → doc.add_tag("tag_name")

---

Notification DocType

The Notification DocType enables no-code alerts across four channels.

Event Triggers

Event	Fires When
New	Document is created
Save	Document is saved
Submit	Document is submitted
Cancel	Document is cancelled
Value Change	Specific field value changes
Days Before	N days before a date field value
Days After	N days after a date field value
Method	Custom Python method is called

Condition Syntax

ALWAYS use Python expressions in the Condition field:

# Status-based
doc.status == "Open"

# Date-based
doc.due_date == nowdate()

# Threshold-based
doc.grand_total > 40000

# Combined
doc.status == "Overdue" and doc.grand_total > 10000

Available context: doc, nowdate(), frappe.utils.*.

Recipient Configuration

Source	Description
Document Field	Email/phone field on the document
Role	All users with specified role
Custom	Hard-coded email address
All Assignees	All users assigned to the document
Condition	Jinja expression to filter recipients

Jinja Message Template

<h3>Order Overdue</h3>
<p>Transaction {{ doc.name }} has exceeded its due date.</p>

{% if comments %}
Last comment: {{ comments[-1].comment }} by {{ comments[-1].by }}
{% endif %}

<ul>
  <li>Customer: {{ doc.customer }}</li>
  <li>Amount: {{ doc.grand_total }}</li>
</ul>

Template variables: {{ doc }}, {{ doc.fieldname }}, {{ comments }}, {{ nowdate() }}.

Attach Print

Set Attach Print to include a PDF of the document. Select a Print Format for custom layout.

---

frappe.sendmail(): Programmatic Email

frappe.sendmail(
    recipients=["user@example.com"],       # list of email addresses
    subject="Invoice Due",                  # email subject
    message="<p>Your invoice is due.</p>",  # HTML body
    template="invoice_reminder",            # Jinja template name (optional)
    args={"customer": "ACME"},              # template context variables
    attachments=[{"fname": "inv.pdf", "fcontent": pdf_bytes}],
    reference_doctype="Sales Invoice",      # links email to document
    reference_name="SINV-00001",
    delayed=True,                           # queue via Email Queue (default)
    now=False,                              # True = send immediately, skip queue
    sender="noreply@example.com",           # override sender
    cc=["manager@example.com"],
    bcc=["audit@example.com"],
    reply_to="support@example.com",
    expose_recipients="header",             # show recipients in email header
)

Rules:

• ALWAYS set reference_doctype and reference_name when the email relates to a document — this links the email in the document timeline.
• NEVER set now=True in production — it blocks the request. Use delayed=True (default) to queue via Email Queue.
• ALWAYS ensure an Email Account with "Enable Outgoing" is configured before calling frappe.sendmail.

Email Queue

Emails are queued in the Email Queue DocType and sent by the scheduler. Check queue status:

# Check pending emails
pending = frappe.get_all("Email Queue", filters={"status": "Not Sent"}, limit=10)

---

frappe.publish_realtime(): System Notifications

frappe.publish_realtime(
    event="msgprint",                      # event name
    message={"msg": "Task completed!"},    # dict payload
    user="user@example.com",               # target specific user
    doctype="Sales Invoice",               # broadcast to doctype room
    docname="SINV-00001",                  # broadcast to document room
    after_commit=True,                     # emit after transaction commits
)

Room Types

Room	Audience
user:{email}	Single user (set user=)
doctype:{dt}	All users viewing that list
doc:{dt}/{dn}	All users viewing that document
all	All Desk users site-wide
task_progress:{id}	Background task progress

Built-in Events

Event	Purpose
msgprint	Show message dialog to user
list_update	Refresh document list view
docinfo_update	Refresh document info sidebar
progress	Show progress bar

ALWAYS set after_commit=True when publishing from within a database transaction — otherwise the event fires before data is committed and the client may read stale data.

---

Assignment Rules

Auto-assign documents to users based on conditions (no code).

Configuration Fields

Field	Purpose
Document Type	Which DocType triggers the rule
Assign Condition	Python expression (same as Notification)
Assignment Days	Limit to specific weekdays
Users	List of users to assign to
Assignment Rule	Round Robin, Load Balancing, or Based on Field

Programmatic Assignment

from frappe.desk.form.assign_to import add, remove, close, clear

# Assign
add({
    "assign_to": ["user@example.com"],
    "doctype": "Task",
    "name": "TASK-00001",
    "description": "Please review this task",
    "priority": "High",
    "date": "2025-12-31",
})

# Remove assignment (cancels ToDo)
remove("Task", "TASK-00001", "user@example.com")

# Close assignment (only assignee can close)
close("Task", "TASK-00001", "user@example.com")

# Clear all assignments
clear("Task", "TASK-00001")

NEVER call close() as a different user than the assignee — it raises a permission error.

---

Auto Repeat

Creates recurring copies of documents on a schedule.

Field	Purpose
Reference DocType	Which DocType to repeat
Reference Document	Source document to copy
Frequency	Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Half-yearly, Yearly
Start Date / End Date	Schedule window
Notify By Email	Send notification on creation

ALWAYS set an End Date on Auto Repeat — open-ended schedules create documents indefinitely and are difficult to debug.

---

ToDo API

# Create ToDo directly
todo = frappe.get_doc({
    "doctype": "ToDo",
    "allocated_to": "user@example.com",
    "assigned_by": frappe.session.user,
    "description": "Review the quarterly report",
    "priority": "Medium",
    "date": "2025-12-31",
    "status": "Open",
    "reference_type": "Task",
    "reference_name": "TASK-00001",
}).insert(ignore_permissions=True)

ToDo statuses: Open, Closed, Cancelled.

---

Comments and Tags

# Add comment (appears in document timeline)
doc.add_comment("Comment", text="Reviewed and approved")
doc.add_comment("Edit", "Values changed")

# Add/get tags
doc.add_tag("urgent")
tags = doc.get_tags()  # returns list of tag strings

---

Version Differences

Feature	v14	v15	v16
Notification DocType	All 4 channels	All 4 channels	All 4 channels
Minutes Before/After	Not available	Available	Available
frappe.publish_realtime	Available	Available	Available
Assignment Rules	Available	Available	Available

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See Also

• references/email-system.md — Email Account, Email Queue, Communication linking, Newsletter, Notification Log
• references/examples.md — Full notification workflow examples
• references/anti-patterns.md — Common mistakes and fixes
• references/api-reference.md — Complete API signatures
• frappe-core-database — Database operations referenced in notifications
• frappe-core-permissions — Permission model for notification access