go-notification

Persist notifications to your database for in-app notification centers. Postgres, MySQL, and SQLite supported.

The database channel stores notifications in a table so your app can show an in-app notification center — unread counts, mark-as-read, and a query API — without wiring anything external.

Supported databases

PostgreSQL (9.6+)
MySQL (5.7+ / MariaDB 10.3+)
SQLite (3.x)

All three use the same driver. The channel accepts any *sql.DB.

Setup

main.go

import (
    "database/sql"
    _ "github.com/lib/pq"
    "github.com/gopackx/go-notification/channel/database"
)

db, err := sql.Open("postgres", os.Getenv("DATABASE_URL"))
if err != nil { panic(err) }

dbChannel := database.New(database.Config{
    DB:     db,
    Driver: database.DriverPostgres, // or DriverMySQL, DriverSQLite
    Table:  "notifications",         // default: "notifications"
})

notifier.RegisterChannel("database", dbChannel)

Auto migration

The driver can create the table for you:

main.go

if err := dbChannel.AutoMigrate(ctx); err != nil {
    panic(err)
}

Or run the SQL yourself from the driver's Schema() output — useful when migrations are managed by a tool like golang-migrate.

Sending

main.go

func (n OrderShipped) Via(u notification.Notifiable) []string {
    return []string{"database"}
}

func (n OrderShipped) ToDatabase(u notification.Notifiable) map[string]any {
    return map[string]any{
        "type":     "order.shipped",
        "order_id": n.OrderID,
        "message":  "Your order has shipped.",
    }
}

The resulting row stores: an auto id, type (from your map or the notification's type name), notifiable_type/notifiable_id (from the recipient), a JSON data blob, read_at (nullable), and created_at.

Query API

Everything your in-app notification center needs is on the channel itself:

main.go

// Latest 20, all notifications for this user
items, err := dbChannel.Query(ctx, database.Filter{
    NotifiableType: "user",
    NotifiableID:   user.ID,
    Limit:          20,
})

// Unread count
n, err := dbChannel.UnreadCount(ctx, "user", user.ID)

// Only unread
items, err := dbChannel.Unread(ctx, "user", user.ID)

// Mark one as read
err := dbChannel.MarkAsRead(ctx, notificationID)

// Mark all as read
err := dbChannel.MarkAllAsRead(ctx, "user", user.ID)

Configuration reference

Field	Type	Required	Description
`DB`	`*sql.DB`	yes	Connected database handle. You own its lifecycle.
`Driver`	`Driver` enum	yes	`DriverPostgres`, `DriverMySQL`, or `DriverSQLite`.
`Table`	`string`	no	Override table name. Default: `"notifications"`.

Why no ORM?

This is deliberate. go-notification uses database/sql only — no GORM, no Bun, no Ent. You can use your own ORM for the rest of your app; the database channel won't interfere because it owns its own table and queries.

Pairing with real-time push

The database channel only writes to the DB. For real-time updates (a bell icon that updates without a refresh), combine it with:

A second channel like WebSocket or server-sent events triggered on the same notification.
Or poll the UnreadCount endpoint on a timer from the client.

Database (In-App)