# API keys — management for all users

This new enhancement gives every user the ability to create and manage their own API keys. Prior to this update, this functionality was exclusive to our Business Tier customers, but we understand the need for this extended control over API keys across all users.

Each Courier tenant has two distinct notification development environments: Live and Test. Both of these environments are self-contained, meaning all assets like templates, brands, tags, categories, integrations, API keys, log data, etc., are unique to their respective environments. Now, any user can generate more than two API keys per environment, irrespective of their subscription plan. This adds flexibility and supports diverse development workflows.

API keys within each environment are prefaced in a particular way, which makes identification straightforward:

- `pk_prod_` corresponds to the API key for your published data in the Production environment
- `dk_prod_` corresponds to the API key for your draft data in the Production environment
- `pk_test_` corresponds to the API key for your published data in the Test environment
- `dk_test_` corresponds to the API key for your draft data in the Test environment

In addition to this, Business Tier customers can also define the routing behavior of their API keys. For example, a mock key can simulate the Courier notification/message lifecycle without invoking the downstream provider. This allows users to test the flow of requests within Courier without incurring any send cost.

Overall, this enhancement empowers users with a greater degree of control and security over their API keys, hence facilitating more efficient and organized management of different integration workflows.

Check out the full documentation [here](https://www.courier.com/docs/courier-designer/notification-designer/environments-api-keys/#courier-business-feature-generate-new-api-keys).

# Dynamic throttling keys

In our continuous effort to give users more control over their notification delivery, we've added support for dynamic throttling keys. Previously, users could only throttle keys that Courier defined. Now, you can choose the property on the payload you want to throttle by: for instance, account ID, region, etc.

This addition enables you to fine-tune your throttling based on specific attributes, providing a more customized and efficient delivery process. You can find more about this in our [documentation](https://www.courier.com/docs/automations/throttle/#creating-a-throttle-step).

# Fixes and improvements

- Added metric and log information for batch sends, improving monitoring capabilities for Business customers. This addition enhances observability integrations, especially with New Relic and Datadog. Learn more in our [documentation](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/business/observability/#automation-metrics).
- Added observability metrics and logs for automation digest triggers. This update helps Business customers better monitor and understand their notification delivery process. More details are available in our [documentation](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/business/observability/#automation-metrics).
- Made optimizations to improve the speed and performance of JWT generation. This ensures a smoother and more efficient process when creating JSON Web Tokens.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Pusher messages from being sent with Elemental templates. This fix ensures more reliable message delivery across different template types.
- Fixed a bug that was affecting the rendering of certain Inbox messages. This fix ensures a more consistent and accurate message display.
- Fixed a bug that caused empty SMS messages to be sent from One-Time Send. This fix ensures that all dispatched messages contain the intended content.

API key management

API key management for all users, dynamic throttling keys

This week we're excited to announce availability of digests, batching, and throttling in Automations. In addition, we've made a series of improvements and fixes to help you deliver even better product notifications to your users.

## Digests, batching, and throttling in Courier Automations

Now in Beta, digests, batching, and throttling give you control over the frequency and grouping of notifications, ensuring your users receive relevant alerts and updates without overwhelming them.

These are highly-requested features for Courier [Automations](https://www.courier.com/docs/automations/), but we didn’t want to rush a solution to market. Instead, we took time to get extensive feedback from the community and provide something that we think you’ll love. Here’s what’s available:

### Digests

This feature consolidates notifications of the same type into a single notification sent at a regularly scheduled interval. This is particularly useful for users seeking updates while avoiding an inundated inbox filled with numerous standalone notifications. Check out the [docs](https://www.courier.com/docs/automations/digest/) for more detailed information. 

There is a full video walkthrough of digests available on [Loom](https://www.loom.com/share/b173040369834f63b2b905f5e9480978).

### Batching

Notification batching consolidates notifications of different types and topics into a single notification. This helps reduce the overall volume of notifications that your users receive while keeping them informed about a range of activities. Read more about batching in the [docs](https://www.courier.com/docs/automations/batching/).

### Throttling

Throttling provides a way to control the number of notifications a recipient receives within a specified timeframe. This feature is designed to prevent information overload, ensuring that recipients aren't overwhelmed with too many alerts or messages. It's especially useful for alert notifications and email campaigns where it's important to strike a balance between keeping users informed and not overloading them. More details can be found in our [docs](https://www.courier.com/docs/automations/throttle/).

## Improvements and fixes

- Added the ability to pin messages at the top of an in-app [inbox](https://www.courier.com/blog/app-notifications-inbox/) built with Courier. This feature is in private Beta. Please reach out to support@courier.com if you’d like to try it.
- Released an in-app inbox SDK for Android. You can access it on GitHub [here](https://github.com/trycourier/courier-android).
- Made a bunch of enhancements to the Users page of the web app to improve look, feel, and usability.
- Updated send pipeline error handling to be more robust.
- Added subscription topic support in the send API. More information can be found [here](https://www.courier.com/docs/reference/send/message/).
- Added support for translation PO files. This feature is available with Courier’s [Business plan](https://www.courier.com/pricing/).
- Fixed a bug causing message received metrics to have the wrong Notification ID in Datadog and New Relic integrations. More details can be found [here](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/business/observability/#metrics).
- Fixed a bug causing the logs UI to break when sending an invalid message via the API.
- Fixed a bug related to loading more results on the Users page.

Courier digests

Digests, batching, throttling in Automations, and Android Inbox

## New Relic observability integration
If your organization uses New Relic, you can now integrate Courier with New Relic to unlock a wealth of critical metrics and insights about your communication workflows. By linking your notification data back to New Relic, you’ll be able to access metrics like messages received, sent, undelivered, and more. 

Courier Business plan customers can setup the integration in just a few minutes—all you need is a license key. In Courier, under Channels, navigate to New Relic and enter your license key into the API Key field. You can also use our dashboard starter kit to set up a simple dashboard in New Relic for your Courier data.

More details on this integration and its setup can be found in the [docs](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/business/observability/new-relic/).

## Inbound track event in the CourierJS SDK
Now you can easily track client-side events with CourierJS to provide seamless integration with Courier for personalized communication. Events can be used to trigger automations or supply inline payloads for existing workflows. 

You can enhance user identification and personalization by assigning unique IDs to users in Courier and passing user attributes for tailored communication. 

This update to CourierJS comes with a demo web app powered by Next.js. For detailed information on this update and SDK usage, refer to the [CourierJS SDK repository](https://github.com/trycourier/courier-js/tree/main/packages/courier-js) and [Automations inbound triggers](https://www.courier.com/docs/automations/inbound-events/).

## Improvements and fixes
- Changelogs have a [new home](https://www.courier.com/changelog/) to help you get to the product updates you care about faster.
- Added support for [batch](https://www.courier.com/docs/automations/steps/#add-to-batch) in the Automations API (beta).
- Added [Handlebars helpers for time zone conversion](https://www.courier.com/docs/courier-designer/notification-designer/handlebars-helpers/#datetime-format).
- In the [Logs page](https://app.courier.com/logs/messages) you can now filter by list message ID, making it easier to trace and manage your logs.
- Added ability to delete a user, list, or audience directly from the details page and the users table view.
- Made styling more components in Inbox easier and added support for side-by-side buttons in Inbox 2.0.
- Made various UI improvements have been made to One-Time Send for a smoother user experience.
- Renamed Guard Rails feature to “Send limits” in the UI and [docs](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/business/guardrails/).
- We've enhanced Courier's ability to help customers recover from provider outages.
- Updated the format of Quick Starts for our SDKs ([Node.js](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/getting-started/nodejs/), [Python](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/getting-started/python/), [Ruby](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/getting-started/ruby/), [Java](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/getting-started/java/), [PHP](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/getting-started/php/), and [Go](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/getting-started/go/)) to increase readability and enable users to go from zero to send quickly.
- Updated [RBAC docs](https://www.courier.com/docs/getting-started/workspace-settings/roles-permissions/) to clarify log access.
- Fixed a bug in One-Time Send that was causing the To field to clear when searching for and selecting a recipient.
- Fixed a bug in the automations code tab that produced incorrect step order.
- Fixed a bug where multiple scrollbars would appear when selecting channels in the designer.

New Relic dashboard showing notification observability health metrics from Courier

New Relic dashboard

New Relic integration, CourierJS SDK track call

## One-Time Send
One-Time Send is a new feature that streamlines the process of manually sending one-off notifications to your users using Courier's UI. In just a few minutes, you can craft and send a notification, making it ideal for delivering urgent updates or announcements.

This versatile tool supports various channels, including email, SMS, chat, and push notifications, and allows for personalization through variables. One-Time Send is compatible with provider configurations like Slack and Teams, so you can easily reach your audience through their preferred communication channels.

One-Time Send also offers flexibility in scheduling notifications. If you don't want to send a notification immediately, you can schedule it for a specific date and time. This feature is particularly useful for coordinating announcements, promotions, or other time-sensitive communications.

To get started with One-Time Send and explore its many features, check out the [One-Time Send documentation](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/tutorials/how-to-send-a-one-time-notification/).
![one-time-send-ui](//images.ctfassets.net/z7iqk1q8njt4/7pYWWOygBH4quLMwGEiLqN/471411960bb3c93e380c36cb644b52d0/image1__2_.png)

## Auto multi-channel content generation
We're excited to announce a new feature that simplifies content creation across multiple channels. With auto multi-channel content generation, you can now generate content for new channels based on existing content from other channels. For instance, if you have a notification with content already set up for the email channel and want to add an SMS channel, our system will provide you with an option to generate content for the SMS channel using GPT.

This feature allows you to efficiently create consistent messaging across various channels, saving you time and effort.

## Notification template “last sent” field
We've introduced a small yet impactful improvement to the templates list page. Previously, the page displayed only the name, channels, tags, and notes for each template, requiring you to navigate into a specific notification to view more details. Now, the overview page also includes the "last sent" timestamps for each notification template, providing you with a clearer picture of template usage.

In addition, the Automations page now displays the "last invoked" timestamp for each automation template. These quality-of-life enhancements are designed to improve your overall user experience by making it easier to keep track of your notifications and automations.

## Improvements and fixes
- Shipped a QoL improvement to show “last invoked” timestamps on the automation templates list page
- Fixed a bug related to React toast click action
- Updated the [MS Teams docs](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/providers/direct-message/microsoft-teams/)
- Updated the [Segment docs](https://www.courier.com/docs/external-integrations/segment/segment-integration/)

Changelog header 003

One-time sends, auto multi-channel content, and template usage insights

## Send limits open beta: message limit management 
We are excited to introduce send limits, now in open beta for Courier, a feature that allows you to set upper limits on the number of messages sent per time period. Courier business plan customers can configure these limits globally, or per user, or per user per subscription topic. Exclusions for certain subscription topics can also be set up, ensuring essential messages are always delivered.
Send limits offers various time periods for setting limits, such as billing period, hour, day, week (starting on Sunday), and month. When a message exceeds the set limit, it will not be sent, and the logs will show it as "Throttled." Tenant admin(s) will receive a notification email when this happens (limited to one email per 24-hour period).
You can configure send limits in your workspace settings. With send limits, you can efficiently control your messaging volume and ensure critical notifications are prioritized.

![courier-message-limit-settings](//images.ctfassets.net/z7iqk1q8njt4/79H696aqFJjiypVo1LVMKx/5a61036344e8102e6122b7ba395cf59d/courier-message-limit-settings.png)

## Template overrides: email open tracking support
Good news: email open tracking is now supported even when using template overrides, and should work out of the box going forward.
What does this mean? Now you can easily track when someone opens an email: this will be displayed in your Courier logs, even if you are overriding the contents of the template through the HTML-based editor.
Simply send an email as before, and then head on over to Logs in the lower left hand corner of your Courier dashboard. From the list there, you can click on the email to see some details about when or if it was opened (outlined in the red boxes).

![email-opened-tracking](//images.ctfassets.net/z7iqk1q8njt4/d24DPKOwlOPTIWLkrVgvn/b43466ac7caf2e49cc55d731fc9ad7e3/email-opened-tracking.png)

## Improvements and fixes
- Added the ability to import existing SendGrid email templates.
- Fixed Fetch Data step for certain /GET methods.
- Fixed a bug in the Automations Send-to-List Node that was causing the automation to not send notifications correctly.


Changelog header #002

Message limits, email open tracking, SendGrid import

## Inbox message icons
We added the ability to customize the message icon for inbox messages. That means you can set a different icon for each type of notification that you send.

To do this, Message Icons needs to be enabled in your [brand’s in-app settings](https://app.courier.com/designer/brands) (they should be by default). Then you can add an icon to your notification template.
![customize-message-icon-2](//images.ctfassets.net/z7iqk1q8njt4/7sUUdkgDzA4k3AuN5NIJcM/66eccb5a8b262ac305522a4071bbc02e/customize-message-icon-2.gif)

## CourierJS client SDK
The first [client-side SDK for Courier](https://github.com/trycourier/courier-js) is now available and it's in JavaScript. It simplifies the process of incorporating Courier into your projects. The ability to make direct calls to Courier within your JavaScript code eliminates the requirement for an additional back-end service between your front end and the Courier API.

We introduced three new API calls in this release: the `identify` call for tying a user to actions they perform, such as logging in or updating their profile, and the `subscribe` and `unsubscribe` calls for subscribing and unsubscribing to lists.

```console
# npm
npm install @trycourier/courier-js
# yarn
yarn add @trycourier/courier-js
# pnpm
pnpm add @trycourier/courier-js
```

## Datadog integration
As product notifications are crucial to the entire application experience, it's essential to link this data back to central cloud observability platforms that provide a comprehensive view of the entire stack.

We're excited to announce our first observability [integration with Datadog](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/business/observability/#datadog), which collects metrics and other data from applications and provides accurate monitoring tools and dashboards.
![Datadog dashboard delivery metrics](//images.ctfassets.net/z7iqk1q8njt4/iuy96HM4t0g7ESMIqKGRi/a2e5cea454e593b4734b596c59baed11/notification-observability-delivery.png)

This integration is currently available only on Courier's Business plan, along with other production-focused features. Use our [dashboard starter kit](https://www.courier.com/docs/guides/business/observability/#dashboard) to set up a simple dashboard in Datadog for your Courier data.

## Improvements and fixes
- Improved logs for automations by adding `run_id` and `automation_template_id` for messages sent using an automation.
- Added detailed automation run and step context to help debug when errors occur.
- Improved automations testing experience by adding an invoke option in the Automations UI.
- Template overrides will now support link tracking out of the box.
- Added ability to import existing Mandrill templates.
- Added support for Twilio `from` numbers in the provider configuration screen.
- Added [more class definitions and helpful comments](https://github.com/trycourier/courier-ios) to the Courier iOS SDK.
- Added automations invoke source metrics for observability providers.
- JavaScript execution/interpolation syntax for Automations processing.
- Added a blog post on [automated SMS notification systems](https://www.courier.com/blog/automated-sms-notification-system/).
- Fixed a bug with duplicating templates in test environment causing templates not to load properly.
- Fixed a bug with audience calculations and user matching.
- Fixed a bug with audience conditionals not handling boolean values.
- Fixed a bug related to automations being unexpectedly re-triggered when a user profile is modified.

Changelog

API key management for all users, dynamic throttling keys

Digests, batching, throttling in Automations, and Android Inbox

New Relic integration, CourierJS SDK track call

One-time sends, auto multi-channel content, and template usage insights

Message limits, email open tracking, SendGrid import

Inbox message icons, JS client SDK, Datadog

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