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Walk through the full lifecycle of a Courier notification: configure a provider, design a template with content blocks and variables, preview it with test data, publish, and send a test message. By the end, you’ll have a working notification ready to integrate into your codebase.

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Prerequisites

  • A Courier account
  • Credentials for at least one provider (e.g. SendGrid API key, Twilio SID). Courier also provides a built-in test email provider you can use to get started without external credentials.

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Step 1: Configure a Provider

Before you can send anything, your Courier workspace needs at least one integrated provider. If you’ve already configured a provider, skip to Step 2.
1

Open the Integrations page

Navigate to the Integrations tab in the left sidebar.
2

Choose a provider

Search for your provider (e.g. SendGrid, Twilio, Firebase) and click it. Fill in the required credentials from your provider’s dashboard and click Install.
3

Verify installation

Your newly configured provider appears in the Installed section. You can now use it in any notification template.
You can also configure providers inline while designing a template. If you add a channel that has no provider configured, Design Studio will prompt you to set one up in the channel settings.

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Step 2: Create a Notification Template

1

Create a new template

Navigate to Templates and click + New > Message Template. Give it a name (e.g. “Welcome Email”), then click Create Template. The template opens in Design Studio.
2

Understand the Design Studio layout

Design Studio has three main areas:
  • Channel tabs (left): Switch between Email, SMS, Push, In-App, Slack, and MS Teams
  • Canvas (center): Edit your notification content with drag-and-drop blocks
  • Settings panel (right): Configure block-specific settings and formatting
The header toolbar gives you access to the Brand selector, Routing selector, Version history, Preview & test, and Settings.
3

Add a channel and configure routing

Click the Email channel tab on the left to activate it. To configure which provider handles delivery, open the Routing selector in the header toolbar. You can choose an existing reusable routing configuration or create a new one — routing configurations are shared across templates, so changes apply everywhere they’re used.
Providers you’ve already configured appear under “Configured” in the integrations list. You can add multiple providers per channel and set priority rules to control failover. Routing configurations can be reused across any number of templates.

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Step 3: Add Content

With the Email channel selected, the canvas is ready for editing. Use the block sidebar to build your notification.
1

Add a text block

Drag a Text block from the sidebar onto the canvas, or click the T icon in the toolbar. Click the block to edit it inline and replace the placeholder with your message, e.g. Hello, {profile.name}!Use the Settings panel on the right to adjust alignment, font size, color, and spacing.
2

Add a button block

Drag a Button block from the sidebar onto the canvas. Set the button label and URL in the Settings panel; use a variable like {invite_url} for dynamic links.
3

Add more blocks as needed

Drag in Heading, Image, Divider, Spacer, or HTML blocks from the sidebar. Reorder any block by dragging it up or down on the canvas. Courier auto-saves your changes as you work. See Content Blocks for the full list of available block types.

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Variables for Dynamic Data

Use double-brace placeholders in Design Studio’s validated variable syntax to insert dynamic data from the send request:
  • {{profile.name}} — Recipient’s name from their Courier profile
  • {{data.invite_url}} or {{invite_url}} — Custom data passed in the send request
  • {{urls.preferences}} — Link to the user’s preference page
  • {{urls.unsubscribe}} — One-click unsubscribe link
Insert variables by clicking the {..} icon in the block toolbar, or by typing {{}} directly in any text or heading block. See Variables for the full syntax and available built-in variables.
Design Studio validates variable names inline. For advanced Handlebars logic (helpers, conditionals, loops), use an HTML block, which supports the full Handlebars syntax.

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Multi-Channel Content

Switch between channel tabs on the left to build variants for SMS, Push, In-App, Slack, and MS Teams. Each channel gets its own editor tailored to that format. Courier dynamically adapts shared content to each channel’s requirements (e.g. stripping images for SMS).

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Step 4: Preview with Test Data

1

Open Preview & test

Click Preview & test in the header toolbar, then click Create Test Event.
2

Add test data

Replace the data and profile objects with values that match your variables:
{
  "data": {
    "invite_url": "https://www.example.com"
  },
  "profile": {
    "email": "you@example.com",
    "name": "Test User"
  }
}
3

Verify the preview

The preview pane renders every channel variant populated with your test data. If any variables appear as raw {{variable}} text, check that the key names match between your template and test event JSON.
4

Send a test message

From the Preview & test panel, click Send Test to deliver a live test notification to yourself or your team. This lets you catch rendering issues or broken links before publishing.
For more on test events (including creating them from message logs), see How to Use Test Events.

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Step 5: Configure Branding (Optional)

Brands let you apply consistent logos, colors, headers, and footers across notifications. If no brand is configured, Courier uses simple default styling. To apply a brand, click the Brand selector in the header toolbar and choose from your configured brands. See How to Create and Use Brands for a full walkthrough.

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Step 6: Publish

Click Publish in the header toolbar to make your template live. Unpublished changes remain in draft and won’t affect notifications sent through your API until you publish.
Design Studio tracks full version history automatically. To review or roll back changes, click Version history in the header toolbar. You can compare any two versions side by side and restore a previous version with a single click.

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Step 7: Send a Test Notification via API

1

Open Template Settings

Click the template_id located at the top of the designer to copy.
2

Send via the API

Use the template ID and your API key to send a notification. Replace TEMPLATE_ID and YOUR_API_KEY with your values:
curl -X POST https://api.courier.com/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "message": {
      "to": { "email": "you@example.com" },
      "template": "TEMPLATE_ID",
      "data": {
        "invite_url": "https://www.example.com",
        "name": "Test User"
      }
    }
  }'
3

Check delivery

Open Message Logs to verify delivery. The log shows a timeline of each stage: accepted, routed, rendered, sent, and delivered.
4

Integrate into your codebase

Copy the send call into your application. You can also use any of the Courier SDKs for Node, Python, Ruby, Go, and more. See the Send API reference for the full set of options.

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What’s Next

Content Blocks

Explore all available block types for building notification content in Design Studio

Routing

Configure reusable routing strategies with fallback and multi-channel delivery

Brands

Apply consistent branding to your notifications

Send API Reference

Full API reference for sending notifications