Courier is designed so that most notifications stay simple. A single API call handles rendering, routing, preferences, and delivery across every channel. You only add complexity when your product requires it.
There are three levels of sending in Courier. Each one builds on the last, and you can mix and match across your product.
Level 1: Inline Send
Send a notification with content defined directly in your API call. No templates, no workflows; just one request.
This is ideal for transactional messages where the content is generated by your app: password resets, verification codes, order confirmations, alert payloads.
curl -X POST https://api.courier.com/send \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $COURIER_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"message": {
"to": { "email": "user@example.com" },
"content": {
"title": "Your verification code",
"body": "Your code is {{code}}. It expires in 10 minutes."
},
"data": { "code": "847291" },
"routing": { "method": "single", "channels": ["email"] }
}
}'
Level 2: Templates + Send API
Separate content from code by referencing a saved template. Your team designs and updates notifications in Courier’s visual editor; your code just triggers the send with data.
This is ideal when non-engineers need to edit copy, when you want consistent branding across channels, or when the same notification is sent from multiple places in your codebase.
curl -X POST https://api.courier.com/send \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $COURIER_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"message": {
"template": "order-confirmation",
"to": { "user_id": "user_123" },
"data": {
"order_id": "ORD-7891",
"total": "$49.99",
"items": ["Widget Pro", "Cable Kit"]
}
}
}'
Templates handle routing, channel-specific content, and localization in one place. Your send call stays the same regardless of how many channels or languages you support.
Level 3: Automations
When a notification involves timing, sequencing, or conditional logic, use Automations. Automations are multi-step workflows that run on Courier’s infrastructure, handling delays, batching, digests, branching, and escalation for you.
This is ideal for onboarding sequences, digest summaries, reminder chains, escalation flows, and any notification that depends on user behavior or elapsed time.
// Invoke an automation template via API
{
"automation_template_id": "onboarding-sequence",
"recipient": "user_123",
"data": {
"plan": "pro",
"signup_date": "2026-02-10"
}
}
- Delays to pause between steps (wait 24 hours, wait until business hours)
- Batching to group related events into a single notification
- Digests to accumulate activity and deliver periodic summaries
- Conditional logic to branch based on user data, delivery status, or custom expressions
- Cancellation to abort a running workflow when conditions change
Use this when: notifications depend on timing or user behavior, you need to batch or digest events, you want multi-step sequences, or you need conditional escalation.
Choosing the Right Level
| Inline Send | Templates | Automations |
|---|
| Content ownership | Engineers | Anyone on the team | Anyone on the team |
| Channels | All | All | All |
| Routing & preferences | Automatic | Automatic | Automatic |
| Timing control | Delays only | Delays only | Full (delays, schedules, batching, digests) |
| Conditional logic | In your code | In your code | Built-in (if/switch/branch) |
| Multi-step sequences | Not supported | Not supported | Built-in |
| Best for | Transactional, code-driven | Team-managed, multi-channel | Complex workflows, sequences, digests |
