Migrate from Knock to Courier

This guide helps you plan and execute a migration from Knock to Courier. It covers how the two platforms compare, where Courier gives you more flexibility, and a concrete step-by-step plan for moving everything over.

Mapping Knock Concepts to Courier

Knock	Courier
Channels	Integrations
Workflows	Templates + Automations
Recipients / Users	Users / Profiles
Objects	`data` on send
Preferences	Preferences
Tenants	Tenants
Feeds (in-app)	Inbox
Commits	Publish (draft/live)

Integrations

Knock Channels map to Courier Integrations, where you configure delivery providers like SendGrid, Twilio, and FCM. You can wire up multiple providers for the same channel type and Courier automatically fails over between them; if your primary email provider is down, the backup kicks in without any code changes on your side. With 50+ supported providers across email, SMS, push, chat, and webhooks, you’re unlikely to hit a gap. And because provider config lives in the dashboard, swapping or adding a provider never requires a deploy.

Templates and Automations

Knock bundles notification content and delivery logic into a single Workflow. Courier splits these into two independent resources, and this is the most meaningful architectural difference between the platforms. Templates own the content layer. You design them visually in the Designer (drag-and-drop blocks for email, SMS, push, and chat) or define them in code with Elemental JSON. Either way, your product team can ship copy changes without an engineering cycle. Automations own the orchestration layer: delays, conditions, branching, digests, and cancellation. An automation’s send node references a template by ID, so the two evolve independently. A PM updates a welcome email while an engineer tunes the onboarding sequence, and they never step on each other.

Users and Profiles

Courier profiles store everything about a recipient: email, phone, push tokens, and any custom properties you need for personalization. Profiles accept nested JSON, so structured data like feature flags, team roles, or subscription tiers fits naturally. You can create profiles ahead of time through the API, or identify users inline at send time. If you pass a user_id that doesn’t exist yet, Courier creates the profile on the fly.

Passing Context

Where Knock uses Objects as non-user entities that can receive notifications, Courier keeps things simpler: you pass arbitrary context through the data field on each send request. No need to create and manage separate entity types; any data your template needs for rendering just goes in data.

Preferences

Knock’s PreferenceSet maps to Courier Preferences, which let users opt out by channel, category, or specific notification topic. Courier enforces these automatically at send time; you don’t need conditional logic in your code. On top of the API, Courier ships a hosted preference page you can deploy in minutes and embeddable React components for building a preference center directly into your app. No custom UI work required.

Tenants

Tenants in Courier work much like Tenants in Knock. You scope branding, preference defaults, and notification feeds to individual customer organizations, workspaces, or accounts. Pass a tenant_id at send time and Courier applies per-tenant branding and preference defaults automatically. One difference: Courier stores branding attributes directly on the Tenant resource rather than as a separate Brands object.

In-App Notifications

Knock’s Feeds map to Courier Inbox, a real-time in-app notification center with drop-in components for React, iOS, Android, and vanilla JS. It runs on the same pipeline as your other channels, so there’s no extra provider to configure; enable it and start sending. Out of the box you get read/unread state, archiving, per-user history, and toast notifications.

Versioning

Knock uses a git-style commit model to version dashboard changes. Courier uses a simpler draft/published model. You edit templates and automations in draft, preview them, and publish when ready. Published versions are immutable, so you always have a clear snapshot of what’s live.

Why Courier

Content and logic stay separate. Templates and automations are independent. Your product team updates copy in the Designer while engineers tune workflow timing; neither blocks the other.
Visual template designer. Build email, SMS, push, and chat content with drag-and-drop blocks. Preview across channels, personalize with variables, and publish without deploying code.
Built-in in-app channel. Courier Inbox works without a third-party provider. Drop in a React, iOS, or Android component and deliver in-app notifications on the same pipeline as email and push.
Automatic failover. Configure multiple providers per channel and Courier fails over automatically. If SendGrid goes down, your email still goes out through your backup provider.
Hosted preferences out of the box. Ship a user-facing preference center with a single config, or embed React components directly in your app. No custom UI required.
50+ integrations. Email, SMS, push, chat, webhooks, CDPs, and observability tools. Switch providers without changing your send code.
Full delivery observability. Message Logs track every message from API request to provider delivery with a detailed timeline, error details, and rendered content inspection.

Migration Steps

Create your Courier workspace

Sign up and create a workspace. Courier gives you separate Test and Production environments with independent API keys, so you can migrate safely without affecting live traffic.

Configure integrations

Go to Integrations in your Courier dashboard and connect the same providers you use in Knock (SendGrid, Twilio, FCM, etc.). Each provider maps to a channel type (email, SMS, push, chat). You can configure multiple providers per channel for failover.If you use Knock’s in-app feed, enable Courier Inbox; no external provider needed.

Recreate templates

Knock workflows combine content and logic. In Courier, start by recreating the content portion as templates in the Designer:

Create a new template for each notification type
Add content blocks for each channel (email, SMS, push, etc.)
Use {{variable}} syntax for dynamic data; Courier supports the same Handlebars-style variables
Publish the template to make it available for sending

If your Knock workflows include orchestration logic (delays, conditions, batching), recreate that separately in Automations.

Migrate user data

Create user profiles in Courier with the same identifiers you use in Knock. You can create profiles via the Profiles API or inline at send time.

{
  "user_id": "user_123",
  "profile": {
    "email": "user@example.com",
    "phone_number": "+15551234567",
    "custom": {
      "name": "Jane Doe",
      "plan": "enterprise"
    }
  }
}

For bulk migration, use the Bulk API to upsert users in batches.

Set up preferences

If you use Knock’s PreferenceSet, recreate your preference structure in Courier:

Define subscription topics that map to your Knock categories
Configure default channel routing per topic
Migrate user preference selections via the Preferences API

Courier also provides a hosted preference page you can deploy immediately, or React components for embedding preferences in your app.

Update your send calls

Replace Knock’s workflow trigger calls with Courier’s Send API. A basic send looks like this:

curl -X POST https://api.courier.com/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "message": {
      "to": { "user_id": "user_123" },
      "template": "welcome-email",
      "data": {
        "name": "Jane Doe",
        "action_url": "https://app.example.com"
      }
    }
  }'

Courier handles routing, preferences, and failover automatically based on your template and workspace configuration.

Test and cut over

Send test messages in your Test environment and verify delivery in Message Logs
Validate that preferences, routing, and template rendering match your Knock setup
Switch your production code to use Courier’s Production API key
Monitor Message Logs and Analytics for delivery confirmation

API Mapping

Operation	Knock	Courier
Send a notification	`POST /workflows/:key/trigger`	`POST /send`
Create/update a user	`PUT /users/:id`	`PUT /profiles/:id`
Get a user	`GET /users/:id`	`GET /profiles/:id`
Set user preferences	`PUT /users/:id/preferences`	`PUT /users/:id/preferences/:topic`
Get message status	`GET /messages/:id`	`GET /messages/:id`
List messages	`GET /messages`	`GET /messages`
Bulk send	`POST /workflows/:key/trigger` (with recipients array)	`POST /bulk`
Create/update tenant	`PUT /tenants/:id`	`PUT /tenants/:id`

What’s Next

Quickstart

Send your first notification in under 2 minutes

Template Designer

Build notification content with the visual editor

Automations

Add delays, conditions, digests, and branching to your notification workflows

Preferences

Let users control which notifications they receive

Send

Design

Automate

Inbox & Preferences

Ops

Migrate to Courier

Migrate from Knock to Courier

Mapping Knock Concepts to Courier

Integrations

Templates and Automations

Users and Profiles

Passing Context

Preferences

Tenants

In-App Notifications

Versioning

Why Courier

Migration Steps

API Mapping

What’s Next

Quickstart

Template Designer

Automations

Preferences

Send

Design

Automate

Inbox & Preferences

Ops

Migrate to Courier

​Mapping Knock Concepts to Courier

​Integrations

​Templates and Automations

​Users and Profiles

​Passing Context

​Preferences

​Tenants

​In-App Notifications

​Versioning

​Why Courier

​Migration Steps

​API Mapping

​What’s Next

Quickstart

Template Designer

Automations

Preferences

Mapping Knock Concepts to Courier

Integrations

Templates and Automations

Users and Profiles

Passing Context

Preferences

Tenants

In-App Notifications

Versioning

Why Courier

Migration Steps

API Mapping

What’s Next