notifications API alpha methods

Receive notifications for activity on your account or statuses.

This page documents experimental API endpoints and is kept for historical purposes only. See the finalized version if you want to implement the grouped notifications feature in a client.

This page is about grouped notifications, which we implemented server-side so that:

  • grouping is consistent across clients
  • clients do not run into the issue of going through entire pages that do not contribute to any new group; instead, notifications are already deduplicated server-side

The API shape is a bit different from the non-grouped notifications, because large notification groups usually tend to involve the same accounts, and moving accounts to a root key can avoid a lot of duplication, resulting in less server-side work and smaller network payloads.

Get all grouped notifications 

GET /api/v2_alpha/notifications HTTP/1.1

Return grouped notifications concerning the user. This API returns Link headers containing links to the next/previous page. However, the links can also be constructed dynamically using query params and id values.

Notifications of type favourite or reblog with the same type and the same target made in a similar timeframe are given a same group_key by the server, and querying this endpoint will return aggregated notifications, with only one object per group_key. Other notification types (such as follow) may be grouped in the future.

Types to filter include:

  • mention = Someone mentioned you in their status
  • status = Someone you enabled notifications for has posted a status
  • reblog = Someone boosted one of your statuses
  • follow = Someone followed you
  • follow_request = Someone requested to follow you
  • favourite = Someone favourited one of your statuses
  • poll = A poll you have voted in or created has ended
  • update = A status you boosted with has been edited
  • admin.sign_up = Someone signed up (optionally sent to admins)
  • admin.report = A new report has been filed

Returns: GroupedNotificationsResults
OAuth: User token + read:notifications
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

Request

Headers
Authorization
required Provide this header with Bearer <user token> to gain authorized access to this API method.
Query parameters
max_id
String. All results returned will be about notifications strictly older than this notification ID. In effect, sets an upper bound on results.
since_id
String. All results returned will be about notifications strictly newer than this notification ID. In effect, sets a lower bound on results.
min_id
String. Returns results about notifications immediately newer than this notification ID. In effect, sets a cursor at this ID and paginates forward.
limit
Integer. Maximum number of results to return. Defaults to 40 notifications. Max 80 notification groups.
types[]
Array of String. Types to include in the result.
exclude_types[]
Array of String. Types to exclude from the results.
account_id
String. Return only notifications received from the specified account.
expand_accounts
String. One of full (default) or partial_avatars. When set to partial_avatars, some accounts will not be rendered in full in the returned accounts list but will be instead returned in stripped-down form in the partial_accounts list. The most recent account in a notification group is always rendered in full in the accounts attribute.
grouped_types[]
Array of String. Restrict which notification types can be grouped. Use this if there are notification types for which your client does not support grouping. If omitted, the server will group notifications of all types it supports (currently, favourite and reblog). If you do not want any notification grouping, use GET /api/v1/notifications instead.

Response

Sample call with limit=2.

GET https://mastodon.social/api/v2_alpha/notifications?limit=2 HTTP/1.1
Authorization: Bearer xxx
200: OK

The response body contains one page of grouped notifications. You can use the HTTP Link header for further pagination.

Link: <https://mastodon.social/api/v2_alpha/notifications?limit=2&max_id=196012>; rel="next", <https://mastodon.social/api/v2_alpha/notifications?limit=2&min_id=196014>; rel="prev";

{
  "accounts": [
    {
      "id": "16",
      "username": "eve",
      "acct": "eve",
      // …
    },
    {
      "id": "3547",
      "username": "alice",
      "acct": "alice",
      // …
    },
    {
      "id": "31460",
      "username": "bob",
      "acct": "bob",
      // …
    },
    {
      "id": "36509",
      "username": "mallory",
      "acct": "mallory",
      // …
    }
  ],
  "statuses": [
    {
      "id": "113010503322889311",
      "created_at": "2024-08-23T08:57:12.057Z",
      "account": {
        "id": "55911",
        "username": "user",
        "acct": "user",
        // …
      },
      // …
    },
    {
      "id": "113006771938929950",
      "created_at": "2024-08-22T17:08:15.654Z",
      "account": {
        "id": "55911",
        "username": "user",
        "acct": "user",
        // …
      },
      // …
    }
  ],
  "notification_groups": [
    {
      "group_key": "favourite-113010503322889311-479000",
      "notifications_count": 2,
      "type": "favourite",
      "most_recent_notification_id": 196014,
      "page_min_id": "196013",
      "page_max_id": "196014",
      "latest_page_notification_at": "2024-08-23T08:59:56.743Z",
      "sample_account_ids": [
        "16",
        "3547"
      ],
      "status_id": "113010503322889311"
    },
    {
      "group_key": "favourite-113006771938929950-478999",
      "notifications_count": 2,
      "type": "favourite",
      "most_recent_notification_id": 196012,
      "page_min_id": "196012",
      "page_max_id": "196012",
      "latest_page_notification_at": "2024-08-23T08:16:32.112Z",
      "sample_account_ids": [
        "31460",
        "36509"
      ],
      "status_id": "113006771938929950"
    }
  ]
}
401: Unauthorized

Invalid or missing Authorization header.

{
  "error": "The access token is invalid"
}

Get a single notification group 

GET /api/v2_alpha/notifications/:group_key HTTP/1.1

View information about a specific notification group with a given group key.

Returns: GroupedNotificationsResults
OAuth: User token + read:notifications
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

Request

Path parameters
:group_key
required String. The group key of the notification group.
Headers
Authorization
required Provide this header with Bearer <user token> to gain authorized access to this API method.

Response

200: OK

On success, returns a GroupedNotificationsResults with a single notification group.

{
  "accounts": [
    {
      "id": "16",
      "username": "eve",
      "acct": "eve",
      // …
    },
    {
      "id": "3547",
      "username": "alice",
      "acct": "alice",
      // …
    }
  ],
  "statuses": [
    {
      "id": "113010503322889311",
      "created_at": "2024-08-23T08:57:12.057Z",
      "account": {
        "id": "55911",
        "username": "user",
        "acct": "user",
        // …
      },
      // …
    }
  ],
  "notification_groups": [
    {
      "group_key": "favourite-113010503322889311-479000",
      "notifications_count": 2,
      "type": "favourite",
      "most_recent_notification_id": 196014,
      "sample_account_ids": [
        "16",
        "3547"
      ],
      "status_id": "113010503322889311"
    }
  ]
}
401: Unauthorized

Invalid or missing Authorization header.

{
  "error": "The access token is invalid"
}

Dismiss a single notification group 

POST /api/v2_alpha/notifications/:group_key/dismiss HTTP/1.1

Dismiss a single notification group from the server.

Returns: Empty
OAuth: User token + write:notifications
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

Request

Path parameters
:group_key
required String. The group key of the notifications to discard.
Headers
Authorization
required Provide this header with Bearer <user token> to gain authorized access to this API method.

Response

200: OK

Upon a successful request, notifications with the given group key are successfully dismissed.

{}
401: Unauthorized

Invalid or missing Authorization header.

{
  "error": "The access token is invalid"
}

Get the number of unread notifications 

GET /api/v2_alpha/notifications/unread_count HTTP/1.1

Get the (capped) number of unread notification groups for the current user. A notification is considered unread if it is more recent than the notifications read marker. Because the count is dependant on the parameters, it is computed every time and is thus a relatively slow operation (although faster than getting the full corresponding notifications), therefore the number of returned notifications is capped.

Returns: Hash with a single key of count
OAuth: User token + read:notifications
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

Request

Headers
Authorization
required Provide this header with Bearer <user token> to gain authorized access to this API method.
Query parameters
limit
Integer. Maximum number of results to return. Defaults to 100 notifications. Max 1000 notifications.
types[]
Array of String. Types of notifications that should count towards unread notifications.
exclude_types[]
Array of String. Types of notifications that should not count towards unread notifications.
account_id
String. Only count unread notifications received from the specified account.
grouped_types[]
Array of String. Restrict which notification types can be grouped. Use this if there are notification types for which your client does not support grouping. If omitted, the server will group notifications of all types it supports (currently, favourite and reblog). If you do not want any notification grouping, use GET /api/v1/notifications/unread_count instead.

Response

200: OK

The response body contains the capped count of unread notifications.

{
  "count": 42,
}
401: Unauthorized

Invalid or missing Authorization header.

{
  "error": "The access token is invalid"
}

GroupedNotificationsResults entity

Attributes

accounts

Description: Accounts referenced by grouped notifications.
Type: Array of Account
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

partial_accounts optional

Description: Partial accounts referenced by grouped notifications. Those are only returned when requesting grouped notifications with expand_accounts=partial_avatars. Type: Array of PartialAccountWithAvatar
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

statuses

Description: Statuses referenced by grouped notifications.
Type: Array of [Status](/entities/Status/}
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

notification_groups

Description: The grouped notifications themselves. Type: NotificationGroup
Version history: 4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

Examples

TODO

PartialAccountWithAvatar entity

These are stripped-down versions of Account that only contain what is necessary to display a list of avatars, as well as a few other useful properties. The aim is to cut back on expensive server-side serialization and reduce the network payload size of notification groups.

Attributes

id

Description: The account id.
Type: String (cast from an integer, but not guaranteed to be a number)
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

acct

Description: The Webfinger account URI. Equal to username for local users, or username@domain for remote users.
Type: String
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

url

Description: The location of the user’s profile page.
Type: String (URL)
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

avatar

Description: An image icon that is shown next to statuses and in the profile.
Type: String (URL)
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

avatar_static

Description: A static version of the avatar. Equal to avatar if its value is a static image; different if avatar is an animated GIF.
Type: String (URL)
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

locked

Description: Whether the account manually approves follow requests.
Type: Boolean
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

bot

Description: Indicates that the account may perform automated actions, may not be monitored, or identifies as a robot.
Type: Boolean
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

Examples

TODO

–

NotificationGroup entity

Attributes

group_key

Description: Group key identifying the grouped notifications. Should be treated as an opaque value.
Type: String
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

notifications_count

Description: Total number of individual notifications that are part of this notification group.
Type: Integer\ Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

type

Description: The type of event that resulted in the notifications in this group.
Type: String (Enumerable oneOf)
mention = Someone mentioned you in their status
status = Someone you enabled notifications for has posted a status
reblog = Someone boosted one of your statuses
follow = Someone followed you
follow_request = Someone requested to follow you
favourite = Someone favourited one of your statuses
poll = A poll you have voted in or created has ended
update = A status you interacted with has been edited
admin.sign_up = Someone signed up (optionally sent to admins)
admin.report = A new report has been filed
severed_relationships = Some of your follow relationships have been severed as a result of a moderation or block event
moderation_warning = A moderator has taken action against your account or has sent you a warning
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

most_recent_notification_id

Description: ID of the most recent notification in the group.
Type: String
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

page_min_id optional

Description: ID of the oldest notification from this group represented within the current page. This is only returned when paginating through notification groups. Useful when polling new notifications.
Type: String
Version history: 4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

page_max_id optional

Description: ID of the newest notification from this group represented within the current page. This is only returned when paginating through notification groups. Useful when polling new notifications.
Type: String
Version history: 4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

latest_page_notification_at optional

Description: Date at which the most recent notification from this group within the current page has been created. This is only returned when paginating through notification groups.
Type: String (ISO 8601 Datetime)
Version history: 4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

sample_account_ids

Description: IDs of some of the accounts who most recently triggered notifications in this group.
Type: Array of String
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

status_id optional

Description: ID of the Status that was the object of the notification. Attached when type of the notification is favourite, reblog, status, mention, poll, or update.
Type: String
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

report optional

Description: Report that was the object of the notification. Attached when type of the notification is admin.report.
Type: Report
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

event optional

Description: Summary of the event that caused follow relationships to be severed. Attached when type of the notification is severed_relationships.
Type: RelationshipSeveranceEvent
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

moderation_warning optional

Description: Moderation warning that caused the notification. Attached when type of the notification is moderation_warning.
Type: AccountWarning
Version history:
4.3.0-beta.1 - added
4.3.0-beta.2 - deprecated

Examples

TODO

See also

Finalized grouped notifications API methods
Individual notification API methods
app/controllers/api/v2_alpha/notifications_controller.rb

Last updated September 17, 2024 · Improve this page