---
term: notification
category: social
status: canonical
authority: social.elonn.local
---

Notification

An alert delivered to a specific member about something that happened and is relevant to them. Notifications are targeted and recipient-scoped, unlike activity which is feed-oriented.

Fields:
- recipient_identity_user_id — who receives it
- actor_identity_user_id — who caused it (optional)
- object_type / object_id — what it is about (optional)
- title — short human-readable label
- body — optional longer description
- read_at — null until the member reads it

Allowed:
- notification
- unread notification
- mark notification as read

Forbidden:
- alert (acceptable in UI prose; not the technical noun)
- message (notifications are not messages; see: message)
- ping (too informal)
- push (describes delivery mechanism, not the object)

Notes:
- Currently notifications are generated for conversation replies. Event RSVPs, event invitations, and community invitations do not yet generate notifications — this is a known gap.
- A notification is not an activity record. Activity is a public feed; notifications are private and recipient-specific.
- Notifications are marked read via POST /social/notifications/{id}/read.

Related:
- activity (distinct public feed; see: activity)
- conversation
- event
- member