CustomNotificationType Metadata Type Reference

The CustomNotificationType metadata type registers a custom notification channel in Salesforce Setup (Custom Notifications). Introduced in API version 46.0, it enables Flow (sendCustomNotification core action), ApexClass (Messaging.CustomNotification), and REST API calls to push real-time alerts to the Lightning Experience bell icon (desktop) and the Salesforce Mobile app (mobile).

In Salesforce DX projects, notification types are stored in force-app/main/default/notificationtypes/ with the .notiftype-meta.xml suffix.

Key Metadata Fields#

Production-Grade XML Example#

Below is a CustomNotificationType (SLA_Breach_Alert.notiftype-meta.xml) enabled for both desktop and mobile delivery:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<CustomNotificationType xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <customNotifTypeName>SLA_Breach_Alert</customNotifTypeName>
    <description>Real-time desktop and mobile alert sent when a Priority 1 Case approaches SLA breach.</description>
    <desktop>true</desktop>
    <masterLabel>SLA Breach Alert</masterLabel>
    <mobile>true</mobile>
</CustomNotificationType>

Dispatching Custom Notifications in Apex (Messaging.CustomNotification)#

Unlike emails, Messaging.CustomNotification does not count against daily single-email governor limits and supports up to 10,000 recipients per call when targeting a Queue or Group:

public with sharing class SlaNotificationService {
    public static void notifyTier3Queue(Case escalatedCase, Id queueId) {
        CustomNotificationType notifType = [
            SELECT Id
            FROM CustomNotificationType
            WHERE DeveloperName = 'SLA_Breach_Alert'
            WITH SYSTEM_MODE
            LIMIT 1
        ];

        Messaging.CustomNotification notification = new Messaging.CustomNotification();
        notification.setNotificationTypeId(notifType.Id);
        notification.setTitle('P1 Case SLA Warning: ' + escalatedCase.CaseNumber);
        notification.setBody('Subject: ' + escalatedCase.Subject + ' requires immediate triage.');
        notification.setTargetId(escalatedCase.Id);

        // Passing a Queue Id or Public Group Id automatically notifies all active members
        notification.send(new Set<String>{ String.valueOf(queueId) });
    }
}

<types>
    <members>SLA_Breach_Alert</members>
    <name>CustomNotificationType</name>
</types>

Querying CustomNotificationType with SOQL#

-- Query all registered CustomNotificationTypes in standard SOQL
SELECT Id, DeveloperName, CustomNotifTypeName, MasterLabel, Desktop, Mobile, Description
FROM CustomNotificationType
ORDER BY MasterLabel ASC

Frequently asked questions

Does CustomNotificationType support the asterisk (*) wildcard in package.xml?

No. CustomNotificationType does not support the asterisk wildcard in package.xml. You must explicitly list each notification type's developer name inside the members tags.

How do I send a CustomNotificationType notification from Apex?

Query CustomNotificationType for its Id by DeveloperName, instantiate Messaging.CustomNotification, call setNotificationTypeId, setTitle, setBody, and setTargetId, and invoke send(recipientIdsSet) with a Set of User, Group, or Queue IDs.

Can I send a CustomNotification to a Queue or Public Group?

Yes. Passing a 15/18-character Group Id (Public Group or Queue) or AccountId (for Account Teams) into the recipientIds set automatically fans out the notification to up to 10,000 active users in that group.

Where are CustomNotificationType files stored in SFDX?

They are stored in the force-app/main/default/notificationtypes/ directory with the .notiftype-meta.xml suffix.

What happens when a user clicks a Custom Notification in the desktop bell tray?

Salesforce navigates the user either to the record specified by targetId (or setTargetId in Apex) or to the custom PageReference JSON passed to setTargetPageRef.