Step Conditions

Create dynamic notification workflows using rule-based conditions. Control message delivery based on subscriber data, payload information, and workflow outcomes.

The Step Condition feature in Novu enables you to define conditional logic for each workflow step (node), ensuring a precise and tailored notification experience. This feature adds flexibility and control by allowing you to determine whether a step should execute based on subscriber data, payload data, or conditions stemming from previous workflow steps.

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What Are Workflow Step Conditions?

When adding a workflow step (node) in Novu, it can either be:

1. Channel Step: In-App, Email, SMS, Push, or Chat.
2. Action Step: Digest or Delay.

Each step includes the ability to configure step conditions that define whether the step is executed. The conditions can combine multiple logical rules using AND and OR operators.

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Areas for Configuring Step Conditions

1. Subscriber Variables

Conditions can leverage subscriber-related fields to tailor notifications based on user-specific data. Examples of subscriber variables include:

• subscriber.firstName
• subscriber.lastName
• subscriber.email
• subscriber.phone
• subscriber.avatar
• subscriber.locale
• subscriber.data
• subscriber.subscriberId
• subscriber.isOnline
• subscriber.lastOnlineAt

For instance, you might want to send an SMS only to users whose subscriber.isOnline is false.

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2. Payload Data

Conditions can also depend on custom payload data passed during the workflow trigger call to the Novu API. This allows you to define dynamic rules based on the data unique to each workflow execution.

Example payload data:

{
  "orderId": "12345",
  "totalAmount": 150,
  "orderStatus": "completed"
}

You can configure conditions such as:

• payload.orderStatus = "completed"
• payload.totalAmount > 100

This makes it possible to create dynamic notifications based on context-specific information.

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3. Previous Step Conditions

For workflows involving sequential steps, conditions can also depend on the outcome of a previous step. For example, if the prior step was an In-App Notification, the condition could check:

• steps.in-app-step.seen
• steps.in-app-step.read
• steps.in-app-step.lastSeenDate
• steps.in-app-step.lastReadDate

This is especially useful for tailoring follow-up notifications. For instance, send an email only if the In-App notification was not read within 24 hours.

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4. Advanced Application State Calculations

For more complex scenarios where you need to perform advanced calculations based on your application state, you can use the Novu Framework Skip Step.

This approach allows you to:

• Access your application’s database or external services
• Perform complex business logic calculations
• Make API calls to external services
• Execute custom validation rules

The skip step gives you full programmatic control over whether a notification step should be executed, going beyond the built-in condition builder capabilities.

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Query Builder Options

The query builder enables you to construct powerful logical expressions for your step conditions. Supported operators include:

Operator	Description	Example
=	Equal to	subscriber.locale = "en-US"
!=	Not equal to	subscriber.isOnline != true
<	Less than	payload.totalAmount < 100
>	Greater than	payload.totalAmount > 100
<=	Less than or equal to	payload.totalAmount <= 200
>=	Greater than or equal to	payload.totalAmount >= 200
contains	Contains a substring	payload.orderId contains "123"
begins with	Starts with	subscriber.firstName begins with "J"
ends with	Ends with	subscriber.email ends with "@xyz.com"
does not contain	Does not contain a substring	payload.orderId does not contain "456"
does not begin with	Does not start with	subscriber.firstName does not begin with "M"
does not end with	Does not end with	subscriber.lastName does not end with "Smith"
is null	Is null	subscriber.phone is null
is not null	Is not null	subscriber.email is not null
in	Matches one of several values	subscriber.locale in ["en-US", "es-ES"]
not in	Does not match any of the listed values	subscriber.locale not in ["fr-FR", "de-DE"]
between	Within a range	payload.totalAmount between [50, 200]
not between	Outside of a range	payload.totalAmount not between [0, 50]

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Using Dynamic Data Fields for Comparison

The value field in a condition can also be a dynamic data field. This allows you to compare two data points dynamically rather than using static values.

For example:

{
  "operator": "AND",
  "conditions": [
    {
      "field": "payload.foo",
      "operator": "=",
      "value": "{{payload.bar}}"
    }
  ]
}

In this case, the step will execute only if payload.foo is equal to payload.bar at runtime.

You can also use subscriber variables in the same way:

{
  "operator": "AND",
  "conditions": [
    {
      "field": "subscriber.firstName",
      "operator": "=",
      "value": "{{payload.firstName}}"
    }
  ]
}

This enables flexible condition logic based on real-time data comparisons.

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Building Condition Groups

Novu allows you to group multiple conditions using AND and OR operators to create complex logic. For instance:

• AND Group: All conditions in the group must be true for the step to execute.
• OR Group: At least one condition in the group must be true.

Condition groups can also be nested for advanced use cases.

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Novu’s Step Condition feature empowers you to build intelligent and dynamic workflows tailored to your specific use cases. By leveraging subscriber data, payload information, and step outcomes, you can ensure that each notification reaches the right audience at the right time with the appropriate content.