Configuration

All notification configuration lives in config/notifications.js. This is where you define channels, set defaults, and configure channel-specific options.

Basic configuration

// config/notifications.js
module.exports.notifications = {
  // Which channel to use by default
  provider: 'web-push',

  // All configured channels
  providers: {
    'web-push': {
      adapter: 'web-push',
      vapidPublicKey: process.env.VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY,
      vapidPrivateKey: process.env.VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY,
      vapidSubject: process.env.VAPID_SUBJECT || 'mailto:support@yourapp.com'
    }
  }
}

Multiple channels

You can configure multiple notification channels and switch between them at runtime:

// config/notifications.js
module.exports.notifications = {
  provider: 'web-push', // default channel

  providers: {
    'web-push': {
      adapter: 'web-push',
      vapidPublicKey: process.env.VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY,
      vapidPrivateKey: process.env.VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY,
      vapidSubject: process.env.VAPID_SUBJECT || 'mailto:support@yourapp.com'
    },
    sms: {
      adapter: '@flare/sms',
      accountSid: process.env.TWILIO_SID,
      authToken: process.env.TWILIO_TOKEN,
      fromNumber: process.env.TWILIO_FROM
    }
  }
}

Then in your code:

// Uses the default channel (web-push)
await sails.flare.fire(userId, { title: 'Hello', body: '...' })

// Uses a specific channel
await sails.flare.channel('sms').fire(userId, { title: 'Hello', body: '...' })

Environment variables

The Web Push adapter requires three environment variables:

Variable	Description	Example
VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY	Public key shared with browsers to verify your server	BHHptnie8S3lypy...
VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY	Private key used to sign push requests (keep secret)	6FSHIAGTuCWY8-S...
VAPID_SUBJECT	Contact URL or mailto: identifying the sender	mailto:support@yourapp.com

Generate VAPID keys with:

npx web-push generate-vapid-keys

WARNING

VAPID keys are generated once and reused permanently. Don't rotate them — changing keys invalidates all existing browser subscriptions.

Graceful degradation

If no providers are configured (e.g. missing VAPID keys in development), Flare exposes a no-op API. Your app boots normally and sails.flare.fire() returns an empty array with a console warning.

This means you can safely call sails.flare.fire() in shared code paths without wrapping it in environment checks.

Provider configuration reference

web-push (built-in)

Option	Type	Required	Description
adapter	string	Yes	Must be 'web-push'
vapidPublicKey	string	Yes	VAPID public key
vapidPrivateKey	string	Yes	VAPID private key
vapidSubject	string	Yes	mailto: or URL identifying the sender