---
title: What are notifications?
url: https://tideswell.xyz/docs/notifications
description: Three layers decide whether your phone buzzes. The device, your personal settings, and the level you set on a channel.
---

> Documentation index: fetch https://tideswell.xyz/llms.txt to discover every page before exploring further.

# What are notifications?



Tideswell tells you things in two different places, and understanding the split saves most of
the confusion.

**Your Inbox** is the durable record. Every alert lands there whether or not anything buzzed, so
nothing is ever lost. See <Ref to="tasks/see-what-needs-you" />.

**A push notification** is the buzz on your phone or laptop. That is optional, per device, and
subject to your own settings.

## What has to line up for a buzz? [#what-has-to-line-up-for-a-buzz]

Three layers, all of which have to allow it.

1. **The device.** Notifications are switched on per browser and per device, so turning them on
   for your laptop does nothing for your phone. See <Ref to="notifications/turn-them-on" />.
2. **Your personal settings**, under **What buzzes you** on your account: quiet hours, your
   default for channels, and toggles for task reminders, low-stock alerts and notable orders.
   See <Ref to="notifications/quiet-hours-and-levels" />.
3. **The level on the specific channel**, for chat, which overrides your default. See
   <Ref to="notifications/mute-or-follow-a-channel" />.

For automation alerts there is a fourth, upstream of all of these: the automation itself has to
be on and you have to be on its recipient list. See
<Ref to="automations/choose-who-gets-alerted" />.

When somebody says they are not being notified, walk those in order. It is nearly always the
first or the second.

## What gets notified? [#what-gets-notified]

Chat mentions and replies, task assignments and comments, approvals, workflow notifications, and
the automation alerts for stock, orders, stale data and the daily brief.

Each type arrives in your Inbox with its own glyph, so a stock alert and a task comment are
distinguishable at a glance.

## What is worth knowing before you rely on it? [#what-is-worth-knowing-before-you-rely-on-it]

**Quiet hours drop notifications rather than queueing them.** A one-off ping sent at 3am is
gone, not delivered at seven. A recurring reminder, such as a task nearing its due date, simply
fires again later.

That is why the Inbox matters. The push is a convenience and the Inbox is the record, so
anything missed overnight is still there in the morning.

## Are these settings personal? [#are-these-settings-personal]

Entirely. Nobody else's are affected, and an admin cannot set them for you.

They also only silence **pushes to your devices**. The Inbox item still arrives, and so does any
email the automation was set to send.

That distinction is useful: silencing low-stock buzzes on your phone does not mean you stop
being told, only that you find out when you look.

## Where to go next [#where-to-go-next]

<Ref to="notifications/turn-them-on" /> first, since nothing buzzes until a device is switched
on. <Ref to="notifications/quiet-hours-and-levels" /> is where you shape what reaches you.

<Ref to="notifications/task-stock-and-order-alerts" /> covers the three categories with their
own personal switch.