Notification Center Implementation for Website

Implementing Notification Center

Notification center — component showing user's notification history with read marking. Updates real-time via WebSocket without page reload.

Database Structure

CREATE TABLE notifications (
    id         UUID         PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
    user_id    INTEGER      NOT NULL REFERENCES users(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
    type       VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    icon       VARCHAR(50),
    title      VARCHAR(255),
    body       TEXT,
    url        VARCHAR(500),
    data       JSONB        NOT NULL DEFAULT '{}',
    read_at    TIMESTAMPTZ,
    created_at TIMESTAMPTZ  NOT NULL DEFAULT NOW()
);

CREATE INDEX ON notifications(user_id, read_at, created_at DESC);

Laravel: API Endpoints

class NotificationController extends Controller
{
    public function index(Request $request): JsonResponse
    {
        $notifications = auth()->user()->notifications()
            ->latest()
            ->limit(50)
            ->get();

        return response()->json([
            'notifications' => NotificationResource::collection($notifications),
            'unread_count'  => $notifications->whereNull('read_at')->count(),
        ]);
    }

    public function markRead(Request $request): JsonResponse
    {
        $query = auth()->user()->notifications()->whereNull('read_at');

        if ($request->id) {
            $query->where('id', $request->id);
        }

        $query->update(['read_at' => now()]);

        return response()->json(['success' => true]);
    }

    public function send(User $user, array $data): void
    {
        $notification = $user->notifications()->create($data);
        broadcast(new NotificationCreatedEvent($user->id, $notification))->toOthers();
    }
}

Laravel Echo + WebSocket

import Echo from 'laravel-echo';
import Pusher from 'pusher-js';

window.Pusher = Pusher;
const echo = new Echo({
  broadcaster: 'pusher',
  key: import.meta.env.VITE_PUSHER_KEY,
  cluster: import.meta.env.VITE_PUSHER_CLUSTER,
  forceTLS: true,
});

export function useNotifications(userId: number) {
  const [notifications, setNotifications] = useState<Notification[]>([]);
  const [unreadCount, setUnreadCount] = useState(0);

  useEffect(() => {
    api.get('/api/notifications').then(({ data }) => {
      setNotifications(data.notifications);
      setUnreadCount(data.unread_count);
    });

    const channel = echo.private(`notifications.${userId}`)
      .listen('.NotificationCreated', (event: { notification: Notification }) => {
        setNotifications(prev => [event.notification, ...prev].slice(0, 50));
        setUnreadCount(c => c + 1);

        if (Notification.permission === 'granted') {
          new Notification(event.notification.title ?? 'New notification', {
            body: event.notification.body ?? undefined,
            icon: '/icon-192.png',
          });
        }
      });

    return () => channel.stopListening('.NotificationCreated');
  }, [userId]);

  const markAllRead = async () => {
    await api.post('/api/notifications/mark-read');
    setNotifications(prev => prev.map(n => ({ ...n, read_at: new Date().toISOString() })));
    setUnreadCount(0);
  };

  return { notifications, unreadCount, markAllRead };
}

React: UI Component

function NotificationBell({ userId }: { userId: number }) {
  const { notifications, unreadCount, markAllRead } = useNotifications(userId);
  const [isOpen, setIsOpen] = useState(false);

  return (
    <div className="notification-bell">
      <button
        onClick={() => setIsOpen(!isOpen)}
        aria-label={`${unreadCount} unread notifications`}
        aria-expanded={isOpen}
        aria-haspopup="true"
      >
        🔔
        {unreadCount > 0 && (
          <span className="badge" aria-hidden>{unreadCount > 99 ? '99+' : unreadCount}</span>
        )}
      </button>

      {isOpen && (
        <div className="notification-panel" role="dialog" aria-label="Notifications">
          <header>
            <h2>Notifications</h2>
            {unreadCount > 0 && (
              <button onClick={markAllRead}>Mark all as read</button>
            )}
          </header>

          <ul>
            {notifications.length === 0 && <li className="empty">No notifications</li>}
            {notifications.map(notification => (
              <li key={notification.id} className={notification.read_at ? 'read' : 'unread'}>
                {notification.url ? (
                  <a href={notification.url}>{notification.title}</a>
                ) : (
                  <span>{notification.title}</span>
                )}
                <time dateTime={notification.created_at}>{timeAgo(notification.created_at)}</time>
                {notification.body && <p>{notification.body}</p>}
              </li>
            ))}
          </ul>
        </div>
      )}
    </div>
  );
}

Timeline

Notification center with WebSocket (Laravel Echo + Pusher), API and React UI: 2–3 days. Self-hosted (Soketi or Laravel Reverb instead of Pusher): +1 day.