What is Push Notification?
Also called mobile push, web push, silent push.
A push notification is a message delivered to a device through a platform push service rather than requested by the application itself. The app registers for a token, a server sends a payload addressed to that token, and the operating system displays or delivers it even when the app is closed. Web browsers support an equivalent mechanism through their own push services.
The flow has three parties: the app, the platform push service such as Apple Push Notification service or Firebase Cloud Messaging, and the sending server. The app requests permission and receives a device token, the server stores it, and delivery is best effort. Tokens rotate, become invalid on reinstall, and must be cleaned up, since sending to stale tokens wastes capacity and can trigger provider feedback.
Payloads are small and structured. A visible notification carries a title, body, and options for sound, grouping, and actions, while a silent or background push carries data and wakes the app to fetch content without showing anything. Platforms deliberately throttle background delivery, so silent push should be treated as an optimization rather than a guarantee.
Permission is the scarcest resource. Users grant notification access once and revoke it after low-value interruptions, and platforms have added summaries, focus modes, and per-category controls that further reduce visibility. Sending fewer, more consequential notifications with clear categories the user can tune individually preserves the channel.
For agent systems, notifications are the mechanism for asynchronous work: an approval needed, a long task finished, an exception encountered. The useful pattern pairs a short, specific message with a deep link to the exact item, and respects quiet hours and time zones so overnight completions surface at a reasonable local time.
Key points
- Delivered via a platform service to a registered device token
- Tokens rotate and must be pruned when invalid
- Silent pushes wake the app but are throttled by platforms
- Permission is easily revoked, so relevance is the constraint
- Pair a specific message with a deep link to the item
In practice
An overnight agent finishes a competitor pricing report and needs sign-off before publishing. Rather than notifying at completion time, it holds the alert until the owner's local morning, then sends one notification naming the report and the decision required. Tapping it opens the app directly on the draft with the approve and revise actions in view, and the same item also appears in the workspace inbox for anyone reading on desktop.