Categories Overview

Categories help you organize notifications and allow subscribers to choose their preferences. They serve two purposes:

1. Organization - Group and filter deliveries in the dashboard
2. Subscriber Preferences - Let users choose what notifications they want

Accessing Categories

1. Navigate to your app
2. Click Categories in the app menu

The Categories page has two tabs: Categories, where you manage the categories themselves, and Routing, where you can automate which category gets assigned based on a delivery's URL. See Routing Rules below.

Category Properties

Property	Description	Limit
Name	Display name shown to users	100 chars
Tag Key	Internal identifier for segmentation	50 chars
Description	Explanation of the category	255 chars
Color	Visual indicator in dashboard	9 preset colors or custom hex color

Tag Key

The tag key is used to:

• Identify the category in subscriber tags
• Create segments based on preferences
• Reference in API calls

It's automatically generated from the name but can be customized.

Rules:

• Lowercase only
• Letters, numbers, underscores
• No spaces or special characters

Creating Categories

1. Click Add Category
2. Fill in the form:
   • Name - User-facing label (required)
   • Tag Key - Internal identifier for segmentation (auto-generated from name if left empty)
   • Description - Brief explanation of the category
   • Color - Pick from presets or use color picker
3. Click Create

Setting Colors

Colors help visually identify categories in the deliveries list. Choose from 9 preset colors or use the custom color picker:

Preset	Hex
Blue	#3B82F6
Green	#10B981
Purple	#8B5CF6
Red	#EF4444
Amber	#F59E0B
Gray	#6B7280
Pink	#EC4899
Cyan	#06B6D4
Orange	#F97316

You can also use the color picker for any custom color.

Managing Categories

Reordering

Drag and drop categories to change their order. The order affects:

• How they appear in the Category Slidedown prompt
• Display order in dropdown menus

To reorder:

1. Drag a category row up or down
2. Drop in the desired position
3. Click Save All Changes

Editing

1. Click the edit button on a category row
2. Modify name, color, or description
3. Click Save

Deleting

1. Click the delete button on a category row
2. Confirm deletion

warning

Deleting a category doesn't delete associated deliveries, but they will become "Uncategorized."

Saving Changes

After making changes (reorder, edit, or delete):

1. Click Save All Changes to persist
2. Or click Discard Changes to revert

The banner shows unsaved changes when present.

Using Categories

In Manual Notifications

When creating a notification:

1. Select a category from the dropdown
2. Category is assigned to the delivery

In RSS Triggers

Configure an RSS trigger with a category:

1. Edit the RSS trigger
2. Select a category
3. All notifications from this trigger get the category

In Category Slidedown

If using the Category Slidedown permission prompt:

1. Go to Channels → Web Push → Prompts
2. Configure the Category Slidedown
3. Add categories from your list
4. Users select their preferences when subscribing

Filtering Deliveries

In the Deliveries list:

1. Use the Category filter
2. Select a category to see only those deliveries
3. Select "Uncategorized" to see deliveries without categories

Routing Rules

Routing Rules automatically assign a category to a delivery based on its destination URL, so you don't have to pick one manually every time. This is particularly useful for triggers that pull in content automatically, like RSS Triggers and Flash Trigger.

Accessing Routing Rules

1. Navigate to your app
2. Click Categories in the app menu
3. Click the Routing tab

How It Works

Each rule matches a delivery's Click URL against a pattern. The first active matching rule wins — rules are evaluated in order, from top to bottom.

Field	Description
Active	Enable or disable the rule without deleting it
Match	How to compare the URL — "URL contains" or "URL does not contain"
Pattern	The text or fragment to match against the Click URL
Category	The category to assign when this rule matches

Creating a Rule

1. Click Add Rule
2. Choose a Match type and enter a Pattern
3. Select the Category to assign
4. Click Save Changes

info

Changes aren't saved until you click Save Changes. A banner appears at the top of the page while you have unsaved edits, with the option to Discard them instead.

Reordering Rules

Use the up and down arrows next to each rule to change its priority. Since the first matching rule wins, put your most specific rules above broader ones.

Example

Active	Match	Pattern	Category
✓	URL contains	/sports/	Sports
✓	URL contains	/breaking/	Breaking News

With this setup, a delivery linking to yoursite.com/sports/football-recap is automatically categorized as Sports.

Category Slidedown Integration

The Category Slidedown prompt lets users choose what notification types they want.

How It Works

1. User sees the subscription prompt
2. Categories are shown as checkboxes
3. User selects their preferences
4. Upon subscribing, their choices are saved as tags
5. You can target users based on their preferences

Configuring Categories for Slidedown

1. Create categories in the Categories section
2. Go to Channels → Web Push → Prompts
3. Configure the Category Slidedown
4. Select which categories to show
5. Set default checked states
6. Order them using drag and drop

Using Subscriber Preferences

After users subscribe with category preferences:

1. Their choices are stored as tags
2. Create segments using tag rules:
   • Tag "sports_news" has value "true"
3. Target notifications to that segment

Example Categories

News Site

Category	Tag Key	Color
Breaking News	breaking_news	Red
Daily Digest	daily_digest	Blue
Sports	sports	Green
Entertainment	entertainment	Purple

E-commerce

Category	Tag Key	Color
Flash Sales	flash_sales	Red
New Arrivals	new_arrivals	Blue
Price Drops	price_drops	Green
Back in Stock	back_in_stock	Orange

Blog/Content

Category	Tag Key	Color
New Posts	new_posts	Blue
Weekly Newsletter	newsletter	Purple
Special Announcements	announcements	Red

Best Practices

Category Names

• Keep names short and clear
• Use user-friendly language
• Be specific about content type

Colors

• Use distinct colors for easy identification
• Match your brand when possible
• Be consistent across similar categories

Number of Categories

• Don't create too many (5-7 is usually enough)
• Combine similar types
• Remove unused categories

Descriptions

• Explain what subscribers will receive
• Set expectations for frequency
• Help users make informed choices

Limits

Limit	Value
Categories per app	Recommended maximum of 20
Name length	100 characters
Tag key length	50 characters
Description length	255 characters

Next Steps

• Configure Category Slidedown
• Create Segments using category preferences
• Send Targeted Notifications