Notifications

Almost every cross-app event in Scholiphi fans out a notification: a teacher publishes a notice, a student submits homework, a parent gets a PTM invite. Notifications are delivered as push (via Firebase) when the recipient's device has registered, and stored as in-app records that show up in each app's Notifications page. Tapping a notification deep-links to the source feature.

At a glance

Who can do this	All recipients (teachers, students, parents) — receive. Teachers and admins effectively trigger most events.
Where it lives	Teacher app /dashboard/notifications · Student app /dashboard/notifications · Parent app /notifications
Triggers	Homework, submissions, attendance, exam updates, notices/alerts, PTM, doubts, results, achievements, chat messages, coin/credit grants
Related features	Messages & Chat · Notice Board & Alerts · Homework · Doubts

Trigger map

What fires a notification, to whom, and the in-app type it carries.

Source event	Recipient	Type code	In-app category
Homework published	Student + Parent	homework	Homework / Submissions
Student submits homework	Teacher	submission	Submissions
Submission marked / reviewed	Student + Parent	submission / result	Submissions / Results
Notice / alert published	Targeted students + parents	announcement, urgent, holiday, event, notice	Announcements
EXAM alert / new exam scheduled	Student + Parent	exam	Exams
PTM / MEETING alert	Parent	ptm / meeting	Announcements
RESULT alert / exam results released	Student + Parent	result	Results
Attendance marked (absent, late)	Parent	attendance	Attendance
Doubt answered by AI / teacher	Student	doubt	Doubts
New chat message	Other party	(chat)	Push only — does not appear in in-app list (chat has its own unread surface)
Coin / credit grant or request approved	Student	general	General
Achievement / badge earned	Student	general	General

How it flows

Lifecycle

Step-by-step

1. Push registration

• On every authenticated app launch, the app calls the push registration endpoint with: FCM token, role (teacher / student / parent / independent_student), and a stable device id.
• Web disables push when VITE_ENABLE_PUSH=false.
• Logout clears the local push handler and disconnects the socket.

2. Receiving a push

• Foreground: in-app toast (sonner) and the Notifications list updates on next visit.
• Background / killed: native banner / lockscreen entry.
• Tap behavior: each notification carries a data.url. Tapping routes via React Router (in-app) or window.location.href for absolute URLs. The handler is wired at app root so deep-links land correctly without bouncing through /.

3. The Notifications page

• Teacher: /dashboard/notifications
• Student: /dashboard/notifications
• Parent: /notifications

All three pages share the same shape:

• Page size: 50 per fetch.
• Header shows total + unread count.
• Filter tabs (per app):
  • Teacher: All, Unread, Submissions, Attendance, Announcements.
  • Student: All, Unread, Homework, Announcements.
  • Parent: All, Unread. Filter is via the unreadOnly toggle.
• Sections: TODAY, YESTERDAY, OLDER.
• Cards show: type icon (color-coded by category), title, body preview, relative time, unread indicator (left bar).
• Empty state: large bell + "You're all caught up!"

4. Marking as read

• Tap a card → marks that one notification read (badge decrements) AND navigates to data.url.
• Parent app exposes a Mark all as read button (zeroes unread count, keeps cards in list).
• Teacher and student apps mark per-card on tap; bulk mark-read is parent-only today.

5. Type → icon mapping (parent app, illustrative)

Type	Icon	Color
EXAM / TEST	document	violet
EVENT	calendar	blue
PTM / MEETING	users	indigo
HOMEWORK	book	pink
SUBMISSION	clipboard-check	emerald
URGENT	alert-triangle	red
ATTENDANCE	user-check	sky
HOLIDAY	palmtree	emerald
RESULT	trophy	amber
NOTICE	megaphone	orange
DOUBT	message-circle-question	purple
GENERAL	bell	grey

Teacher and student apps use the same vocabulary with their own palette.

Edge cases & things to test

• Token rotation: uninstall and reinstall the app — the new FCM token must be re-registered on next login; the stale token must stop receiving (server-side cleanup / 410 handling).
• Multi-device: parent logged in on phone AND tablet — both should ring; reading on one should mark in-app read for both.
• Logout while pushes pending: log out — pushes should stop arriving; existing in-app rows for that user must NOT be shown to the next user on the device.
• Permission denied: user denies push permission — in-app notifications must still work; no client-side errors.
• Deep-link to deleted resource: tap a homework push whose homework was deleted — graceful 404 / toast, not a crash.
• Time grouping at midnight: a push received at 11:59 PM viewed at 12:01 AM — sectioning into TODAY/YESTERDAY/OLDER must match the open time, not the receive time.
• Mark-all-read while new pushes arrive: race — a push that arrives mid-request should remain unread.
• Notification fan-out scale: 60 students × 2 parents = 180 recipients on one alert publish — all must receive within ~30 seconds.
• Filter tab stickiness: switch to Submissions tab, navigate away, return — does the filter persist or reset?
• Chat push vs in-app list: chat notifications must appear as push but should NOT clutter the in-app notifications page (chat has its own unread surface in /messages).
• VITE_ENABLE_PUSH=false: confirm web build cleanly skips registration without errors in console.
• Parent multi-child: an attendance push for Child A — does the in-app card make it clear which child it concerns?

Related

• Messages & Chat — chat sends push but stays out of the in-app list
• Notice Board & Alerts — every alert publish fans out a push
• Homework — assign + review actions trigger notifications
• Attendance — absent / late marking triggers parent push
• Doubts — answering a doubt notifies the asker