Advanced Configuration

Learn how to configure the Inbox component with advanced options

HMAC Encryption

When Novu’s user adds the Inbox to their application they are required to pass a subscriberId which identifies the user’s end-customer, and the application Identifier which is acted as a public key to communicate with the notification feed API.

A malicious actor can access the user feed by accessing the API and passing another subscriberId using the public application identifier.

HMAC encryption will make sure that a subscriberId is encrypted using the secret API key, and those will prevent malicious actors from impersonating users.

Enabling HMAC Encryption

In order to enable Hash-Based Message Authentication Codes, you need to visit the admin panel In-App settings page and enable HMAC encryption for your environment.

How to enable HMAC encryption for In-App Inbox

1. Next step would be to generate an HMAC encrypted subscriberId on your backend:

import { createHmac } from 'crypto';

const hmacHash = createHmac('sha256', process.env.NOVU_SECRET_KEY)
  .update(subscriberId)
  .digest('hex');

2. Then pass the created HMAC to your client side application forward it to the component:

<Inbox
  applicationIdentifier="YOUR_APPLICATION_IDENTIFIER"
  subscriberId="YOUR_SUBSCRIBER_ID"
  subscriberHash="YOUR_SUBSCRIBER_ID_HASH_VALUE"
/>

If HMAC encryption is active in In-App provider settings and subscriberHash along with subscriberId is not provided, then Inbox will not load

Backend SDK Methods

Backend sdk methods

Use your own backend and socket URL

By default, Novu’s hosted services for API and socket are used. If you want, you can override them and configure your own.

import { Inbox } from '@novu/react';

function Novu() {
  return (
    <Inbox
      applicationIdentifier="YOUR_APPLICATION_IDENTIFIER"
      subscriberId="YOUR_SUBSCRIBER_ID"
      backendUrl="YOUR_BACKEND_URL"
      socketUrl="YOUR_SOCKET_URL"
    />
  );
}