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Concepts and Overview

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How Notification Templates Work

When an event occurs in Collate (e.g., a table is updated, a test case fails), the notification system follows this process:
  1. Triggers an event subscription configured with a notification template
  2. Renders the template with live data from the event using Handlebars syntax
  3. Adapts the rendered HTML for each channel (email as HTML, Slack as formatted blocks, Teams as adaptive cards, etc.)
  4. Sends the notification to configured destinations
This approach lets you define once and deploy everywhere—a single template automatically formats correctly for email, Slack, Teams, Google Chat, and webhooks.

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Two Template Types

Collate provides two types of notification templates to meet different needs:

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System Templates

Pre-built templates provided by Collate for common notification scenarios. Characteristics:
  • Read-only by default (cannot be deleted)
  • Can be modified to customize appearance
  • Auto-update if you haven’t customized them
  • Only users with “Edit All” permission can create system templates
System templates are maintained by Collate and improve over time. If you haven’t customized a system template, it will automatically update to newer versions when Collate releases improvements.

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User Templates

Custom templates you create for specific business needs:
  • Fully editable and deletable
  • Custom formatting for domain-specific events
  • Reusable across multiple event subscriptions
  • Require “Edit All” or “Edit User Notification Template” permission
User templates are completely under your control and won’t change unless you explicitly modify them.

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Template Structure

Each template contains two essential parts:

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Template Subject (templateSubject)

The email subject line or notification title that appears at the top of messages. Constraints:
  • Maximum 256 characters
  • Supports Handlebars templating for dynamic content
Example: 
[{{publisherName}}] - {{camelCaseToTitle event.entityType}} Updated: {{entity.fullyQualifiedName}}
This renders to something like: [Data Alerts] - Table Updated: database.schema.customer_data
Keep the subject line concise (under 100 characters) as it appears in email clients and chat apps where space is limited.

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Template Body (templateBody)

HTML content with Handlebars placeholders that forms the main notification message. Constraints:
  • Maximum 10,240 characters
  • Supports HTML formatting and Handlebars templating
  • Automatically adapted by Collate for each channel
Example: 
<strong>{{event.userName}}</strong> changed <strong>{{camelCaseToTitle event.entityType}}</strong>:
<a href="{{buildEntityUrl event.entityType entity}}">{{entity.fullyQualifiedName}}</a>

{{#if changes.updates}}
<h3>Updated Fields:</h3>
<ul>
  {{#each changes.updates}}
  <li><strong>{{name}}</strong>: {{oldValue}} → {{newValue}}</li>
  {{/each}}
</ul>
{{/if}}
Collate intelligently transforms this HTML for each channel:
  • Email: Renders as formatted HTML with links
  • Slack: Converts to Slack block format with proper formatting
  • Teams: Converts to Adaptive Cards format
  • Google Chat: Converts to Google Chat message format
  • Webhooks: Sends the raw template data
Template bodies are limited to 10,240 characters. If your template exceeds this, consider splitting it into multiple templates for different use cases or simplifying the logic.

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Next Steps