Push notifications for embeds

Allow readers to subscribe to liveblog alerts and get notified the moment new updates go out.

1. Prerequisites

Serve your site over HTTPS.
Target browsers must support the Push API and Service Workers.

2. Configure VAPID keys

Generate a VAPID keypair (using web-push or similar) and add the following environment variables:

NEXT_PUBLIC_VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY
VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY
VAPID_SUBJECT (usually a mailto: contact)

3. Service worker

The worker lives at /push-sw.js (served from public/). When the embed mounts, it registers the worker and shows a bell UI so readers can opt in or out.

4. Subscription storage

Subscriptions are stored in the push_subscriptions table. The embed handles create/update/delete via the public API.

5. Sending notifications

Publishing a liveblog update can automatically fan out pushes via src/lib/notifications/push.ts.
Manual broadcasts are available through POST /api/liveblogs/<id>/broadcast/notify.

Troubleshooting

Double-check that NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL points to the HTTPS origin your embeds run on.
Browsers require a user gesture before showing notification prompts.
Expired/404 subscriptions are removed automatically during send—no manual cleanup needed.