How to Configure Notification Settings in Obvious

Control when and where Obvious notifies you — from browser alerts and in-app toasts to Slack, SMS, and Telegram messages.

Get to notification settings

Open Settings → Notifications. The page has two sections: Channels at the top and Preferences below.

Set up your channels

Channels are the delivery methods Obvious can use to reach you. Connect a channel before assigning it to any notification category.

Scroll to the Channels section.
Find the channel you want to add: Desktop Notifications, Email, Slack DM, SMS, Telegram, or Phone Call.
Click the channel to connect or enable it. Each one walks you through any required setup (for example, Slack DM will prompt you to authorize your Slack account).
Repeat for any other channels you want available.

Your connected channels are now available to assign in Preferences.

Slack

What you see depends on your workspace's Slack setup:

Slack isn't connected to the workspace. A workspace admin needs to connect Slack via workspace connector settings before individual notifications can be enabled.
Slack is connected but your account isn't linked. Click Connect via Slack to link your Slack identity. This is a one-time step.
Slack is connected and your account is linked. A Connected label appears. Click × to disconnect.

SMS

Enter your phone number in the Text Message field and enable the toggle to activate SMS notifications.

When you enable SMS, a consent notice appears below the phone number field. To opt out at any time, reply STOP to any SMS from Obvious or remove your phone number from Settings → Notifications.

Click Connect via Telegram to link your Telegram account. Once connected, a Connected ✓ label appears. Click × to disconnect.

Enable or disable notifications by category

The Preferences section controls which channels receive notifications, organized by feature category.

Scroll to Preferences.
Find the category you want to manage: Agents or Assistant (Assistant only appears if it's enabled for your account).
Click the toggle on the right to turn all notifications for that category on or off. When off, Obvious won't send any notifications for that category regardless of channel settings.

To control which specific channels are active for a category:

Click the expand arrow on the right side of the category row. It expands to show a checkbox for each connected channel.
Check or uncheck each channel to include or exclude it.
Repeat for any other categories.

Your preferences save automatically.

Normal vs Urgent delivery (Assistant)

The Assistant category has two columns when expanded: Normal and Urgent.

Normal — Obvious reaches you on your highest-priority channel. It cascades through your selected channels in priority order and stops as soon as one delivers.
Urgent — Obvious reaches you on all selected channels at the same time.

Check or uncheck each channel under Normal, Urgent, or both to configure delivery.

Note: Desktop Notifications doesn't have an Urgent checkbox. In-app urgent pings always fire when you're in the app regardless of this setting.

Browser notifications

Browser notifications appear as system-level alerts when an agent finishes work in a project you're not currently viewing. They only fire when the Obvious tab is in the background.

To enable them for a project:

Open the project.
Click the bell icon in the project header.
If your browser asks for permission, click Allow. The bell icon fills in to confirm notifications are active.

Obvious remembers this setting per project.

Note: If you've denied browser notification permission, reset it in your browser settings before the toggle will work.

In-app toasts

In-app toasts are small pop-up alerts that appear inside Obvious while you're using it. They show up when something happens in a different project — like an agent completing a task, a scheduled task starting or failing, or you being added to a new workspace.

Toasts dismiss on their own after a few seconds, or you can close them manually. Each one includes an Open button that takes you to the relevant project.

To mute a project's toasts:

Open the project.
Click ⋯ in the project header.
Select Mute activity. To unmute, open the same menu and select Unmute activity.

The notification bell

The bell icon in the project toolbar shows comment-related notifications — mentions and replies to comment threads. An accent dot appears when you have unread notifications. Click it to open the notifications panel and jump to the relevant comment.

Troubleshooting

Slack notifications aren't arriving. Confirm your workspace has Slack connected — a workspace admin can check in Settings → Connectors. If the workspace is connected but messages aren't coming through, disconnect and reconnect your account via Connect via Slack in Settings → Notifications.

Browser notifications stopped working. Check your browser's notification permissions for app.obvious.ai. If permission is blocked, clear it and re-enable via the bell icon in your project header.

All notifications stopped suddenly. Check that the relevant category row is enabled and that at least one channel is turned on within it.

SMS or Telegram not delivering. Verify the phone number or Telegram account linked in Settings → Notifications. If the issue persists, contact help@obvious.ai.