Push Notifications Generator

Generate push notification infrastructure with APNs registration, handling, and rich notifications.

When This Skill Activates

• User wants to add push notifications to their app
• User mentions APNs (Apple Push Notification service)
• User asks about notification categories or actions
• User wants rich notifications with images or custom UI

Pre-Generation Checks

Before generating, verify:

1. Existing Notification Code

   # Check for existing notification handling
   grep -r "UNUserNotificationCenter\|registerForRemoteNotifications" --include="*.swift" | head -5
   

2. Entitlements

   # Check for push notification entitlement
   find . -name "*.entitlements" -exec grep -l "aps-environment" {} \;
   

3. App Delegate or SwiftUI App

   # Determine app structure
   grep -r "@main\|UIApplicationDelegate" --include="*.swift" | head -5
   

Configuration Questions

1. Notification Types

• Basic - Simple alerts with title/body
• Rich - Include images, custom UI (requires Notification Service Extension)
• Both - Full notification support

2. Notification Actions

• None - Just display notifications
• Simple Actions - Quick action buttons
• Custom Categories - Multiple action categories

3. Silent Notifications

• Yes - Background data updates
• No - User-visible only

Generated Files

Core Infrastructure

Sources/Notifications/
├── NotificationManager.swift      # Central notification management
├── NotificationDelegate.swift     # UNUserNotificationCenterDelegate
├── NotificationCategories.swift   # Action categories definition
└── NotificationPayload.swift      # Type-safe payload parsing

Rich Notifications (Optional)

NotificationServiceExtension/
├── NotificationService.swift      # Modify notifications before display
└── Info.plist                     # Extension configuration

Content Extension (Optional)

NotificationContentExtension/
├── NotificationViewController.swift  # Custom notification UI
├── MainInterface.storyboard
└── Info.plist

Key Features

Registration Flow

@MainActor
final class NotificationManager {
    static let shared = NotificationManager()

    func requestAuthorization() async throws -> Bool {
        let center = UNUserNotificationCenter.current()
        let options: UNAuthorizationOptions = [.alert, .badge, .sound]
        return try await center.requestAuthorization(options: options)
    }

    func registerForRemoteNotifications() {
        UIApplication.shared.registerForRemoteNotifications()
    }
}

Handling Notifications

// Foreground notification
func userNotificationCenter(
    _ center: UNUserNotificationCenter,
    willPresent notification: UNNotification
) async -> UNNotificationPresentationOptions {
    return [.banner, .sound, .badge]
}

// Notification tap/action
func userNotificationCenter(
    _ center: UNUserNotificationCenter,
    didReceive response: UNNotificationResponse
) async {
    let userInfo = response.notification.request.content.userInfo
    await handleNotificationAction(response.actionIdentifier, userInfo: userInfo)
}

Action Categories

enum NotificationCategory: String {
    case message = "MESSAGE_CATEGORY"
    case reminder = "REMINDER_CATEGORY"

    var actions: [UNNotificationAction] {
        switch self {
        case .message:
            return [
                UNNotificationAction(identifier: "REPLY", title: "Reply", options: []),
                UNNotificationAction(identifier: "MARK_READ", title: "Mark as Read", options: [])
            ]
        case .reminder:
            return [
                UNNotificationAction(identifier: "COMPLETE", title: "Complete", options: []),
                UNNotificationAction(identifier: "SNOOZE", title: "Snooze", options: [])
            ]
        }
    }
}

Notification Design (WWDC18)

"Interrupting people is a real privilege… a trust relationship." Design the strategy before the infrastructure:

Decision	Rule
Authorization	Use provisional authorization (add .provisional to the options — delivered quietly to Notification Center, no prompt) for passive content like likes and comments; reserve the explicit prompt for time-critical content
When to prompt	Never at first launch. Explain the value first, then ask at a contextually meaningful moment — right after the order is placed, not before the user has ordered
Content bar	Every notification carries a specific message or a completable task — never an empty "open the app" nudge
Timing	Deliver at relevant times; use time- and location-based delivery where it fits
Settings	Offer granular per-topic toggles in-app, and add .providesAppNotificationSettings so "Manage" in system settings deep-links to your page
Grouping	App-level grouping is the default; set threadIdentifier only for meaningfully different streams (conversations, distinct sources) — over-threading recreates the clutter grouping was meant to fix
Rich content	A rich notification is a self-contained package: image/video plus actions that complete the task without launching the app
Fatigue	Pause notification types a user repeatedly ignores (the Duolingo pattern) — silence beats an uninstall

Required Capabilities

In Xcode

1. Select project target
2. Signing & Capabilities tab
3. Add "Push Notifications" capability
4. Add "Background Modes" > "Remote notifications" (for silent notifications)

Entitlements

<key>aps-environment</key>
<string>development</string>  <!-- or "production" -->

Integration Steps

1. SwiftUI App

@main
struct MyApp: App {
    @UIApplicationDelegateAdaptor private var appDelegate: AppDelegate

    var body: some Scene {
        WindowGroup {
            ContentView()
        }
    }
}

class AppDelegate: NSObject, UIApplicationDelegate {
    func application(
        _ application: UIApplication,
        didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?
    ) -> Bool {
        UNUserNotificationCenter.current().delegate = NotificationDelegate.shared
        NotificationCategories.registerAll()
        return true
    }

    func application(
        _ application: UIApplication,
        didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken deviceToken: Data
    ) {
        let token = deviceToken.map { String(format: "%02.2hhx", $0) }.joined()
        print("Device Token: \(token)")
        // Send token to your server
    }
}

2. Request Permission (at appropriate time)

Button("Enable Notifications") {
    Task {
        let granted = try await NotificationManager.shared.requestAuthorization()
        if granted {
            await MainActor.run {
                NotificationManager.shared.registerForRemoteNotifications()
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Server-Side Setup

Configure your server to send APNs requests:

• Use APNs HTTP/2 API
• Include team ID, key ID, and .p8 key
• Target: api.push.apple.com (production) or api.sandbox.push.apple.com (development)

Testing

Local Notifications (Simulator)

func scheduleTestNotification() {
    let content = UNMutableNotificationContent()
    content.title = "Test"
    content.body = "This is a test notification"
    content.sound = .default

    let trigger = UNTimeIntervalNotificationTrigger(timeInterval: 5, repeats: false)
    let request = UNNotificationRequest(identifier: UUID().uuidString, content: content, trigger: trigger)

    UNUserNotificationCenter.current().add(request)
}

Remote Notifications (Physical Device)

1. Build to physical device
2. Copy device token from console
3. Use APNs testing tool or curl:

curl -v \
  --header "authorization: bearer $JWT_TOKEN" \
  --header "apns-topic: com.yourcompany.yourapp" \
  --header "apns-push-type: alert" \
  --http2 \
  --data '{"aps":{"alert":{"title":"Test","body":"Hello"}}}' \
  https://api.sandbox.push.apple.com/3/device/$DEVICE_TOKEN

References

• User Notifications Framework
• Registering for APNs
• Notification Service Extension