Team Notification Settings Guide

Overview

The notification system allows team administrators to control which team members receive notifications for different events (tasks, calls, texts, questions) via email and SMS. This guide explains how to configure notification preferences for your team members.

Key Concepts

Notification Hierarchy

The system uses a three-level hierarchy for notification preferences:

Phone-specific preferences (highest priority) - Settings for a specific phone number
Team-wide preferences (medium priority) - Settings that apply to all phone numbers in the team
System defaults (lowest priority) - Default settings for new team members

When a notification event occurs, the system checks for preferences in this order and uses the first match found.

Default Behavior

When a new member joins your team, they are automatically enrolled in minimal notifications:

✅ Task Created - Email only
✅ Task Assigned - Email only (only when assigned to them)
❌ All other notifications disabled by default

This conservative default prevents notification fatigue while ensuring critical task information reaches team members.

Available Notification Types

Events (What triggers notifications)

Event	Description	When it fires
Task Created	New task created from a call	Every time AI creates a task from call transcript
Task Assigned	Task assigned to a user	When a task is assigned or reassigned
Task Updated	Task details modified	When task description, category, or details change (excludes completion and assignment)
Task Completed	Task marked complete	When someone marks a task as done
Call Completed	Call ends and is processed	After each completed call
Text Sent	Text message sent to client	When AI sends a text message after a call
Question Created	Question extracted from call	When AI identifies a question in the transcript

Channels (How notifications are delivered)

Channel	Requirements	Notes
Email	Valid email address on user account	Always available for users
SMS	Phone number added to user profile	Must be in E.164 format (starts with +)
Slack	Connected customer Slack workspace	Team-level channels; not a per-user preference

Important: Users can only enable SMS notifications if they have a phone number on their account. Admins can add/edit phone numbers in the Members Settings page.

Slack Channel Notifications

Slack notifications are configured under Settings → Notification Preferences → Slack. Slack is a team-level destination: each channel setup sends new task notifications to one Slack channel. Slack is not part of the per-user Email/SMS preference matrix because delivery goes to shared channels, not individual users. Supported Slack notification in v1:

Task Created

Slack setup requires a distributed Slack app for production customer installs. Configure the OAuth redirect URL, then set the customer app credentials in environment variables:

SLACK_CUSTOMER_CLIENT_ID=
SLACK_CUSTOMER_CLIENT_SECRET=
SLACK_CUSTOMER_REDIRECT_URL=
SLACK_CUSTOMER_DISTRIBUTION_ENABLED=true

Required bot scopes:

chat:write
channels:read

Optional bot scopes:

chat:write.customize for subject-customer name and icon styling in the Answering Agent internal workspace (team 1); customer-owned routes always use the installed Answering Agent app identity
groups:read for private channel discovery

Slack optional scopes can be marked optional in the Slack app settings or manifest with oauth_config.scopes.bot_optional. Slack notification health is visible in the Slack settings page. Common failures:

not_in_channel or channel_not_found: invite the Answering Agent Slack app to the channel
missing_scope: reconnect Slack with the needed permission
invalid_auth, not_authed, account_inactive, or token_revoked: reconnect Slack
is_archived: choose a different channel
rate_limited: retry after Slack’s rate limit window

Slack v1 does not route completed conversations, questions, or SMS replies to customer Slack channels. It also does not watch Slack channels, ingest Slack messages, create tasks from Slack posts, or process Slack button clicks. Buttons in Slack messages are dashboard links only.

Accessing Notification Settings

Step 1: Navigate to Settings

Click on your team name in the sidebar
Select Settings from the dropdown
Click Notification Preferences in the settings menu

Step 2: View Team Members

You’ll see a list of all team members with:

Member name, email, and role
Current notification preferences (if any configured)
“Configure” button to edit their settings

Configuring Member Notifications

Find the team member you want to configure
Click the “Configure” button next to their name
A modal will open showing their notification preferences

Understanding the Interface

The configuration modal shows:

User Information

Name, email, phone number (for SMS notifications)
Current notification settings overview

Notification Scope Selector

Choose where these settings apply:

Team-wide notifications - Apply to all phone numbers in the team
Specific phone number - Apply only to calls from one phone number

Event-Channel Matrix

A grid showing all notification events (rows) and available channels (columns):

Email column - Toggle email notifications for each event
SMS column - Toggle SMS notifications for each event (requires phone number)

Step-by-Step: Edit Notifications

Select Scope
- Choose “Team-wide” for notifications on all phone numbers
- Or select a specific phone number to configure separately
Enable/Disable Events
- Check the boxes for events and channels you want enabled
- For example, to get email + SMS for new tasks:
  - Find the “Task Created” row
  - Check both “Email” and “SMS” boxes
Save Changes
- Click “Save Preferences” at the bottom
- Changes take effect immediately
Clear All Notifications (Optional)
- Click “Reset to Defaults” to remove all custom settings
- Important: This clears ALL notifications for this scope
- The member will receive NO notifications until you re-configure them
- Note: This is different from new member defaults (see below)

Understanding “Defaults” There are two different types of defaults in the system:

New Member Defaults: When someone joins your team, they automatically get Task Created + Task Assigned via email

Reset Button: The “Reset to Defaults” button CLEARS all notifications (sets everything to empty)

If you want to restore a member to the new member defaults, manually enable Task Created and Task Assigned with Email channel.

Example Configurations

Scenario 1: Manager wants all notifications

Goal: Get notified about everything via email and SMS Configuration:

Scope: Team-wide
Events: Check ALL events
Channels: Check Email AND SMS for all events

Scenario 2: Reduce notification overload

Goal: Only get notified when tasks are assigned to them Configuration:

Scope: Team-wide
Events: ONLY check “Task Assigned”
Channels: Email only
Result: No notifications for task creation, calls, texts, etc.

Scenario 3: Different settings per phone number

Goal: Get all notifications for Restaurant line, only urgent for Office line Configuration for Restaurant line:

Scope: Select “Restaurant Line” phone number
Events: Check all events
Channels: Email + SMS

Configuration for Office line:

Scope: Select “Office Line” phone number
Events: Only “Task Created” and “Task Assigned”
Channels: Email only

Note: Phone-specific settings override team-wide settings. If a user has phone-specific preferences set, their team-wide preferences are automatically removed to avoid confusion.

Managing SMS Notifications

Adding Phone Numbers for SMS

Before members can receive SMS notifications, they need a phone number on their account:

Go to Settings → Members
Find the team member
Click on the “SMS Phone” field
Enter their phone number (e.g., +15551234567)
Press Enter or click the checkmark to save

Phone Number Format: Must be in E.164 format starting with country code:

✅ Correct: +15551234567
❌ Incorrect: 555-123-4567 or 5551234567

Validating Contact Methods

The system automatically validates that users have required contact information:

Trying to enable Email notifications? Email must be on account
Trying to enable SMS notifications? Phone number must be on account

If validation fails, you’ll see an error message explaining which contact method is missing.

Understanding Member Roles

Different roles have different notification access:

Role	Default Access
Owner	Can configure notifications for all team members
Admin	Can configure notifications for all team members
Manager	Can configure notifications for assigned members
User	Can only edit their own notification preferences

Note: Managers and Admins can only see/edit notifications for members they manage. If they have no specific assignments, they can manage all members.

Best Practices

Preventing Notification Fatigue

Start minimal - New members get only critical notifications (Task Created, Task Assigned)
Add gradually - Let members opt-in to additional notifications as needed
Use phone-specific settings - Different phone lines may need different urgency levels
Leverage roles - Managers might need more notifications than regular users

Recommended Configurations by Role

Owners/Admins

Events: Task Created, Task Assigned, Call Received
Channels: Email
Scope: Team-wide

Get visibility into tasks and calls without SMS overload.

Managers

Events: Task Created, Task Assigned, Task Completed
Channels: Email + SMS for Task Assigned only
Scope: Team-wide or specific phone numbers

Stay informed about task lifecycle, get immediately notified when tasks assigned.

Regular Users

Events: Task Assigned
Channels: Email
Scope: Team-wide

Only get notified about tasks assigned to them - minimal distraction.

Support Team Members

Events: Question Created, Task Created
Channels: Email + SMS
Scope: Specific phone number (support line)

Immediate notification when customers have questions.

Viewing Current Settings

To see what notifications a member currently receives:

Go to Settings → Notification Preferences
Look under each member’s name

You’ll see a summary like:

📞 Restaurant Line (+15551234567):
Task created → Email, SMS
Task assigned → Email

🔔 Team-wide:
Call completed → Email

This shows:

Icon: 📞 for phone-specific, 🔔 for team-wide
Scope: Which phone number or “Team-wide”
Active notifications: Event → Channels enabled

If you see “No notifications configured”, the member has no custom preferences set. New members will use system defaults (Task Created + Task Assigned via email), while members who clicked “Reset to Defaults” will have all notifications disabled.

Troubleshooting

Member not receiving notifications

Check these items:

Is the event enabled?
- Open their notification settings
- Verify the specific event type is checked
Is the channel enabled?
- Check if Email or SMS is enabled for that event
- For SMS, verify they have a phone number on their account
Scope conflicts?
- Phone-specific settings override team-wide settings
- If they have a phone-specific preference set to “no notifications”, team-wide won’t apply
Contact information?
- Email notifications require valid email address
- SMS notifications require phone number in E.164 format

Notifications going to wrong people

Task Assigned behavior: Only notifies the person the task is assigned TO, not the whole team. This is intentional to reduce noise. Check assignments: For other events, verify:

Are they assigned to specific phone numbers?
Do they have the right scope selected (team-wide vs phone-specific)?

Can’t enable SMS notifications

Error: “You cannot enable notifications for channels you don’t have contact information for” Solution:

Go to Settings → Members
Add the user’s phone number in the “SMS Phone” column
Return to Notification Preferences and try again

”Reset to Defaults” cleared all notifications

What happened: The “Reset to Defaults” button removes all notification preferences, which means NO notifications will be sent. To restore new member defaults:

Open the member’s notification settings
Enable “Task Created” → Email
Enable “Task Assigned” → Email
Save preferences

API Reference (for developers)

Endpoints

GET    /api/teams/{team}/notification-preferences
GET    /api/teams/{team}/notification-preferences/users/{user}
PUT    /api/teams/{team}/notification-preferences/users/{user}
PATCH  /api/teams/{team}/notification-preferences/users/{user}/phone

Data Structure

{
  "event_channel": {
    "task_created": ["email", "sms"],
    "task_assigned": ["email"],
    "task_updated": [],
    "task_completed": ["email"],
    "call_received": [],
    "text_sent": [],
    "question_created": ["email"]
  }
}

User Roles & Permissions - Understanding role hierarchy
Integrations - How integrations trigger notifications

Support

If you need help configuring notifications for your team, contact support@answeringagent.com or check the in-app help documentation.

​Team Notification Settings Guide

​Overview

​Key Concepts

​Notification Hierarchy

​Default Behavior

​Available Notification Types

​Events (What triggers notifications)

​Channels (How notifications are delivered)

​Slack Channel Notifications

​Accessing Notification Settings

​Step 1: Navigate to Settings

​Step 2: View Team Members

​Configuring Member Notifications

​Opening the Configuration Modal

​Understanding the Interface

​User Information

​Notification Scope Selector

​Event-Channel Matrix

​Step-by-Step: Edit Notifications

​Example Configurations

​Scenario 1: Manager wants all notifications

​Scenario 2: Reduce notification overload

​Scenario 3: Different settings per phone number

​Managing SMS Notifications

​Adding Phone Numbers for SMS

​Validating Contact Methods

​Understanding Member Roles

​Best Practices

​Preventing Notification Fatigue

​Recommended Configurations by Role

​Owners/Admins

​Managers

​Regular Users

​Support Team Members

​Viewing Current Settings

​Troubleshooting

​Member not receiving notifications

​Notifications going to wrong people

​Can’t enable SMS notifications

​”Reset to Defaults” cleared all notifications

​API Reference (for developers)

​Endpoints

​Data Structure

​Related Documentation

​Support