Courier

Overview

Courier is a notification infrastructure platform that helps developers build and manage multi-channel notification systems — delivering messages through email, SMS, push notifications, Slack, and in-app feeds from a single API. When Courier's scripts appear on websites, they're powering in-app notification widgets — the bell icon and notification feed that users interact with to see their recent alerts, messages, and updates.

These widgets are deeply integrated into the application's user experience, providing real-time notification delivery directly within the web interface.

What This Script Does

Courier's scripts embed notification functionality in web applications:

• Notification feed widget: Renders an in-app notification inbox (typically behind a bell icon) that displays the user's recent notifications, alerts, and messages in a scrollable feed
• Real-time delivery: Maintains a persistent connection (WebSocket or Server-Sent Events) to Courier's infrastructure to deliver new notifications in real-time without page refreshes
• Read state management: Tracks which notifications the user has read, marking items as seen and managing unread counts displayed on the notification badge
• Notification preferences: May expose user preference controls allowing recipients to manage their notification channels and frequency settings
• Session authentication: Manages the authenticated connection between the logged-in user and their notification feed, ensuring notifications are delivered to the correct recipient

The scripts communicate with Courier's API to fetch notification history and receive real-time updates.

Consent & Compliance

Courier's notification widgets have a contained compliance profile:

• GDPR: Notification content and delivery metadata constitute personal data processing. Courier acts as a data processor. The notifications serve a functional purpose directly tied to the user's authenticated session.
• ePrivacy Directive: Session management for an authenticated notification feed is strictly necessary for a service the user is actively using.
• CCPA/CPRA: Notification data associated with user accounts should be covered in your privacy policy.

The authenticated, user-facing nature of notification feeds keeps the compliance picture straightforward.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Courier's notification widgets serve a clear functional purpose — delivering notifications that the authenticated user expects to receive as part of the application they're using. The scripts operate within an authenticated context and don't involve marketing tracking or behavioral profiling of anonymous visitors. Blocking these scripts would prevent users from receiving their in-app notifications.

No.