Grouping notifications per user with sending variations

Great question! What you’re describing is a classic notification batching pattern, and it’s a great way to improve scalability and user experience.

Here’s a step-by-step approach to implement this in Laravel (works for Laravel 10/11/12):

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1. Database Design

You’ll need a notifications table (Laravel provides this if you use notifications), but you’ll want to add a sent (boolean) and maybe a batch_id (nullable) column to track which notifications have been included in a batch email.

Migration Example:

php artisan make:migration add_sent_and_batch_id_to_notifications_table --table=notifications

// database/migrations/xxxx_xx_xx_add_sent_and_batch_id_to_notifications_table.php

public function up()
{
    Schema::table('notifications', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->boolean('sent')->default(false);
        $table->string('batch_id')->nullable();
    });
}

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2. Storing Notifications

When a chirp is created, store a notification for each user as usual, but do not send an email immediately.

// In your ChirpCreated event or observer

foreach (User::where('id', '!=', $chirp->user_id)->get() as $user) {
    $user->notifications()->create([
        'type' => ChirpNotification::class,
        'data' => [
            'chirp_id' => $chirp->id,
            // ...other data
        ],
        'sent' => false,
    ]);
}

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3. Batching Logic

You need a scheduled job (artisan command or queued job) that:

• For each user, finds all unsent notifications.
• If the count >= m, send an email with up to m notifications, mark them as sent (and optionally assign a batch_id).
• At the end of the day, send any remaining unsent notifications.

Example Command

php artisan make:command SendBatchedNotifications

// app/Console/Commands/SendBatchedNotifications.php

public function handle()
{
    $batchSize = 25; // or config('notifications.batch_size')
    $users = User::all();

    foreach ($users as $user) {
        $unsent = $user->notifications()
            ->where('sent', false)
            ->orderBy('created_at')
            ->take($batchSize)
            ->get();

        if ($unsent->count() >= $batchSize) {
            $this->sendBatch($user, $unsent);
        }
    }
}

protected function sendBatch($user, $notifications)
{
    // Send email with notifications
    Mail::to($user->email)->send(new BatchedChirpNotificationMail($notifications));

    // Mark as sent
    $ids = $notifications->pluck('id');
    $user->notifications()->whereIn('id', $ids)->update([
        'sent' => true,
        'batch_id' => Str::uuid(),
    ]);
}

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4. End-of-Day Batch

Schedule another command (or add logic to the above) to run at, say, 23:55, that sends all remaining unsent notifications for each user.

// In the same command, add:
foreach ($users as $user) {
    $unsent = $user->notifications()->where('sent', false)->get();

    if ($unsent->count() > 0) {
        $this->sendBatch($user, $unsent);
    }
}

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5. Scheduling

Add to app/Console/Kernel.php:

protected function schedule(Schedule $schedule)
{
    // Run every 10 minutes for regular batching
    $schedule->command('notifications:batch')->everyTenMinutes();

    // Run at end of day for leftovers
    $schedule->command('notifications:batch --end-of-day')->dailyAt('23:55');
}

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6. Mail Example

Create a mailable to display the batch:

php artisan make:mail BatchedChirpNotificationMail

// app/Mail/BatchedChirpNotificationMail.php

public function __construct($notifications)
{
    $this->notifications = $notifications;
}

public function build()
{
    return $this->view('emails.batched_chirps')
        ->with(['notifications' => $this->notifications]);
}

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7. Summary

• Store notifications as usual, but don’t email immediately.
• Use a scheduled command to batch and send notifications per user.
• At the end of the day, send any remaining notifications.
• Mark notifications as sent to avoid duplicates.

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Extra Tips

• You can use Laravel’s built-in notification system, but you’ll need to override the default toMail method to prevent immediate sending.
• Consider using queues for sending emails to avoid blocking.
• Make the batch size configurable.

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Let me know if you need a full code example for any part of this!