Notification Feed - CometChat Docs

CometChatNotificationFeed displays a scrollable notification feed where each item is rendered as a native card using the CometChat Cards library. It handles fetching, pagination, category filtering, timestamp grouping, real-time updates, and read/delivered/engagement reporting automatically.

Where It Fits

CometChatNotificationFeed is a full-screen component. Drop it into an Activity, Fragment, or navigation destination. It manages its own data fetching, state, and real-time listeners — you just handle navigation callbacks.

Jetpack Compose
Kotlin (XML Views)

@Composable
fun NotificationsScreen(onBack: () -> Unit) {
    CometChatNotificationFeed(
        modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize(),
        showBackButton = true,
        onBackPress = onBack,
        onItemClick = { item ->
            // Handle item tap (e.g., open detail or deep link)
        }
    )
}

<com.cometchat.uikit.kotlin.presentation.notificationfeed.ui.CometChatNotificationFeed
    android:id="@+id/notificationFeed"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" />

val feed = findViewById<CometChatNotificationFeed>(R.id.notificationFeed)
feed.init(this) // Pass Activity or Fragment — needed to create the ViewModel
feed.onItemClick = { item -> /* navigate */ }
feed.onBackPress = { finish() }

Quick Start

Jetpack Compose
Kotlin (XML Views)

@Composable
fun NotificationsScreen() {
    CometChatNotificationFeed(
        modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize()
    )
}

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    val feed = CometChatNotificationFeed(this)
    setContentView(feed)
    feed.init(this) // Required — binds the ViewModel to this Activity's lifecycle
}

Prerequisites: CometChat SDK initialized with CometChatUIKit.init() and a user logged in.

Filtering Feed Items

Control what loads using custom request builders:

Jetpack Compose
Kotlin (XML Views)

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    feedRequestBuilder = NotificationFeedRequest.NotificationFeedRequestBuilder()
        .setLimit(30)
        .setReadState(FeedReadState.UNREAD)
        .setCategory("promotions")
)

feed.setFeedRequestBuilder(
    NotificationFeedRequest.NotificationFeedRequestBuilder()
        .setLimit(30)
        .setReadState(FeedReadState.UNREAD)
        .setCategory("promotions")
)
feed.init(this)

Builder Method	Description
`.setLimit(int)`	Items per page (default 20, max 100)
`.setReadState(FeedReadState)`	`READ`, `UNREAD`, or `ALL`
`.setCategory(String)`	Filter by category ID
`.setChannelId(String)`	Filter by channel
`.setTags(List<String>)`	Filter by tags
`.setDateFrom(String)`	ISO 8601 date lower bound
`.setDateTo(String)`	ISO 8601 date upper bound

Pass the builder object, not the result of .build(). The component calls .build() internally.

Actions and Events

Callback Methods

`onItemClick`

Fires when a feed item card is tapped.

Jetpack Compose
Kotlin (XML Views)

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    onItemClick = { item ->
        // item.id, item.content (Card JSON), item.category
    }
)

feed.onItemClick = { item ->
    // Handle item tap
}

`onActionClick`

Fires when an interactive element (button, link) inside a card is tapped.

Jetpack Compose
Kotlin (XML Views)

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    onActionClick = { item, actionMap ->
        // actionMap contains action type and parameters
        val actionType = actionMap["type"] as? String
        when (actionType) {
            "openUrl" -> openBrowser(actionMap["url"] as String)
            "chatWithUser" -> navigateToChat(actionMap["uid"] as String)
        }
    }
)

feed.onActionClick = { item, actionMap ->
    val actionType = actionMap["type"] as? String
    // Handle action
}

`onError`

Fires when an internal error occurs (network failure, SDK exception).

Jetpack Compose
Kotlin (XML Views)

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    onError = { exception ->
        Log.e("Feed", "Error: ${exception.message}")
    }
)

feed.onError = { exception ->
    Log.e("Feed", "Error: ${exception.message}")
}

`onBackPress`

Fires when the back button in the header is tapped.

Jetpack Compose
Kotlin (XML Views)

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    showBackButton = true,
    onBackPress = { /* navigate back */ }
)

feed.setShowBackButton(true)
feed.onBackPress = { finish() }

Automatic Behaviors

The component handles these automatically — no manual setup needed:

Behavior	Description
Real-time updates	New items appear at the top via WebSocket listener
Delivery reporting	Items are reported as delivered when fetched
Read reporting	Items are reported as read after 1 second of visibility
Unread count polling	Polls unread count every 30 seconds to update badges
Infinite scroll	Fetches next page when scrolling near the bottom
Pull-to-refresh	Resets and fetches fresh data on pull
Timestamp grouping	Groups items as “Today”, “Yesterday”, day name, or date
Category filtering	Filter chips row for category-based filtering

Functionality

Method (XML Views)	Compose Parameter	Description
`setTitle("Notifications")`	`title = "Notifications"`	Header title text
`setShowHeader(true)`	`showHeader = true`	Toggle header visibility
`setShowBackButton(false)`	`showBackButton = false`	Toggle back button
`setShowFilterChips(true)`	`showFilterChips = true`	Toggle category filter chips
`setFeedRequestBuilder(...)`	`feedRequestBuilder = ...`	Custom feed request
`setCategoriesRequestBuilder(...)`	`categoriesRequestBuilder = ...`	Custom categories request

Custom View Slots

Header View

Replace the entire header:

Jetpack Compose

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    headerView = {
        Row(
            modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth().padding(16.dp),
            verticalAlignment = Alignment.CenterVertically
        ) {
            Text("My Notifications", style = CometChatTheme.typography.heading1Bold)
        }
    }
)

State Views

Jetpack Compose

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    emptyStateView = {
        Column(
            modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize(),
            horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally,
            verticalArrangement = Arrangement.Center
        ) {
            Text("No notifications yet")
        }
    },
    errorStateView = { exception, onRetry ->
        Column(horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally) {
            Text("Something went wrong")
            Button(onClick = onRetry) { Text("Retry") }
        }
    },
    loadingStateView = {
        Box(modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize(), contentAlignment = Alignment.Center) {
            CircularProgressIndicator()
        }
    }
)

Style

Jetpack Compose
Kotlin (XML Views)

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    style = CometChatNotificationFeedStyle(
        backgroundColor = Color(0xFFF5F5F5),
        headerBackgroundColor = Color.White,
        headerTitleColor = Color(0xFF141414),
        chipActiveBackgroundColor = Color(0xFF3399FF),
        chipActiveTextColor = Color.White,
        chipInactiveBackgroundColor = Color.White,
        chipInactiveTextColor = Color(0xFF727272),
        cardBackgroundColor = Color.White,
        cardBorderColor = Color(0xFFE0E0E0),
        cardBorderRadius = 12.dp,
        unreadIndicatorColor = Color(0xFF3399FF)
    )
)

feed.setStyle(CometChatNotificationFeedStyle(
    backgroundColor = Color.parseColor("#F5F5F5"),
    headerTitleColor = Color.parseColor("#141414"),
    chipActiveBackgroundColor = Color.parseColor("#3399FF"),
    chipActiveTextColor = Color.WHITE,
    chipInactiveBackgroundColor = Color.TRANSPARENT,
    chipInactiveTextColor = Color.DKGRAY,
    cardBackgroundColor = Color.WHITE,
    cardBorderColor = Color.parseColor("#E0E0E0"),
    unreadIndicatorColor = Color.parseColor("#3399FF")
))

Style Properties

Property	Description
`backgroundColor`	Screen background color
`headerBackgroundColor`	Header bar background
`headerTitleColor`	Header title text color
`headerBorderColor`	Divider below header
`chipActiveBackgroundColor`	Selected filter chip background
`chipActiveTextColor`	Selected filter chip text
`chipInactiveBackgroundColor`	Unselected filter chip background
`chipInactiveTextColor`	Unselected filter chip text
`chipBorderColor`	Filter chip border
`badgeActiveBackgroundColor`	Active chip badge background
`badgeActiveTextColor`	Active chip badge text
`badgeInactiveBackgroundColor`	Inactive chip badge background
`badgeInactiveTextColor`	Inactive chip badge text
`timestampTextColor`	Section header timestamp color
`cardBackgroundColor`	Card container background
`cardBorderColor`	Card container border
`cardBorderRadius`	Card corner radius
`cardBorderWidth`	Card border width
`unreadIndicatorColor`	Unread dot indicator color
`separatorColor`	Separator between cards

All colors default to Color.Unspecified (Compose) or 0 (XML) to inherit from CometChatTheme. Override individual values without losing theme support.

ViewModel Access

The component uses CometChatNotificationFeedViewModel from the shared chatuikit-core module. You can provide a custom ViewModel for advanced scenarios:

Jetpack Compose

val viewModel: CometChatNotificationFeedViewModel = viewModel(
    factory = CometChatNotificationFeedViewModelFactory(
        feedRequestBuilder = customBuilder,
        pollingIntervalMs = 60_000L // 1 minute polling
    )
)

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    viewModel = viewModel
)

ViewModel Factory Parameters

Parameter	Default	Description
`feedRequestBuilder`	null	Custom feed request builder
`categoriesRequestBuilder`	null	Custom categories request builder
`enableListeners`	true	Enable WebSocket listeners (false for testing)
`pollingIntervalMs`	30000	Unread count polling interval in ms

Common Patterns

Show only unread items

Jetpack Compose

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    feedRequestBuilder = NotificationFeedRequest.NotificationFeedRequestBuilder()
        .setReadState(FeedReadState.UNREAD)
)

Hide filter chips and header

Jetpack Compose
Kotlin (XML Views)

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    showHeader = false,
    showFilterChips = false
)

feed.setShowHeader(false)
feed.setShowFilterChips(false)

Custom categories request

Jetpack Compose

CometChatNotificationFeed(
    categoriesRequestBuilder = NotificationCategoriesRequest.NotificationCategoriesRequestBuilder()
        .setLimit(10)
)

Next Steps

Campaigns Feature

Overview of how campaigns work end-to-end

SDK Campaigns API

Low-level SDK APIs for feed items, categories, and engagement

Component Styling

Full styling reference for all components

ViewModel & Data

Custom ViewModels, repositories, and ListOperations

Documentation Index

​Where It Fits

​Quick Start

​Filtering Feed Items

​Filter Options

​Actions and Events

​Callback Methods

​onItemClick

​onActionClick

​onError

​onBackPress

​Automatic Behaviors

​Functionality

​Custom View Slots

​Header View

​State Views

​Style

​Style Properties

​ViewModel Access

​ViewModel Factory Parameters

​Common Patterns

​Show only unread items

​Hide filter chips and header

​Custom categories request

​Next Steps

Campaigns Feature

SDK Campaigns API

Component Styling

ViewModel & Data

Where It Fits

Quick Start

Filtering Feed Items

Filter Options

Actions and Events

Callback Methods

`onItemClick`

`onActionClick`

`onError`

`onBackPress`

Automatic Behaviors

Functionality

Custom View Slots

Header View

State Views

Style

Style Properties

ViewModel Access

ViewModel Factory Parameters

Common Patterns

Show only unread items

Hide filter chips and header

Custom categories request

Next Steps