notification

A lightweight library for sending one way messages across multiple platforms.

Supported Platforms

• Discord — webhooks
• Email — SMTP (coming soon)
• Console — stdout

Installation

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
notification = { git = "git@github.com:kaleLetendre/notification.git" }

All platforms are enabled by default. To only include what you need, disable defaults and pick specific features:

[dependencies]
notification = { git = "git@github.com:kaleLetendre/notification.git", default-features = false, features = ["discord"] }

Features

Feature	Description	Dependencies
console	Print messages to stdout	none
discord	Send messages via webhooks	ureq, serde
email	Send messages via SMTP	lettre

Console

Print messages directly to stdout. No configuration needed. This is mostly just to test installs and model basic library structure.

use notification::console;

let msg = console::Message {
    body_text: "Hello from console!".to_string(),
};

match console::send(&msg) {
    Ok(()) => println!("sent"),
    Err(e) => println!("failed: {:?}", e),
}

Discord

Send messages to Discord channels via webhooks. Supports text messages, embeds, polls, mentions, file attachments, threads, and message flags.

Create a webhook in Discord: Server Settings → Integrations → Webhooks → New Webhook → Copy URL.

Webhooks and channels

A webhook is tied to a specific channel. Messages sent through it always go to that channel by default. This matters for threads:

• Regular channels — Use thread_id to send a message into an existing thread within that channel. Webhooks cannot create new threads in regular channels — thread_name will not work here. The thread must already exist.
• Forum channels — The webhook must be created on the forum channel itself. Every message sent through it must include thread_name (to create a new post) or thread_id (to reply to an existing post). Sending without either will fail, because forum channels have no main feed to post to. You can also use applied_tags when creating a new forum post.

If you need to post to threads in different channels, you need a separate webhook for each channel.

How it works

Each part of a Discord webhook message is represented as a typed struct. Optional fields default to None and are omitted from the JSON payload. Structs that are entirely optional fields implement Default, so you can set only the fields you care about and use ..Default::default() for the rest.

Messages without attachments are sent as JSON. Messages with attachments are automatically sent as multipart form data. The thread_id and wait fields are appended as URL query parameters rather than included in the JSON body.

See the examples/discord_*.rs files for full working examples of each feature.

Config

Field	Type	Description
webhook_url	String	The full webhook URL from Discord
wait	Option<bool>	When true, Discord confirms the message was received before responding. Appended as a query parameter

Message

Field	Type	Description
content	Option<String>	Text body of the message, up to 2000 characters
username	Option<String>	Overrides the webhook's default display name
avatar_url	Option<String>	Overrides the webhook's default avatar
embeds	Option<Vec<Embed>>	Rich embed cards displayed below the message
poll	Option<Poll>	Interactive poll users can vote on
tts	Option<bool>	Text-to-speech: reads the message aloud in the channel
allowed_mentions	Option<AllowedMentions>	Controls which @mentions actually send pings
flags	Option<u32>	Message flag bitfield. See Discord docs for values
thread_name	Option<String>	Creates a new forum thread with this name
applied_tags	Option<Vec<String>>	Tag IDs to apply when creating a forum thread
thread_id	Option<String>	Sends the message into an existing thread. Appended as a query parameter
attachments	Option<Vec<Attachment>>	File uploads. Triggers multipart form data instead of JSON

Embed

Field	Type	Description
title	Option<String>	Title text at the top of the embed
url	Option<String>	Makes the title a clickable hyperlink
description	Option<String>	Main body text, supports Discord markdown
color	Option<u32>	Colored strip on the left side, as a decimal color value
author	Option<Author>	Small author section at the top
fields	Option<Vec<Field>>	Key-value fields in the embed body
thumbnail	Option<Thumbnail>	Small image in the top-right corner
image	Option<Image>	Large image below the embed body
footer	Option<Footer>	Text and icon at the bottom
timestamp	Option<String>	ISO 8601 timestamp shown next to the footer

Sub-structs

Struct	Field	Type	Description
Author	name	String	Author display name
	url	Option<String>	Makes the author name a clickable link
	icon_url	Option<String>	Small icon next to the author name
Field	name	String	Field label
	value	String	Field content
	inline	Option<bool>	When true, fields sit side by side (up to 3 per row)
Thumbnail	url	String	Thumbnail image URL
Image	url	String	Large image URL
Footer	text	String	Footer text
	icon_url	Option<String>	Small icon next to the footer text

Poll

Field	Type	Description
question	Question	The question displayed at the top (text field)
answers	Vec<Answer>	List of choices. Each wraps a PollMedia with text and optional emoji
duration	Option<u32>	How long the poll stays open, in hours
allow_multiselect	Option<bool>	When true, users can select multiple answers

Emoji

Field	Type	Description
id	Option<String>	ID for custom server emojis
name	Option<String>	Unicode emoji character (e.g. "🔥")

AllowedMentions

Field	Type	Description
parse	Option<Vec<String>>	Broad mention types to allow: "users", "roles", "everyone"
roles	Option<Vec<String>>	Specific role IDs allowed to be pinged
users	Option<Vec<String>>	Specific user IDs allowed to be pinged

Get a user's ID by enabling Developer Mode in Discord (Settings → Advanced → Developer Mode), then right-clicking their name and selecting Copy User ID.

Attachment

Field	Type	Description
filename	String	The filename Discord displays for the download
description	Option<String>	Alt text for accessibility and search
data	FileData	Either FileData::Path("path/to/file") to read from disk, or FileData::Bytes(vec) to send raw bytes from memory

Email (coming soon)

Send emails via SMTP. Works with any SMTP provider including Gmail, Outlook, AWS SES, and self-hosted servers.

use notification::email;

let config = email::Config {
    smtp_server: "smtp.gmail.com".to_string(),
    port: 587,
    username: "you@gmail.com".to_string(),
    password: "your_app_password".to_string(),
    from_address: "you@gmail.com".to_string(),
};

let msg = email::Message {
    to: vec!["recipient@example.com".to_string()],
    cc: None,
    bcc: None,
    subject: "Hello".to_string(),
    body_text: "Hello from Rust!".to_string(),
};

match email::send(&config, &msg) {
    Ok(()) => println!("sent"),
    Err(e) => println!("failed: {:?}", e),
}