Keep Your Async Team Aware of Availability
Async teams waste energy pinging 'are you around?' when they do not know who is online. Notis checks team presence hourly in Ably and publishes a status summary so everyone knows availability without asking.
Trigger
Recurring schedule
Notis starts this workflow on a schedule, such as daily, weekly, or during business hours.
Action
Query Batch Presence
This tool enables querying the presence states of multiple channels in a single api request. the api retrieves the member presence details of the specified channels in parallel.
Why this helps
Neurodivergent async team members struggle to know who is available without constant communication overhead. Presence transparency reduces anxiety about finding collaborators. Without visibility, team members feel isolated.
- Team presence status is checked and published automatically without manual status updates
- Reduces context-switching from constant 'are you around?' messages by making presence visible
- Creates clarity on who is available for synchronous collaboration versus who is heads-down on focused work
- Enables async teams to coordinate timing naturally by knowing when collaborators are present
Setup
Build it in a few focused steps.
- 1Connect Notion and Ably to Notis.
- 2Create the automation: 'Every hour on the hour, query Ably presence data and publish a summary showing who is online in each channel.'
- 3Select trigger: 'Scheduled (hourly)'.
- 4Notis queries Ably batch presence data and formats a summary of who is active.
- 5Test by running the automation manually and reviewing the presence summary format in Ably; verify it includes the team members and channels you expected.
Questions about this workflow
How does Notis determine 'online' vs 'offline'?
It uses Ably presence data -- anyone subscribed to a channel is shown as present in that channel. You can customize: 'only show presence if someone has sent a message in the last 30 minutes' for stricter active detection.
What does the presence summary include?
Channel names and members present in each channel by default. Customize it: 'include how long each person has been present' or 'show timezone offset for context.'
Can I publish presence summaries to different channels?
Yes, create multiple automations: 'publish general presence to #team-status and engineering presence to #engineering-presence.'
Is there privacy concern with publishing team presence?
Presence data is already in Ably (it is used by the platform). This automation just surfaces it transparently. You can filter to only show 'online/offline' status instead of specific channels if you prefer.
When this happens · Trigger
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Supported Triggers and Actions
Notis builds workflows that link Notion to Ably. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.
Notion triggers
Ably actions
Recurring trigger
Notis starts this workflow on a schedule, such as daily, weekly, or during business hours.
Query Batch Presence
This tool enables querying the presence states of multiple channels in a single api request. the api retrieves the member presence details of the specified channels in parallel.
Webhook trigger
Notis starts this workflow when an external tool or custom backend sends an HTTP request.
Query Batch Presence History
This tool enables querying presence history for multiple channels in a single api request. it uses the get endpoint at https://rest.ably.io/presence to retrieve the member presence history details of the specified channels in parallel.
All Page Events
Triggers when any Notion page is created or updated across the workspace.
Create Ably Channel
Creates a new channel or retrieves an existing channel in ably. this tool allows you to programmatically create and initialize channels for real-time messaging. since ably creates channels implicitly when first used, this action publishes an empty initialization message to create/activate the channel.
Comment Created
Triggers when a new comment is created in Notion. Optional `page_id` filter scopes to comments on a specific page. When omitted, fires for any new comment in the workspace the integration has access to. Requires the 'Read comments' capability on the Notion integration. If a connection was authorized before that capability was enabled, the user must re-authorize the connection for comment events to flow.
Delete Channel Subscription
This tool allows you to unsubscribe devices or clients from push notifications for specific channels. the operation is asynchronous, so immediate requests after deletion may briefly still return the subscription.
New Comment
Triggers when a new comment is added to a specified Notion block or page.
Get Channel Details
This tool retrieves metadata and details for a specific channel in ably. it returns a channeldetails object containing information about the channel's status, occupancy, and other metadata. the endpoint provides visibility into channel activity, including metrics such as connections, presence, publishers, and subscribers, and requires appropriate permissions.
Database Created
Triggers when a new Notion database (the container) is created. A database is the post-2025-09-03 container that holds one or more data sources. This trigger fires for the container's creation event (`database.created`), distinct from `NOTION_DATASOURCE_CREATED` which fires when a new data source is added to an existing database. Most customers calling Notion's `POST /v1/databases` (the legacy API) or creating a database via the Notion UI will see this event. Adding a new data source to an existing database fires `data_source.created` instead — use `NOTION_DATASOURCE_CREATED` for that. Notion's payload puts `entity.type: "block"` (the container is a `child_database` block in the content tree) and `entity.id` is the database id.
Get Channel History
This tool retrieves the message history for a specified ably channel. it uses the get /channels/{channelid}/messages endpoint to return a paginated list of messages in chronological order, subject to parameters such as 'channelid', 'limit', 'direction', 'start', and 'end'. the tool is useful for auditing, recovering missed messages, analyzing channel activity, and debugging message flows. authentication is required via basic or token authentication.
Data Source Created
Triggers when a new Notion data source is created. Fires workspace-wide. The payload's `data.parent` carries the data source's tree parent (typically the teamspace) for downstream filtering. A single template-based database creation can fire multiple `data_source.created` events at once — one per data source the template instantiates.
Get Channel Presence History
This tool retrieves the history of presence messages for a specified channel in ably. it allows you to query presence events on a channel within a given time period.
Data Source Schema Updated
Triggers when a Notion data source's schema is updated. Fires on column add / remove / rename. Payload includes `data.updated_properties: [{id, name, action}]` so consumers can discriminate the kind of change downstream. Optional `data_source_id` filter scopes to schema changes on a single data source. When omitted, fires for any schema change in the workspace the integration has access to. Note: adding a column also fires `page.properties_updated` once per existing row in the data source. Customers wanting a single structural-change signal should use this trigger.
Get Ably Service Time
This tool retrieves the current server time from ably's service in milliseconds since the epoch. it is particularly useful for time synchronization and generating valid tokenrequest timestamps to prevent replay attacks. the endpoint supports multiple content types, handles http errors, network issues, and is a fundamental tool for ensuring accurate timing in ably applications.
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