What should I use for notification templates and dynamic variables?

A good pattern is:

• Notification templates: use a server-side template engine or message template system
  Examples:

  • Handlebars / Mustache for simple placeholder-based messages
  • Liquid if you want more logic but still keep templates safe
  • React/email-style components if notifications are complex and you want reusable UI blocks

• Dynamic variables: pass them as a data object / context object into the template
  Example:

  {
    "userName": "Ava",
    "orderId": "12345",
    "status": "shipped"
  }
  

  Then the template might look like:

  Hi {{userName}}, your order {{orderId}} is now {{status}}.
  

Recommended choice

If you want something simple and reliable, I’d suggest:

• Handlebars for templates
• a JSON context object for variables

Why

• Easy to edit
• Easy to preview
• Supports reusable notification content
• Keeps presentation separate from app logic

If you need different channels

You can keep the same variable object and render different templates for:

• email
• SMS
• push notifications
• in-app notifications

If you want, I can also recommend the best option for your specific stack, like Node.js, Python, Django, Laravel, or React.