How to put mentions, DMs, and flagged questions from every app into one inbox

Someone tags you in Discord. A stranger DMs you on Telegram. A comment on Reddit needs a reply. A mention pops up on X and sits there for hours. By the time you've checked all four apps, twenty minutes are gone and you still don't know if you missed something in a fifth place you haven't checked yet.

The problem isn't that you need more alerts. It's that you need the right alerts, in one place, sorted by whether they actually need you right now.

The good news is you don't need a bigger notification budget to fix this. IFTTT can pull mentions, DMs, and flagged questions from everywhere you get them into a single queue, and split what actually needs you live from what can wait for a daily digest.

If you don't already have an account, you can sign up for IFTTT free in about a minute, you'll need it to build any of the Applets below.

How this works as triage, with IFTTT

Most tools solve notification overload by adding more alerts. This pipeline does the opposite: it collects everything that could need a reply, then decides what's worth interrupting you for.

IFTTT handles this in two layers:

Collect: pull mentions, DMs, and flagged questions from every app into one queue, so nothing gets missed just because it happened somewhere you weren't looking

Split: send true mentions and urgent flags to you live, and route everything else into a digest you check on your own schedule

Here's how to build it.

Step 1: Route Discord replies that need attention into a triage channel

Not every Discord message needs a reply, but the ones tagged as needing one shouldn't sit in a busy channel waiting to be noticed. This Applet watches for a marker you choose (like 'needs-reply') and relays that message straight into a dedicated Slack channel your team actually checks.

Step 2: Log Telegram DMs that match your keywords

Direct messages on Telegram can slip past just as easily as a busy Discord channel. This Applet catches any incoming DM matching keywords you set and adds it as a row to a Google Sheets backlog, so it's tracked the moment it lands instead of waiting to be remembered.

Step 3: Turn relevant Reddit posts into follow-up tasks

If your community or brand gets mentioned on Reddit, this Applet catches posts matching your search terms and creates a Notion page for each one, complete with the post link and details, so a subreddit mention turns into something your team can actually assign and act on.

Step 4: Get an instant alert for your highest-priority events

Some things genuinely can't wait for a digest. This Applet triggers off a webhook, useful for a VIP mention, a flagged scam pattern, or anything else you consider urgent enough to push straight to your phone the moment it happens.

Step 5: Let true mentions and urgent flags reach you live

This is where the split actually happens. A direct mention of you on X sends an instant push notification, so you're never the last to know someone's talking to you directly.

A second Applet handles urgent Discord activity the same way: pin a message as a moderator note or incident summary, and it forwards straight to an on-call Telegram chat, so the team stays aware in real time without everyone needing to watch Discord constantly.

Step 6: Send everything else to a digest instead of a ping

Not every mention needs to interrupt you. This Applet collects tweets matching your brand or community keywords throughout the day and adds them to a single daily Email Digest, so you stay informed without a notification for every mention.

A second Applet logs those same mentions into a Google Sheet as they happen, giving you a running record you can use to track response time and engagement trends, without needing to check it in real time.

Discover more ways to stay on top of what needs attention

The pipeline above handles replies. If you also want a heads-up the moment something looks like spam or a raid in Discord, IFTTT covers that layer too.

Connect your inbox and community tools

Your Applets can work across any combination of the apps where mentions, DMs, and questions actually land. IFTTT has over 1000 connected services, so whatever your actual stack looks like, there's likely a direct connection for it. Here's a list of the services this pipeline uses to get started:

Build one inbox for everything that needs a reply

None of the Applets in this pipeline require the others to work. The point isn't collecting every notification you can. It's making sure the ones that matter reach you the moment they happen, and the rest wait for you instead of interrupting you.

Start with whichever app is currently your biggest blind spot. If Discord replies are slipping through, start with Step 1. If notification overload is the actual problem, start with Step 5.

FAQs

Do I need every source (Discord, Telegram, Reddit, webhooks) connected?

No. Set up the pipeline for whichever apps you actually get mentions, DMs, or questions through. Most people start with one or two and add the others as they notice gaps.

How do I decide what counts as a 'live ping' versus digest material?

Start narrow. Direct mentions of you and anything tagged urgent are reasonable live-ping candidates. Everything else, keyword matches, general chatter, low-priority flags, can usually wait for a daily digest without anyone feeling ignored.

Where do the Notion tasks and Slack messages actually get handled?

This pipeline gets everything into one place. Assigning, replying, and closing items out still happens inside Notion, Slack, or wherever you routed them, IFTTT's job stops at collection and routing.

What if I don't use Notion or Slack for my team?

Swap the destination action for whatever your team actually uses to track follow-ups, a different task manager, a shared spreadsheet, or a dedicated channel. The trigger side (Discord, Reddit, Telegram) stays the same regardless of where you route it.

Won't a 'VIP alert' webhook need something on the other end to decide what counts as VIP?

Yes. The webhook Applet is the delivery mechanism, not the decision-maker. Whatever you're using to flag high-priority events, a moderation tool, a support platform, a simple script, sends the webhook, and IFTTT makes sure that alert reaches your phone instantly.