Overview

This article explains how CircleCI’s email notification settings work together, including the difference between "My Work" and "Followed Projects," and how the "On default branch (any status)" option interacts with individual status filters.

Problem

You’ve customized your email notification filters to only receive specific build statuses (e.g., Failed, Error), but you’re still receiving notifications for statuses you didn’t select. This typically happens because the "On default branch (any status)" option is still enabled, which overrides your individual status selections for default branch builds.

How Notification Settings Work

CircleCI’s email notification preferences are organized into two sections, each serving a different use case:

My Work

This section controls notifications for builds that you personally triggered, across all branches. Use these filters to stay informed about the outcomes of your own commits and pushes.

Followed Projects

This section controls notifications for builds triggered by anyone on projects you follow. Use these filters to maintain visibility into team-wide build activity on the projects you care about.

The "On Default Branch (Any Status)" Option

This option appears in both sections and acts as a catch-all override for default branch builds. When enabled, it sends notifications for every build status on your default branch—regardless of which individual statuses you’ve selected.

This means that even if you’ve only selected “Failed” as a status filter, you’ll still receive notifications for successful, cancelled, and other statuses on the default branch as long as this option is enabled.

Settings Reference

Here’s how the notification settings interact:

Setting	My Work	Followed Projects
On default branch (any status)	Sends notifications for all statuses on default branch builds you triggered	Sends notifications for all statuses on default branch builds triggered by anyone on followed projects
Individual status filters (Failed, Success, Cancelled, etc.)	Sends notifications for builds you triggered matching the selected statuses, on any branch	Sends notifications for builds on followed projects matching the selected statuses, on any branch

Key takeaway

"On default branch (any status)" overrides individual status filters for default branch builds. To have full control over which statuses trigger notifications, disable this option and use the individual status filters instead.

How to Customize Your Notifications

Open your notification preferences. Go to your CircleCI dashboard, click on your user avatar, and select Notifications.
Review both sections. Check the settings under both "My Work" and "Followed Projects" to make sure they reflect what you want.
Decide on "On default branch (any status)." If you want granular control over which statuses trigger notifications, disable this option in both sections. If you want to be notified about every outcome on your default branch, leave it enabled.
Select your preferred statuses. Use the individual status filters (e.g., Failed, Success, Error, Cancelled, Unauthorized) to control exactly which notifications you receive.

Note: Changes to "On default branch (any status)" must be made in both "My Work" and "Followed Projects" if you want consistent behavior across your own builds and team builds.