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Self-Hosting ntfy: Push Notifications Made Simple

ntfy lets you send push notifications via HTTP. curl a URL, get a notification on your phone. The simplest notification system possible.

ntfynotificationspushautomation

What Is ntfy?


ntfy (pronounced "notify") is a push notification service. Send a notification by making an HTTP POST to a topic. That's it.


How Simple Is It?


bash

curl -d "Backup complete" ntfy.example.com/backups


That sends a push notification to anyone subscribed to the "backups" topic.


Features


Sending

  • HTTP POST, PUT, or GET
  • Title, message, priority, tags
  • Click actions (open URL)
  • File attachments
  • Markdown formatting
  • Scheduled delivery
  • Email forwarding

    • Receiving

  • Android app
  • iOS app (via UnifiedPush)
  • Web app
  • CLI tool
  • Desktop notifications

    • Priority Levels

    1. Min — no sound

    2. Low — low priority

    3. Default — normal

    4. High — bypasses DND

    5. Urgent — persistent alert


    Access Control

  • User accounts
  • Topic permissions
  • Token authentication
  • IP-based restrictions

    • ntfy vs Gotify vs Pushover


  • ntfy: Simplest API (just HTTP), both platforms
  • Gotify: WebSocket-based, Android only
  • Pushover: SaaS, both platforms, paid

    • Use Cases


  • Backup completion alerts
  • Cron job monitoring
  • CI/CD notifications
  • Home automation alerts
  • Uptime monitoring
  • Any script that needs to notify you

    • Deployment


    Deploy on TinyPod. Resources: 1 CPU, 64 MB RAM.


    ntfy is beautifully simple. If you can use curl, you can send push notifications.