ntfy Self-Hosted Push Notification Server
ntfy is an open-source HTTP-based pub-sub notification service that lets you send push notifications to phones and desktops via simple PUT or POST requests. Self-hostable with zero signup required, it provides a dead-simple API for alerting from scripts, CI pipelines, cron jobs, and IoT devices.
npx skills add agentskillexchange/skills --skill ntfy-self-hosted-push-notification-server
ntfy (pronounced “notify”) is a lightweight, open-source push notification server written in Go. It implements a simple HTTP-based publish-subscribe pattern that lets any script, application, or service send real-time notifications to phones and desktops without requiring accounts, API keys, or complex configuration.
What this skill actually does
What is ntfy?
How It Works
At its core, ntfy exposes HTTP endpoints where you publish messages with a simple PUT or POST request. Subscribers receive these messages in real-time via the ntfy web app, Android app (Google Play and F-Droid), or iOS app. The entire interaction model is based on topics — named channels that anyone can publish to or subscribe to.
A basic notification is as simple as: curl -d "Backup completed successfully" ntfy.sh/my-alerts. That single command sends a push notification to any device subscribed to the “my-alerts” topic. No authentication required for the public instance, though self-hosted instances support access control, user management, and token-based auth.
Key Features
ntfy supports rich notifications with titles, priorities (urgent, high, default, low, min), tags and emojis, click actions, file attachments up to 15MB, scheduled delivery with delay headers, and end-to-end encryption. The server can also forward notifications via email, making it a bridge between HTTP events and traditional notification channels.
For agent integration, ntfy provides a clean REST API for both publishing and subscribing. Messages can include structured JSON payloads, making it suitable for automation pipelines where downstream consumers need to parse notification content programmatically.
Self-Hosting and Deployment
ntfy is distributed as a single static binary, a Docker image, and Debian/RPM packages. Self-hosting requires minimal resources — it runs comfortably on a Raspberry Pi. The server stores messages in a SQLite database with configurable retention, supports WebSocket connections for real-time subscriptions, and provides a built-in web UI for monitoring topics.
Integration Points
Common integrations include monitoring alerts from Prometheus or Grafana, CI/CD pipeline notifications from GitHub Actions or Jenkins, cron job status reports, home automation events, and any script that needs to notify a human. The simplicity of the HTTP API means any language or tool that can make HTTP requests can use ntfy as a notification backend.