# Getting started
ntfy lets you **send push notifications to your phone or desktop via scripts from any computer**, using simple HTTP PUT
or POST requests. I use it to notify myself when scripts fail, or long-running commands complete.
## Step 1: Get the app
To [receive notifications on your phone](subscribe/phone.md), install the app, either via Google Play or F-Droid.
Once installed, open it and subscribe to a topic of your choosing. Topics don't have to explicitly be created, so just
pick a name and use it later when you [publish a message](publish.md). Note that **topic names are public, so it's wise
to choose something that cannot be guessed easily.**
For this guide, we'll just use `mytopic` as our topic name:
{ width=500 }
Creating/adding your first topic
That's it. After you tap "Subscribe", the app is listening for new messages on that topic.
## Step 2: Send a message
Now let's [send a message](publish.md) to our topic. It's easy in every language, since we're just using HTTP PUT/POST,
or with the [ntfy CLI](install.md). The message is in the request body. Here's an example showing how to publish a
simple message using a POST request:
=== "Command line (curl)"
```
curl -d "Backup successful 😀" ntfy.sh/mytopic
```
=== "ntfy CLI"
```
ntfy publish mytopic "Backup successful 😀"
```
=== "HTTP"
``` http
POST /mytopic HTTP/1.1
Host: ntfy.sh
Backup successful 😀
```
=== "JavaScript"
``` javascript
fetch('https://ntfy.sh/mytopic', {
method: 'POST', // PUT works too
body: 'Backup successful 😀'
})
```
=== "Go"
``` go
http.Post("https://ntfy.sh/mytopic", "text/plain",
strings.NewReader("Backup successful 😀"))
```
=== "Python"
``` python
requests.post("https://ntfy.sh/mytopic",
data="Backup successful 😀".encode(encoding='utf-8'))
```
=== "PHP"
``` php-inline
file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/mytopic', false, stream_context_create([
'http' => [
'method' => 'POST', // PUT also works
'header' => 'Content-Type: text/plain',
'content' => 'Backup successful 😀'
]
]));
```
This will create a notification that looks like this:
{ width=500 }
Android notification
That's it. You're all set. Go play and read the rest of the docs. I highly recommend reading at least the page on
[publishing messages](publish.md), as well as the detailed page on the [Android/iOS app](subscribe/phone.md).
Here's another video showing the entire process:
Sending push notifications to your Android phone
To [receive notifications on your phone](subscribe/phone.md), install the app, either via Google Play or F-Droid.
Once installed, open it and subscribe to a topic of your choosing. Topics don't have to explicitly be created, so just
pick a name and use it later when you [publish a message](publish.md). Note that **topic names are public, so it's wise
to choose something that cannot be guessed easily.**
For this guide, we'll just use `mytopic` as our topic name: