ntfy/docs/publish.md
2021-12-09 10:23:17 -05:00

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Publishing

Publishing messages can be done via HTTP PUT or POST. Topics are created on the fly by subscribing or publishing to them. Because there is no sign-up, the topic is essentially a password, so pick something that's not easily guessable.

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

=== "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 😀"))

=== "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 😀' ] ]));

If you have the Android app installed on your phone, this will create a notification that looks like this:

![basic notification](static/img/basic-notification.png){ width=500 }
Android notification

There are more features related to publishing messages: You can set a notification priority, a title, and tag messages 🥳 🎉. Here's an example that uses some of them at together:

=== "Command line (curl)" curl \ -H "Title: Unauthorized access detected" \ -H "Priority: urgent" \ -H "Tags: warning,skull" \ -d "Remote access to phils-laptop detected. Act right away." \ ntfy.sh/phil_alerts

=== "HTTP" ``` http POST /phil_alerts HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh Title: Unauthorized access detected Priority: urgent Tags: warning,skull

Remote access to phils-laptop detected. Act right away.
```

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/phil_alerts', { method: 'POST', // PUT works too body: 'Remote access to phils-laptop detected. Act right away.', headers: { 'Title': 'Unauthorized access detected', 'Priority': 'urgent', 'Tags': 'warning,skull' } })

=== "Go" go req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://ntfy.sh/phil_alerts", strings.NewReader("Remote access to phils-laptop detected. Act right away.")) req.Header.Set("Title", "Unauthorized access detected") req.Header.Set("Priority", "urgent") req.Header.Set("Tags", "warning,skull") http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/phil_alerts', false, stream_context_create([ 'http' => [ 'method' => 'POST', // PUT also works 'header' => "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n" . "Title: Unauthorized access detected\r\n" . "Priority: urgent\r\n" . "Tags: warning,skull", 'content' => 'Remote access to phils-laptop detected. Act right away.' ] ]));

![priority notification](static/img/priority-notification.png){ width=500 }
Urgent notification with tags and title

Message title

The notification title is typically set to the topic short URL (e.g. ntfy.sh/mytopic). To override the title, you can set the X-Title header (or any of its aliases: Title, ti, or t).

=== "Command line (curl)" curl -H "X-Title: Dogs are better than cats" -d "Oh my ..." ntfy.sh/controversial curl -H "Title: Dogs are better than cats" -d "Oh my ..." ntfy.sh/controversial curl -H "t: Dogs are better than cats" -d "Oh my ..." ntfy.sh/controversial

=== "HTTP" ``` http POST /controversial HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh Title: Dogs are better than cats

Oh my ...
```

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/controversial', { method: 'POST', body: 'Oh my ...', headers: { 'Title': 'Dogs are better than cats' } })

=== "Go" go req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://ntfy.sh/controversial", strings.NewReader("Oh my ...")) req.Header.Set("Title", "Dogs are better than cats") http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/controversial', false, stream_context_create([ 'http' => [ 'method' => 'POST', 'header' => "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n" . "Title: Dogs are better than cats", 'content' => 'Oh my ...' ] ]));

![notification with title](static/img/notification-with-title.png){ width=500 }
Detail view of notification with title

Message priority

All messages have a priority, which defines how urgently your phone notifies you. You can set custom notification sounds and vibration patterns on your phone to map to these priorities (see Android config).

The following priorities exist:

Priority Icon ID Name Description
Max priority min priority 5 max/urgent Really long vibration bursts, default notification sound with a pop-over notification.
High priority min priority 4 high Long vibration burst, default notification sound with a pop-over notification.
Default priority (none) 3 default Short default vibration and sound. Default notification behavior.
Low priority min priority 2 low No vibration or sound. Notification will not visibly show up until notification drawer is pulled down.
Min priority min priority 1 min No vibration or sound. The notification will be under the fold in "Other notifications".

You can set the priority with the header X-Priority (or any of its aliases: Priority, prio, or p).

=== "Command line (curl)" curl -H "X-Priority: 5" -d "An urgent message" ntfy.sh/phil_alerts curl -H "Priority: low" -d "Low priority message" ntfy.sh/phil_alerts curl -H p:4 -d "A high priority message" ntfy.sh/phil_alerts

=== "HTTP" ``` http POST /phil_alerts HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh Priority: 5

An urgent message
```

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/phil_alerts', { method: 'POST', body: 'An urgent message', headers: { 'Priority': '5' } })

=== "Go" go req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://ntfy.sh/phil_alerts", strings.NewReader("An urgent message")) req.Header.Set("Priority", "5") http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/phil_alerts', false, stream_context_create([ 'http' => [ 'method' => 'POST', 'header' => "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n" . "Priority: 5", 'content' => 'An urgent message' ] ]));

![priority notification](static/img/priority-detail-overview.png){ width=500 }
Detail view of priority notifications

Tags & emojis 🥳 🎉

You can tag messages with emojis and other relevant strings:

  • Emojis: If a tag matches an emoji short code, it'll be converted to an emoji and prepended to title or message.
  • Other tags: If a tag doesn't match, it will be listed below the notification.

This feature is useful for things like warnings (⚠️, 🚨, or 🚩), but also to simply tag messages otherwise (e.g. script names, hostnames, etc.). Use the emoji short code list to figure out what tags can be converted to emojis. Here's an excerpt of emojis I've found very useful in alert messages:

TagEmoji
+1👍
partying_face🥳
tada🎉
heavy_check_mark✔️
loudspeaker📢
......
TagEmoji
-1👎
warning⚠️
rotating_light🚨
triangular_flag_on_post🚩
skull💀
......
TagEmoji
facepalm🤦
no_entry
no_entry_sign🚫
cd💿
computer💻
......

You can set tags with the X-Tags header (or any of its aliases: Tags, tag, or ta). Specify multiple tags by separating them with a comma, e.g. tag1,tag2,tag3.

=== "Command line (curl)" curl -H "X-Tags: warning,mailsrv13,daily-backup" -d "Backup of mailsrv13 failed" ntfy.sh/backups curl -H "Tags: horse,unicorn" -d "Unicorns are just horses with unique horns" ntfy.sh/backups curl -H ta:dog -d "Dogs are awesome" ntfy.sh/backups

=== "HTTP" ``` http POST /backups HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh Tags: warning,mailsrv13,daily-backup

Backup of mailsrv13 failed
```

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/backups', { method: 'POST', body: 'Backup of mailsrv13 failed', headers: { 'Tags': 'warning,mailsrv13,daily-backup' } })

=== "Go" go req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://ntfy.sh/backups", strings.NewReader("Backup of mailsrv13 failed")) req.Header.Set("Tags", "warning,mailsrv13,daily-backup") http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/backups', false, stream_context_create([ 'http' => [ 'method' => 'POST', 'header' => "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n" . "Tags: warning,mailsrv13,daily-backup", 'content' => 'Backup of mailsrv13 failed' ] ]));

![priority notification](static/img/notification-with-tags.png){ width=500 }
Detail view of notifications with tags

Message caching

By default, the ntfy server caches messages on disk for 12 hours (see message caching), so all messages you publish are stored server-side for a little while. The reason for this is to overcome temporary client-side network disruptions, but arguably this feature also may raise privacy concerns.

To avoid messages being cached server-side entirely, you can set X-Cache header (or its alias: Cache) to no. This will make sure that your message is not cached on the server, even if server-side caching is enabled. Messages are still delivered to connected subscribers, but since= and poll=1 won't return the message anymore.

=== "Command line (curl)" curl -H "X-Cache: no" -d "This message won't be stored server-side" ntfy.sh/mytopic curl -H "Cache: no" -d "This message won't be stored server-side" ntfy.sh/mytopic

=== "HTTP" ``` http POST /mytopic HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh Cache: no

This message won't be stored server-side
```

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/mytopic', { method: 'POST', body: 'This message won't be stored server-side', headers: { 'Cache': 'no' } })

=== "Go" go req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://ntfy.sh/mytopic", strings.NewReader("This message won't be stored server-side")) req.Header.Set("Cache", "no") http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/mytopic', false, stream_context_create([ 'http' => [ 'method' => 'POST', 'header' => "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n" . "Cache: no", 'content' => 'This message won't be stored server-side' ] ]));