ntfy — Simple Push Notifications via HTTP PUT/POST

What it is

ntfy (pronounced 'notify') is a push notification service that lets you send messages to your phone or desktop using simple HTTP PUT or POST requests. There is no app registration, no API keys, and no complex setup. You pick a topic name and send a message to it.

DevOps engineers, hobbyists, and anyone who needs simple alerting from scripts, cron jobs, or CI pipelines will find ntfy the fastest path to push notifications.

How it saves time or tokens

ntfy eliminates the overhead of configuring email servers, Slack webhooks, or dedicated notification services. A single curl command sends a notification. The hosted instance at ntfy.sh is free for basic use, and you can self-host for full control.

How to use

1. Install the ntfy app on your phone (Android/iOS) or use the web client.
2. Subscribe to a topic of your choice.
3. Send notifications via curl or any HTTP client.

# Send a notification
curl -d 'Backup completed successfully' ntfy.sh/my-alerts

# Send with a title and priority
curl -H 'Title: Deploy Status' \
     -H 'Priority: high' \
     -H 'Tags: rocket' \
     -d 'Production deploy finished' \
     ntfy.sh/my-deploys

Example

Notify yourself when a long-running script finishes:

#!/bin/bash
# backup.sh
tar -czf /backups/data-$(date +%F).tar.gz /data
curl -d "Backup finished at $(date)" ntfy.sh/my-backups

Related on TokRepo

• Self-hosted tools — Privacy-focused self-hosted services
• Automation tools — Workflow and task automation tools

Common pitfalls

• Topic names on ntfy.sh are public. Anyone who knows the topic name can subscribe. Use random topic names or self-host for privacy.
• Free tier on ntfy.sh has rate limits. Self-host if you send high volumes of notifications.
• Mobile notifications require the ntfy app to be running in the background. Battery optimization settings may delay delivery.