ntfy is a self-hosted messaging infrastructure that provides a lightweight platform for sending and receiving real-time notifications. It functions as a topic-based pub-sub server, allowing users to publish and subscribe to message channels using standard HTTP requests. By bridging server-side events with native mobile and desktop clients, it enables the delivery of alerts across various environments through a unified communication layer.
The project distinguishes itself by offering a complete, private notification ecosystem that includes persistent message caching and robust access control. It supports the UnifiedPush protocol, acting as a gateway to native mobile operating system push services, which allows for decentralized notification delivery without reliance on proprietary cloud providers. Users can interact with the system through a command-line interface, webhooks, or persistent streaming connections like Server-Sent Events and WebSockets.
The platform covers a broad range of operational capabilities, including automated system monitoring, workflow integration, and cross-platform event broadcasting. It supports advanced message features such as content templating, file attachments, interactive buttons, and priority-based delivery. The system is designed for flexible deployment, offering containerized and binary-based installation options that simplify integration into existing infrastructure.
The software is distributed as a single static binary, facilitating straightforward deployment across Linux, macOS, and Windows environments.
