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ntfy/docs/publish.md
Philipp Heckel 6a7b20e4e3 Docs
2022-01-13 15:47:34 -05:00

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Publishing

Publishing messages can be done via HTTP PUT/POST or via the ntfy CLI. 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

=== "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 😀' ] ]));

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

![basic notification](static/img/android-screenshot-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

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ --title "Unauthorized access detected" \ --tags warning,skull \ --priority urgent \ mytopic \ "Remote access to phils-laptop detected. Act right away."

=== "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)

=== "Python" python requests.post("https://ntfy.sh/phil_alerts", data="Remote access to phils-laptop detected. Act right away.", headers={ "Title": "Unauthorized access detected", "Priority": "urgent", "Tags": "warning,skull" })

=== "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

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ -t "Dogs are better than cats" \ controversial "Oh my ..."

=== "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)

=== "Python" python requests.post("https://ntfy.sh/controversial", data="Oh my ...", headers={ "Title": "Dogs are better than cats" })

=== "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

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ -p 5 \ phil_alerts An urgent message

=== "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)

=== "Python" python requests.post("https://ntfy.sh/phil_alerts", data="An urgent message", headers={ "Priority": "5" })

=== "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_light️🚨
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

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ --tags=warning,mailsrv13,daily-backup \ backups "Backup of mailsrv13 failed"

=== "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)

=== "Python" python requests.post("https://ntfy.sh/backups", data="Backup of mailsrv13 failed", headers={ "Tags": "warning,mailsrv13,daily-backup" })

=== "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

Scheduled delivery

You can delay the delivery of messages and let ntfy send them at a later date. This can be used to send yourself reminders or even to execute commands at a later date (if your subscriber acts on messages).

Usage is pretty straight forward. You can set the delivery time using the X-Delay header (or any of its aliases: Delay, X-At, At, X-In or In), either by specifying a Unix timestamp (e.g. 1639194738), a duration (e.g. 30m, 3h, 2 days), or a natural language time string (e.g. 10am, 8:30pm, tomorrow, 3pm, Tuesday, 7am, and more).

As of today, the minimum delay you can set is 10 seconds and the maximum delay is 3 days. This can currently not be configured otherwise (let me know if you'd like to change these limits).

For the purposes of message caching, scheduled messages are kept in the cache until 12 hours after they were delivered (or whatever the server-side cache duration is set to). For instance, if a message is scheduled to be delivered in 3 days, it'll remain in the cache for 3 days and 12 hours. Also note that naturally, turning off server-side caching is not possible in combination with this feature.

=== "Command line (curl)" curl -H "At: tomorrow, 10am" -d "Good morning" ntfy.sh/hello curl -H "In: 30min" -d "It's 30 minutes later now" ntfy.sh/reminder curl -H "Delay: 1639194738" -d "Unix timestamps are awesome" ntfy.sh/itsaunixsystem

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ --at="tomorrow, 10am" \ hello "Good morning"

=== "HTTP" ``` http POST /hello HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh At: tomorrow, 10am

Good morning
```

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/hello', { method: 'POST', body: 'Good morning', headers: { 'At': 'tomorrow, 10am' } })

=== "Go" go req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://ntfy.sh/hello", strings.NewReader("Good morning")) req.Header.Set("At", "tomorrow, 10am") http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

=== "Python" python requests.post("https://ntfy.sh/hello", data="Good morning", headers={ "At": "tomorrow, 10am" })

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/backups', false, stream_context_create([ 'http' => [ 'method' => 'POST', 'header' => "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n" . "At: tomorrow, 10am", 'content' => 'Good morning' ] ]));

Here are a few examples (assuming today's date is 12/10/2021, 9am, Eastern Time Zone):

Delay/At/In headerMessage will be delivered atExplanation
30m12/10/2021, 9:30am30 minutes from now
2 hours12/10/2021, 11:30am2 hours from now
1 day12/11/2021, 9am24 hours from now
10am12/10/2021, 10amToday at 10am (same day, because it's only 9am)
8am12/11/2021, 8amTomorrow at 8am (because it's 9am already)
163915200012/10/2021, 11am (EST) Today at 11am (EST)

Webhooks (Send via GET)

In addition to using PUT/POST, you can also send to topics via simple HTTP GET requests. This makes it easy to use a ntfy topic as a webhook, or if your client has limited HTTP support (e.g. like the MacroDroid Android app).

To send messages via HTTP GET, simply call the /publish endpoint (or its aliases /send and /trigger). Without any arguments, this will send the message triggered to the topic. However, you can provide all arguments that are also supported as HTTP headers as URL-encoded arguments. Be sure to check the list of all supported parameters and headers for details.

For instance, assuming your topic is mywebhook, you can simply call /mywebhook/trigger to send a message (aka trigger the webhook):

=== "Command line (curl)" curl ntfy.sh/mywebhook/trigger

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy trigger mywebhook

=== "HTTP" http GET /mywebhook/trigger HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/mywebhook/trigger')

=== "Go" go http.Get("https://ntfy.sh/mywebhook/trigger")

=== "Python" python requests.get("https://ntfy.sh/mywebhook/trigger")

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/mywebhook/trigger');

To add a custom message, simply append the message= URL parameter. And of course you can set the message priority, the message title, and tags as well. For a full list of possible parameters, check the list of supported parameters and headers.

Here's an example with a custom message, tags and a priority:

=== "Command line (curl)" curl "ntfy.sh/mywebhook/publish?message=Webhook+triggered&priority=high&tags=warning,skull"

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ -p 5 --tags=warning,skull \ mywebhook "Webhook triggered"

=== "HTTP" http GET /mywebhook/publish?message=Webhook+triggered&priority=high&tags=warning,skull HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/mywebhook/publish?message=Webhook+triggered&priority=high&tags=warning,skull')

=== "Go" go http.Get("https://ntfy.sh/mywebhook/publish?message=Webhook+triggered&priority=high&tags=warning,skull")

=== "Python" python requests.get("https://ntfy.sh/mywebhook/publish?message=Webhook+triggered&priority=high&tags=warning,skull")

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/mywebhook/publish?message=Webhook+triggered&priority=high&tags=warning,skull');

Click action

You can define which URL to open when a notification is clicked. This may be useful if your notification is related to a Zabbix alert or a transaction that you'd like to provide the deep-link for. Tapping the notification will open the web browser (or the app) and open the website.

Here's an example that will open Reddit when the notification is clicked:

=== "Command line (curl)" curl \ -d "New messages on Reddit" \ -H "Click: https://www.reddit.com/message/messages" \ ntfy.sh/reddit_alerts

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ --click="https://www.reddit.com/message/messages" \ reddit_alerts "New messages on Reddit"

=== "HTTP" ``` http POST /reddit_alerts HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh Click: https://www.reddit.com/message/messages

New messages on Reddit
```

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/reddit_alerts', { method: 'POST', body: 'New messages on Reddit', headers: { 'Click': 'https://www.reddit.com/message/messages' } })

=== "Go" go req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://ntfy.sh/reddit_alerts", strings.NewReader("New messages on Reddit")) req.Header.Set("Click", "https://www.reddit.com/message/messages") http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

=== "Python" python requests.post("https://ntfy.sh/reddit_alerts", data="New messages on Reddit", headers={ "Click": "https://www.reddit.com/message/messages" })

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/reddit_alerts', false, stream_context_create([ 'http' => [ 'method' => 'POST', 'header' => "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n" . "Click: https://www.reddit.com/message/messages", 'content' => 'New messages on Reddit' ] ]));

Attachments

You can send images and other files to your phone as attachments to a notification. The attachments are then downloaded onto your phone (depending on size and setting automatically), and can be used from the Downloads folder.

There are two different ways to send attachments:

Attach local file

To send a file from your computer as an attachment, you can send it as the PUT request body. If a message is greater than the maximum message size (4,096 bytes) or consists of non UTF-8 characters, the ntfy server will automatically detect the mime type and size, and send the message as an attachment file. To send smaller text-only messages or files as attachments, you must pass a filename by passing the X-Filename header or query parameter (or any of its aliases Filename, File or f).

By default, and how ntfy.sh is configured, the max attachment size is 15 MB (with 100 MB total per visitor). Attachments expire after 3 hours, which typically is plenty of time for the user to download it, or for the Android app to auto-download it. Please also check out the other limits below.

Here's an example showing how to upload an image:

=== "Command line (curl)" curl \ -T flower.jpg \ -H "Filename: flower.jpg" \ ntfy.sh/flowers

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ --file=flower.jpg \ flowers

=== "HTTP" ``` http PUT /flowers HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh Filename: flower.jpg Content-Type: 52312

<binary JPEG data>
```

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/flowers', { method: 'PUT', body: document.getElementById("file").files[0], headers: { 'Filename': 'flower.jpg' } })

=== "Go" go file, _ := os.Open("flower.jpg") req, _ := http.NewRequest("PUT", "https://ntfy.sh/flowers", file) req.Header.Set("Filename", "flower.jpg") http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

=== "Python" python requests.put("https://ntfy.sh/flowers", data=open("flower.jpg", 'rb'), headers={ "Filename": "flower.jpg" })

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/flowers', false, stream_context_create([ 'http' => [ 'method' => 'PUT', 'header' => "Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n" . // Does not matter "Filename: flower.jpg", 'content' => file_get_contents('flower.jpg') // Dangerous for large files ] ]));

Here's what that looks like on Android:

![image attachment](static/img/android-screenshot-attachment-image.png){ width=500 }
Image attachment sent from a local file

Attach file from a URL

Instead of sending a local file to your phone, you can use an external URL to specify where the attachment is hosted. This could be a Google Drive or Dropbox link, or any other publicly available URL. The ntfy server will briefly probe the URL to retrieve type and size for you. Since the files are externally hosted, the expiration or size limits from above do not apply here.

To attach an external file, simple pass the X-Attach header or query parameter (or any of its aliases Attach or a) to specify the attachment URL. It can be any type of file. Here's an example showing how to upload an image:

=== "Command line (curl)" curl \ -X POST \ -H "Attach: https://f-droid.org/F-Droid.apk" \ ntfy.sh/mydownloads

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ --attach="https://f-droid.org/F-Droid.apk" \ mydownloads

=== "HTTP" http POST /mydownloads HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh Attach: https://f-droid.org/F-Droid.apk

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/mydownloads', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'Attach': 'https://f-droid.org/F-Droid.apk' } })

=== "Go" go req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://ntfy.sh/mydownloads", file) req.Header.Set("Attach", "https://f-droid.org/F-Droid.apk") http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

=== "Python" python requests.put("https://ntfy.sh/mydownloads", headers={ "Attach": "https://f-droid.org/F-Droid.apk" })

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/mydownloads', false, stream_context_create([ 'http' => [ 'method' => 'PUT', 'header' => "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n" . // Does not matter "Attach: https://f-droid.org/F-Droid.apk", ] ]));

![file attachment](static/img/android-screenshot-attachment-file.png){ width=500 }
File attachment sent from an external URL

E-mail notifications

You can forward messages to e-mail by specifying an address in the header. This can be useful for messages that you'd like to persist longer, or to blast-notify yourself on all possible channels.

Usage is easy: Simply pass the X-Email header (or any of its aliases: X-E-mail, Email, E-mail, Mail, or e). Only one e-mail address is supported.

Since ntfy does not provide auth (yet), the rate limiting is pretty strict (see limitations). In the default configuration, you get 16 e-mails per visitor (IP address) and then after that one per hour. On top of that, your IP address appears in the e-mail body. This is to prevent abuse.

=== "Command line (curl)" curl \ -H "Email: phil@example.com" \ -H "Tags: warning,skull,backup-host,ssh-login" \ -H "Priority: high" \ -d "Unknown login from 5.31.23.83 to backups.example.com" \ ntfy.sh/alerts curl -H "Email: phil@example.com" -d "You've Got Mail" curl -d "You've Got Mail" "ntfy.sh/alerts?email=phil@example.com"

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ --email=phil@example.com \ --tags=warning,skull,backup-host,ssh-login \ --priority=high \ alerts "Unknown login from 5.31.23.83 to backups.example.com"

=== "HTTP" ``` http POST /alerts HTTP/1.1 Host: ntfy.sh Email: phil@example.com Tags: warning,skull,backup-host,ssh-login Priority: high

Unknown login from 5.31.23.83 to backups.example.com
```

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/alerts', { method: 'POST', body: "Unknown login from 5.31.23.83 to backups.example.com", headers: { 'Email': 'phil@example.com', 'Tags': 'warning,skull,backup-host,ssh-login', 'Priority': 'high' } })

=== "Go" go req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://ntfy.sh/alerts", strings.NewReader("Unknown login from 5.31.23.83 to backups.example.com")) req.Header.Set("Email", "phil@example.com") req.Header.Set("Tags", "warning,skull,backup-host,ssh-login") req.Header.Set("Priority", "high") http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

=== "Python" python requests.post("https://ntfy.sh/alerts", data="Unknown login from 5.31.23.83 to backups.example.com", headers={ "Email": "phil@example.com", "Tags": "warning,skull,backup-host,ssh-login", "Priority": "high" })

=== "PHP" php-inline file_get_contents('https://ntfy.sh/alerts', false, stream_context_create([ 'http' => [ 'method' => 'POST', 'header' => "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n" . "Email: phil@example.com\r\n" . "Tags: warning,skull,backup-host,ssh-login\r\n" . "Priority: high", 'content' => 'Unknown login from 5.31.23.83 to backups.example.com' ] ]));

Here's what that looks like in Google Mail:

![e-mail notification](static/img/screenshot-email.png){ width=600 }
E-mail notification

E-mail publishing

You can publish messages to a topic via e-mail, i.e. by sending an email to a specific address. For instance, you can publish a message to the topic sometopic by sending an e-mail to ntfy-sometopic@ntfy.sh. This is useful for e-mail based integrations such as for statuspage.io (though these days most services also support webhooks and HTTP calls).

Depending on the server configuration, the e-mail address format can have a prefix to prevent spam on topics. For ntfy.sh, the prefix is configured to ntfy-, meaning that the general e-mail address format is:

ntfy-$topic@ntfy.sh

As of today, e-mail publishing only supports adding a message title (the e-mail subject). Tags, priority, delay and other features are not supported (yet). Here's an example that will publish a message with the title You've Got Mail to topic sometopic (see ntfy.sh/sometopic):

![e-mail publishing](static/img/screenshot-email-publishing-gmail.png){ width=500 }
Publishing a message via e-mail

Advanced features

Message caching

!!! info If Cache: no is used, messages will only be delivered to connected subscribers, and won't be re-delivered if a client re-connects. If a subscriber has (temporary) network issues or is reconnecting momentarily, messages might be missed.

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

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ --no-cache \ mytopic "This message won't be stored server-side"

=== "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)

=== "Python" python requests.post("https://ntfy.sh/mytopic", data="This message won't be stored server-side", headers={ "Cache": "no" })

=== "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' ] ]));

Disable Firebase

!!! info If Firebase: no is used and instant delivery isn't enabled in the Android app (Google Play variant only), message delivery will be significantly delayed (up to 15 minutes). To overcome this delay, simply enable instant delivery.

The ntfy server can be configured to use Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) (see Firebase config) for message delivery on Android (to minimize the app's battery footprint). The ntfy.sh server is configured this way, meaning that all messages published to ntfy.sh are also published to corresponding FCM topics.

If you'd like to avoid forwarding messages to Firebase, you can set the X-Firebase header (or its alias: Firebase) to no. This will instruct the server not to forward messages to Firebase.

=== "Command line (curl)" curl -H "X-Firebase: no" -d "This message won't be forwarded to FCM" ntfy.sh/mytopic curl -H "Firebase: no" -d "This message won't be forwarded to FCM" ntfy.sh/mytopic

=== "ntfy CLI" ntfy publish \ --no-firebase \ mytopic "This message won't be forwarded to FCM"

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

This message won't be forwarded to FCM
```

=== "JavaScript" javascript fetch('https://ntfy.sh/mytopic', { method: 'POST', body: 'This message won't be forwarded to FCM', headers: { 'Firebase': 'no' } })

=== "Go" go req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://ntfy.sh/mytopic", strings.NewReader("This message won't be forwarded to FCM")) req.Header.Set("Firebase", "no") http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

=== "Python" python requests.post("https://ntfy.sh/mytopic", data="This message won't be forwarded to FCM", headers={ "Firebase": "no" })

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

UnifiedPush

!!! info This setting is not relevant to users, only to app developers and people interested in UnifiedPush.

UnifiedPush is a standard for receiving push notifications without using the Google-owned Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) service. It puts push notifications in the control of the user. ntfy can act as a UnifiedPush distributor, forwarding messages to apps that support it.

When publishing messages to a topic, apps using ntfy as a UnifiedPush distributor can set the X-UnifiedPush header or query parameter (or any of its aliases unifiedpush or up) to 1 to disable Firebase. As of today, this option is equivalent to Firebase: no, but was introduced to allow future flexibility.

Limitations

There are a few limitations to the API to prevent abuse and to keep the server healthy. Almost all of these settings are configurable via the server side rate limiting settings. Most of these limits you won't run into, but just in case, let's list them all:

Limit Description
Message length Each message can be up to 4,096 bytes long. Longer messages are treated as attachments.
Requests By default, the server is configured to allow 60 requests per visitor at once, and then refills the your allowed requests bucket at a rate of one request per 10 seconds.
E-mails By default, the server is configured to allow sending 16 e-mails per visitor at once, and then refills the your allowed e-mail bucket at a rate of one per hour.
Subscription limit By default, the server allows each visitor to keep 30 connections to the server open.
Attachment size limit By default, the server allows attachments up to 15 MB in size, up to 100 MB in total per visitor and up to 5 GB across all visitors.
Attachment expiry By default, the server deletes attachments after 3 hours and thereby frees up space from the total visitor attachment limit.
Attachment bandwidth By default, the server allows 500 MB of GET/PUT/POST traffic for attachments per visitor in a 24 hour period. Traffic exceeding that is rejected.
Total number of topics By default, the server is configured to allow 15,000 topics. The ntfy.sh server has higher limits though.

List of all parameters

The following is a list of all parameters that can be passed when publishing a message. Parameter names are case-insensitive, and can be passed as HTTP headers or query parameters in the URL. They are listed in the table in their canonical form.

Parameter Aliases (case-insensitive) Description
X-Message Message, m Main body of the message as shown in the notification
X-Title Title, t Message title
X-Priority Priority, prio, p Message priority
X-Tags Tags, Tag, ta Tags and emojis
X-Delay Delay, X-At, At, X-In, In Timestamp or duration for delayed delivery
X-Click Click URL to open when notification is clicked
X-Attach Attach, a URL to send as an attachment, as an alternative to PUT/POST-ing an attachment
X-Filename Filename, file, f Optional attachment filename, as it appears in the client
X-Email X-E-Mail, Email, E-Mail, mail, e E-mail address for e-mail notifications
X-Cache Cache Allows disabling message caching
X-Firebase Firebase Allows disabling sending to Firebase
X-UnifiedPush UnifiedPush, up UnifiedPush publish option, currently equivalent to Firebase: no