Skip to content

Installing ntfy

The ntfy CLI allows you to publish messages, subscribe to topics as well as to self-host your own ntfy server. It's all pretty straight forward. Just install the binary, package or Docker image, configure it and run it. Just like any other software. No fuzz.

Info

The following steps are only required if you want to self-host your own ntfy server or you want to use the ntfy CLI. If you just want to send messages using ntfy.sh, you don't need to install anything. You can just use curl.

General steps

The ntfy server comes as a statically linked binary and is shipped as tarball, deb/rpm packages and as a Docker image. We support amd64, armv7 and arm64.

  1. Install ntfy using one of the methods described below
  2. Then (optionally) edit /etc/ntfy/server.yml for the server (Linux only, see configuration or sample server.yml)
  3. Or (optionally) create/edit ~/.config/ntfy/client.yml (for the non-root user), ~/Library/Application Support/ntfy/client.yml (for the macOS non-root user), or /etc/ntfy/client.yml (for the root user), see sample client.yml)

To run the ntfy server, then just run ntfy serve (or systemctl start ntfy when using the deb/rpm). To send messages, use ntfy publish. To subscribe to topics, use ntfy subscribe (see subscribing via CLI for details).

If you like tutorials, check out Kris Occhipinti's ntfy install guide on YouTube, or Alex's Docker-based setup guide. Both are great resources to get started. I am not affiliated with Kris or Alex, I just liked their video/post.

Linux binaries

Please check out the releases page for binaries and deb/rpm packages.

wget https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz
tar zxvf ntfy_2.11.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz
sudo cp -a ntfy_2.11.0_linux_amd64/ntfy /usr/local/bin/ntfy
sudo mkdir /etc/ntfy && sudo cp ntfy_2.11.0_linux_amd64/{client,server}/*.yml /etc/ntfy
sudo ntfy serve

wget https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv6.tar.gz
tar zxvf ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv6.tar.gz
sudo cp -a ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv6/ntfy /usr/bin/ntfy
sudo mkdir /etc/ntfy && sudo cp ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv6/{client,server}/*.yml /etc/ntfy
sudo ntfy serve

wget https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv7.tar.gz
tar zxvf ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv7.tar.gz
sudo cp -a ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv7/ntfy /usr/bin/ntfy
sudo mkdir /etc/ntfy && sudo cp ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv7/{client,server}/*.yml /etc/ntfy
sudo ntfy serve

wget https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_arm64.tar.gz
tar zxvf ntfy_2.11.0_linux_arm64.tar.gz
sudo cp -a ntfy_2.11.0_linux_arm64/ntfy /usr/bin/ntfy
sudo mkdir /etc/ntfy && sudo cp ntfy_2.11.0_linux_arm64/{client,server}/*.yml /etc/ntfy
sudo ntfy serve

Debian/Ubuntu repository

Installation via Debian repository:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://archive.heckel.io/apt/pubkey.txt | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/archive.heckel.io.gpg
sudo apt install apt-transport-https
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/archive.heckel.io.gpg] https://archive.heckel.io/apt debian main' \
    > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/archive.heckel.io.list"  
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ntfy
sudo systemctl enable ntfy
sudo systemctl start ntfy

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://archive.heckel.io/apt/pubkey.txt | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/archive.heckel.io.gpg
sudo apt install apt-transport-https
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb [arch=armhf signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/archive.heckel.io.gpg] https://archive.heckel.io/apt debian main' \
    > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/archive.heckel.io.list"
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ntfy
sudo systemctl enable ntfy
sudo systemctl start ntfy

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://archive.heckel.io/apt/pubkey.txt | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/archive.heckel.io.gpg
sudo apt install apt-transport-https
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb [arch=arm64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/archive.heckel.io.gpg] https://archive.heckel.io/apt debian main' \
    > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/archive.heckel.io.list"
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ntfy
sudo systemctl enable ntfy
sudo systemctl start ntfy

Manually installing the .deb file:

wget https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i ntfy_*.deb
sudo systemctl enable ntfy
sudo systemctl start ntfy

wget https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv6.deb
sudo dpkg -i ntfy_*.deb
sudo systemctl enable ntfy
sudo systemctl start ntfy

wget https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv7.deb
sudo dpkg -i ntfy_*.deb
sudo systemctl enable ntfy
sudo systemctl start ntfy

wget https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_arm64.deb
sudo dpkg -i ntfy_*.deb
sudo systemctl enable ntfy
sudo systemctl start ntfy

Fedora/RHEL/CentOS

sudo rpm -ivh https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_amd64.rpm
sudo systemctl enable ntfy 
sudo systemctl start ntfy

sudo rpm -ivh https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv6.rpm
sudo systemctl enable ntfy
sudo systemctl start ntfy

sudo rpm -ivh https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_armv7.rpm
sudo systemctl enable ntfy 
sudo systemctl start ntfy

sudo rpm -ivh https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_linux_arm64.rpm
sudo systemctl enable ntfy 
sudo systemctl start ntfy

Arch Linux

ntfy can be installed using an AUR package. You can use an AUR helper like paru, yay or others to download, build and install ntfy and keep it up to date. 

paru -S ntfysh-bin

Alternatively, run the following commands to install ntfy manually: 

curl https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/snapshot/ntfysh-bin.tar.gz | tar xzv
cd ntfysh-bin
makepkg -si

NixOS / Nix

ntfy is packaged in nixpkgs as ntfy-sh. It can be installed by adding the package name to the configuration file and calling nixos-rebuild. Alternatively, the following command can be used to install ntfy in the current user environment: 

nix-env -iA ntfy-sh

NixOS also supports declarative setup of the ntfy server.

macOS

The ntfy CLI (ntfy publish and ntfy subscribe only) is supported on macOS as well. To install, please download the tarball, extract it and place it somewhere in your PATH (e.g. /usr/local/bin/ntfy).

If run as root, ntfy will look for its config at /etc/ntfy/client.yml. For all other users, it'll look for it at ~/Library/Application Support/ntfy/client.yml (sample included in the tarball).

curl -L https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/releases/download/v2.11.0/ntfy_2.11.0_darwin_all.tar.gz > ntfy_2.11.0_darwin_all.tar.gz
tar zxvf ntfy_2.11.0_darwin_all.tar.gz
sudo cp -a ntfy_2.11.0_darwin_all/ntfy /usr/local/bin/ntfy
mkdir ~/Library/Application\ Support/ntfy 
cp ntfy_2.11.0_darwin_all/client/client.yml ~/Library/Application\ Support/ntfy/client.yml
ntfy --help

Info

Only the ntfy CLI is supported on macOS. ntfy server is currently not supported, but you can build and run it for development as well. Check out the build instructions for details.

Homebrew

To install the ntfy CLI (ntfy publish and ntfy subscribe only) via Homebrew (Linux and macOS), simply run: 

brew install ntfy

Windows

The ntfy CLI (ntfy publish and ntfy subscribe only) is supported on Windows as well. To install, please download the latest ZIP, extract it and place the ntfy.exe binary somewhere in your %Path%.

The default path for the client config file is at %AppData%\ntfy\client.yml (not created automatically, sample in the ZIP file).

Also available in Scoop's Main repository:

scoop install ntfy

Info

There is currently no installer for Windows, and the binary is not signed. If this is desired, please create a GitHub issue to let me know.

Docker

The ntfy image is available for amd64, armv6, armv7 and arm64. It should be pretty straight forward to use.

The server exposes its web UI and the API on port 80, so you need to expose that in Docker. To use the persistent message cache, you also need to map a volume to /var/cache/ntfy. To change other settings, you should map /etc/ntfy, so you can edit /etc/ntfy/server.yml.

Info

Note that the Docker image does not contain a /etc/ntfy/server.yml file. If you'd like to use a config file, please manually create one outside the image and map it as a volume, e.g. via -v /etc/ntfy:/etc/ntfy. You may use the server.yml file on GitHub as a template.

Basic usage (no cache or additional config): 

docker run -p 80:80 -it binwiederhier/ntfy serve

With persistent cache (configured as command line arguments): 

docker run \
  -v /var/cache/ntfy:/var/cache/ntfy \
  -p 80:80 \
  -it \
  binwiederhier/ntfy \
    serve \
    --cache-file /var/cache/ntfy/cache.db

With other config options, timezone, and non-root user (configured via /etc/ntfy/server.yml, see configuration for details): 

docker run \
  -v /etc/ntfy:/etc/ntfy \
  -e TZ=UTC \
  -p 80:80 \
  -u UID:GID \
  -it \
  binwiederhier/ntfy \
  serve

Using docker-compose with non-root user and healthchecks enabled: 

version: "2.3"

services:
  ntfy:
    image: binwiederhier/ntfy
    container_name: ntfy
    command:
      - serve
    environment:
      - TZ=UTC    # optional: set desired timezone
    user: UID:GID # optional: replace with your own user/group or uid/gid
    volumes:
      - /var/cache/ntfy:/var/cache/ntfy
      - /etc/ntfy:/etc/ntfy
    ports:
      - 80:80
    healthcheck: # optional: remember to adapt the host:port to your environment
        test: ["CMD-SHELL", "wget -q --tries=1 http://localhost:80/v1/health -O - | grep -Eo '\"healthy\"\\s*:\\s*true' || exit 1"]
        interval: 60s
        timeout: 10s
        retries: 3
        start_period: 40s
    restart: unless-stopped

If using a non-root user when running the docker version, be sure to chown the server.yml, user.db, and cache.db files and attachments directory to the same uid/gid.

Alternatively, you may wish to build a customized Docker image that can be run with fewer command-line arguments and without delivering the configuration file separately. 

FROM binwiederhier/ntfy
COPY server.yml /etc/ntfy/server.yml
ENTRYPOINT ["ntfy", "serve"]
This image can be pushed to a container registry and shipped independently. All that's needed when running it is mapping ntfy's port to a host port.

Kubernetes

The setup for Kubernetes is very similar to that for Docker, and requires a fairly minimal deployment or pod definition to function. There are a few options to mix and match, including a deployment without a cache file, a stateful set with a persistent cache, and a standalone unmanned pod.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: ntfy
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: ntfy
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: ntfy
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: ntfy
        image: binwiederhier/ntfy
        args: ["serve"]
        resources:
          limits:
            memory: "128Mi"
            cpu: "500m"
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
          name: http
        volumeMounts:
        - name: config
          mountPath: "/etc/ntfy"
          readOnly: true
      volumes:
        - name: config
          configMap:
            name: ntfy
---
# Basic service for port 80
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: ntfy
spec:
  selector:
    app: ntfy
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 80

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: StatefulSet
metadata:
  name: ntfy
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: ntfy
  serviceName: ntfy
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: ntfy
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: ntfy
        image: binwiederhier/ntfy
        args: ["serve", "--cache-file", "/var/cache/ntfy/cache.db"]
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
          name: http
        volumeMounts:
        - name: config
          mountPath: "/etc/ntfy"
          readOnly: true
        - name: cache
          mountPath: "/var/cache/ntfy"
      volumes:
        - name: config
          configMap:
            name: ntfy
  volumeClaimTemplates:
  - metadata:
      name: cache
    spec:
      accessModes: [ "ReadWriteOnce" ]
      resources:
        requests:
          storage: 1Gi

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  labels:
    app: ntfy
spec:
  containers:
  - name: ntfy
    image: binwiederhier/ntfy
    args: ["serve"]
    resources:
      limits:
        memory: "128Mi"
        cpu: "500m"
    ports:
    - containerPort: 80
      name: http
    volumeMounts:
    - name: config
      mountPath: "/etc/ntfy"
      readOnly: true
  volumes:
    - name: config
      configMap:
        name: ntfy

Configuration is relatively straightforward. As an example, a minimal configuration is provided.

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: ntfy
data:
  server.yml: |
    # Template: https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/blob/main/server/server.yml
    base-url: https://ntfy.sh

kubectl create configmap ntfy --from-file=server.yml

Kustomize

ntfy can be deployed in a Kubernetes cluster with Kustomize, a tool used to customize Kubernetes objects using a kustomization.yaml file.

  1. Create new folder - ntfy
  2. Add all files listed below
    1. kustomization.yaml - stores all configmaps and resources used in a deployment
    2. ntfy-deployment.yaml - define deployment type and its parameters
    3. ntfy-pvc.yaml - describes how persistent volumes will be created
    4. ntfy-svc.yaml - expose application to the internal kubernetes network
    5. ntfy-ingress.yaml - expose service to outside the network using ingress controller
    6. server.yaml - simple server configuration
  3. Replace TESTNAMESPACE within kustomization.yaml with designated namespace
  4. Replace ntfy.test within ntfy-ingress.yaml with desired DNS name
  5. Apply configuration to cluster set in current context: 
kubectl apply -k /ntfy

apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
resources:
  - ntfy-deployment.yaml # deployment definition
  - ntfy-svc.yaml # service connecting pods to cluster network
  - ntfy-pvc.yaml # pvc used to store cache and attachment
  - ntfy-ingress.yaml # ingress definition
configMapGenerator: # will parse config from raw config to configmap,it allows for dynamic reload of application if additional app is deployed ie https://github.com/stakater/Reloader
    - name: server-config
      files: 
        - server.yml
namespace: TESTNAMESPACE # select namespace for whole application 

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: ntfy-deployment
  labels:
    app: ntfy-deployment
spec:
  revisionHistoryLimit: 1
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: ntfy-pod
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: ntfy-pod
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: ntfy 
          image: binwiederhier/ntfy:v1.28.0 # set deployed version
          args: ["serve"]
          env:  #example of adjustments made in environmental variables
            - name: TZ # set timezone
              value: XXXXXXX
            - name: NTFY_DEBUG # enable/disable debug
              value: "false"
            - name: NTFY_LOG_LEVEL # adjust log level
              value: INFO
            - name: NTFY_BASE_URL # add base url
              value: XXXXXXXXXX 
          ports: 
            - containerPort: 80
              name: http-ntfy
          resources:
            limits:
              memory: 300Mi
              cpu:  200m
            requests:
                  cpu: 150m
                  memory: 150Mi
          volumeMounts:
              - mountPath: /etc/ntfy/server.yml
                subPath: server.yml
                name: config-volume # generated vie configMapGenerator from kustomization file
              - mountPath: /var/cache/ntfy
                name: cache-volume #cache volume mounted to persistent volume
        volumes:
          - name: config-volume
            configMap:  # uses configmap generator to parse server.yml to configmap
              name: server-config
          - name: cache-volume
            persistentVolumeClaim: # stores /cache/ntfy in defined pv
              claimName: ntfy-pvc

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: ntfy-pvc
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  storageClassName: local-path # adjust storage if needed
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 1Gi

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: ntfy-svc  
spec:
  type: ClusterIP
  selector:
    app: ntfy-pod
  ports:
    - name: http-ntfy-out
      protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort:  http-ntfy

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: ntfy-ingress
spec:
  rules:
    - host: ntfy.test #select own
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name:  ntfy-svc
                port:
                  number: 80

cache-file: "/var/cache/ntfy/cache.db"
attachment-cache-dir: "/var/cache/ntfy/attachments"