node-mqtt-notification

This small node program allows your computer to display native notifications, that are send from a mqtt server.

Usage:

• Display message when an error occurred on with one of your apps.
• Show "Someone at the door" notification.
• Someone opened a door.

You can also use this to remote lock your computer. (Currently only tested on MacOS)

Install and Config

You would typically run this app in the background, but first you have to configure it.

git clone https://github.com/svrooij/node-mqtt-notification.git
cd node-mqtt-notification
npm install
nano config/local.json

Edit this file to your needs config/local.json with the following config. And see default.json for the other config items. See mqtt.connect for options how to format the host. mqtt://ip_address:port is the easiest.

{
  "mqtt": {
    "host":"mqtt://ip_or_host_of_mqtt_server"
  },
  "topics": {
    "lockTopic":"the/topic/to/subscribe/to/for/locking",
    "notificationTopic":"the/notification/topic"
  }
}

Try to start the application by running npm start or directly by node receiver.js, and try to send a notification (or a lock command).

Running in the background

If everything works as expected, you should make the app run in the background automatically. Personally I use PM2 for this. And they have a great guide for this.

When PM2 is running (and starting on startup). pm2 start receiver.js --name mqtt-notifications