Notifik

Browser notifications service made simple.

Notifik is a simple web server that can run on any system running Node.js. It exposes a very simple subscribe page and an API to send push notifications.

The inner workings are quite simple as well, it uses the web push protocol to communicate with the web push service provider (usually FCM (ex-GCM) or Mozilla) and send push notifications to users via Web Service Workers.

It works out of the box but provides some simple configuration options.

Note: This package can handle multiple users

Installation & Usage

Install

npm install -g notifik

Launch

$ notifik

Usage (commands)

notifik version (or -v)

Prints the current version

'notifik path'

Prints the path where you can modify the front-end JS

'notifik keys'

Generate needed keypair

Options

-c ./myconfig.json

Lauches the server using configuration on the provided path. Path must be relative to where the command is launched from.

Subscriptions

Once launched go to /subscribe on any recent browser to subscribe. You should get a confirmation alert. In any case, helpful logs are displayed on the console.

Config

Example configuration file:

{
	"port": 6789,
	"api_key": "this_is_my_super_secure_ley",
	"keys": {
		"public": "public key",
		"private": "private key",
		"gcm": "gcm/fcm key"
	},
	"defaults": {
		"icon": "http://icons.iconarchive.com/icons/papirus-team/papirus-apps/512/preferences-system-notifications-icon.png",
		"badge": "http://icons-for-free.com/free-icons/png/512/2246841.png"
	},
	"service_worker": "/js/workers/notifier.js"
}

Note: api_key can be set to null if you don't want to use one. (WHY?)

In order to generate a key pair you can use notifik keys. To get a gcm key please go to Firebase, and create a new project. Once in your project go to the "Project Settings" (upper left, gear icon) and click on the Cloud Messaging tab, you can find your Server Key which is your gcm key.

API

The API can be protected by an api_key (set in the config file, see Config) and, if set, MUST be included in all (except two) request to /api whether as a query param (/api/notify?api_key=<your key>) or a header (X-Api-Key: <your key>).

GET /config

Is not protected by API key.

Returns simple config info for the front end:

{
	service_worker: 'path/to/sw.js'
}

POST /subscribe

Is not protected by API key.

Subscribes a user to the notifications system

Params

{
	id: 'some unique id',
	subscription: {
		// subscription info from push manager
	}
}

GET /subscriptions

Returns all active subscription ids.

['id1', 'id2', 'id3']

POST /notify

Send a push notification to a subscriber

Params

{
	id: 'some_unique_id',
	...params 
}

Notification parameters can be found here

POST /notify/bulk

Send a push notification to a subscriber

Params (same notification for everyone)

{
	users: ['id1', 'id2'],
	notification: {
		...params
	}
}

Params (different notifications)

{
	users: [{
		id: 'unique_id',
		...params
	}, {
		id: 'unique_id2',
		...params
	}]
}

POST /update

Send an update notification to all subscribers to update service worker. This is useful when you add actions or modify the behaviour of your web worker.

Please note that once your web worker is installed, changing the path will not trigger an update, the browser remembers the same path: never change your web worker path, or a new subscription must be made.