openhab-addons/bundles/org.openhab.binding.ntfy

Ntfy Binding

The Ntfy binding enables openHAB to publish notifications to Ntfy-compatible servers (for example ntfy.sh or a self-hosted ntfy-compatible endpoint).

Ntfy is a simple HTTP-based notification service and message broker; see ntfy.sh for details and public servers.

It is intended for integrations where openHAB should push alert or informational messages to mobile or desktop clients that support the Ntfy protocol. The binding supports basic text messages as well as common rich features supported by the protocol: message priority, tags, icon URLs, attachments, click actions and simple action buttons

Typical uses include doorbell alerts, security notifications, system health messages, or any automation that should notify users in real time via an Ntfy-compatible notification channel.

Supported Things

This binding provides the following Thing types:

• server (bridge) — Represents a connection to an Ntfy server. The bridge holds shared connection settings (hostname, username, password, connectionTimeout) which are used by topic Things.
• ntfy-topic (Thing) — Represents a topic/channel on a configured Ntfy server. Each topic Thing must be associated with a server bridge.

Thing Configuration

server Bridge Configuration

Name	Type	Description	Default	Required	Advanced
hostname	text	Base URL of the ntfy server	https://ntfy.sh	yes	no
username	text	Optional username for basic auth	N/A	no	no
password	text	Optional password - if username is provided basic auth is used else Bearer token is used	N/A	no	no
connectionTimeout	integer	WebSocket / HTTP connection timeout ms	60000	no	yes

Configure the server as a bridge to hold shared server and authentication settings. For authentication with access token only set the password and leave the username empty.

ntfy-topic Thing Configuration

Name	Type	Description	Default	Required	Advanced
topicName	text	Name of the topic/channel	N/A	yes	no

Channels

ntfy-topic Channels

Channel	Type	Read/Write	Description
last-message	String	R	Last received message payload (read-only)
last-message-time	DateTime	R	Timestamp of the last message (read-only)
last-message-id	String	R	ID of the last message (read-only)

Full Example

Below are examples for textual configuration files showing a bridge (server), a topic Thing (ntfy-topic), Items bound to the Thing's channels, and a simple sitemap to display the last message and its timestamp.

Thing Configuration

Bridge ntfy:server:myConn "Ntfy Server" [ hostname="https://ntfy.sh", connectionTimeout=60000, username="ntfyUser", password="MyPaSsWoRd"]

Thing ntfy:ntfy-topic:home "Front Door Notifications" (ntfy:server:myConn) [ topicName="home" ]

Item Configuration (items file)

Bind Items to the read-only channels exposed by the topic Thing to show the last received message and its timestamp:

String FrontDoorLastMessage "Front Door Message" { channel="ntfy:ntfy-topic:home:last-message" }
DateTime FrontDoorMessageTime "Last message received" { channel="ntfy:ntfy-topic:home:last-message-time" }

Note: Sending notifications from openHAB to ntfy is done via the binding's Actions from rules (the binding exposes Actions to publish/delete messages). The channels above are read-only and show incoming or last-state values.

Sitemap Configuration (sitemap file)

Simple sitemap demonstrating how to display the last message and its timestamp:

 sitemap notifications label="Notifications"
{
    <Frame label="Front Door">
        Text item=FrontDoorLastMessage label="Last message [%s]"
        Text item=FrontDoorMessageTime label="Received [%1$td.%1$tm.%1$tY %1$tR]"
    </Frame>
}

Actions (Rules DSL and JavaScript)

This binding exposes Rule Actions to send and manage messages on a configured topic. Actions are available for use from the Rules DSL and the ECMAScript/JavaScript automation scripts. The actions support a builder-style API to configure a message (message text, priority, tags, icon, attachments, actions, sequence id, ...) and then send it.

Important: Always check that the Thing exist before invoking methods.

Available action methods

Below is a quick reference of the builder-style methods provided by the binding actions. Use these to construct messages before calling send().

Method	Parameters	Description	Ntfy docs
withMessage	(String message)	Set the main message text.	publish
withPriority	(int priority)	Set message priority (1-5).	priority
withTitle	(String title)	Set title.	title
withTag	(String tag)	Add a tag to the message.	tags
withIcon	(String url)	Set an icon URL for the notification.	icons
withAttachment	(String url, String filename)	Attach a file or resource URL with optional filename.	attachments
withViewAction	(String label, Boolean clearNotification, String url)	Add a view action (opens URL) with optional clear flag.	actions
withCopyAction	(String label, Boolean clearNotification, String value)	Add an action that copies text to clipboard on the client.	actions
withHttpAction	(String label, Boolean clearNotification, String url, String method, String headers, String body)	Add an HTTP action with optional method, headers and body.	actions
withBroadcastAction	(String label, Boolean clearNotification, String params)	Add a broadcast action to trigger local apps/handlers.	actions
withDelay	(String delay)	Assign a delay.	delay
withSequenceId	(String sequenceId)	Assign a sequence id for later reference (useful for delete/update).	sequence id
send	()	Send the built message; returns a message ID string.	publish
send	(String file, String filename, String sequenceId)	Send a file; returns a message ID string.	publish_local_file
delete	(String sequenceId)	Delete a message previously sent with the given sequence id.	delete
clearNtfyMessageBuilder	()	Reset the message build explicitly

For more information about ntfy features and the notification format, see the ntfy project documentation: https://ntfy.sh/docs/

Rules DSL example

// Obtain the Thing-specific actions and use the builder to send a message
val bindingActions = getActions("ntfy", "ntfy:ntfy-topic:frontdoor")
if (bindingActions !== null) {
    // simple one-liner: send a message
    val msgId = bindingActions.withMessage("Someone is at the door").withPriority(4).send()

    // or build up a more complex message
    bindingActions.withMessage("Doorbell pressed")
                  .withSequenceId("doorbell-1")
                  .withTag("door")
                  .withIcon("https://example.org/icons/door.png")
                  .withViewAction("Open UI", true, "https://example.org/ui")
                  .send()

    // delete a previously sent message by sequence id
    bindingActions.delete("doorbell-1")
}

The builder methods available include: withMessage(String), withPriority(int), withTag(String), withIcon(String), withAttachment(String, String), withViewAction(...), withCopyAction(...), withHttpAction(...), withBroadcastAction(...), withSequenceId(String), send(), and delete(String).

ECMAScript / JavaScript example

In ECMAScript scripts you can obtain the Thing Actions and use the same builder API. The example below assumes the automation engine provides an actions helper (typical in openHAB JavaScript environment):

// get the Thing actions for the topic Thing
var bindingActions = actions.get("ntfy", "ntfy:ntfy-topic:frontdoor");
if (bindingActions) {
    // send a simple message
    var id = bindingActions.withMessage("Garage opened").withPriority(3).send();

    // build and send a message with extra features
    bindingActions.withMessage("Motion detected in garage")
                  .withSequenceId("garage-1")
                  .withTag("motion")
                  .withHttpAction("Open Camera", true, "https://camera/local/snap", "POST", null, null)
                  .send();
}

If your scripting environment exposes a different API to retrieve Thing Actions, adapt the call accordingly. The important part is to obtain the Thing-specific actions object for the binding and then use the builder methods shown above.