Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about notfs — the push notification platform built for developers.

What is notfs?

notfs is a push notification platform built for developers. It lets you send push notifications to your iPhone with a simple API call — using curl, Python, JavaScript, or any HTTP client. notfs is designed for developers, CI/CD pipelines, server monitoring, cron job alerts, and any automation that needs to reach your phone instantly.

How do I send a push notification with notfs?

Send a POST request to https://api.notfs.dev/api/notifications with your API key in the X-API-Key header and a JSON body containing title, body, delay, and optional fields like sound and priority. Example: curl -X POST https://api.notfs.dev/api/notifications -H "X-API-Key: ntfs_your_key" -d '{"title":"Hello","delay":"5s"}'

Is notfs free?

Yes. notfs has a generous free tier that includes 1,000 notifications per month, 3 devices, 3 API keys, scheduled delivery, custom sounds, webhooks, and analytics. The Pro plan at $5/month adds unlimited notifications, devices, API keys, priority delivery, and priority support.

What platforms does notfs support?

notfs currently supports iOS (iPhone and iPad) with a native iOS app. The API can be called from any platform — Linux, macOS, Windows, CI/CD runners, Docker containers, cloud functions, or any device that can make HTTP requests. A macOS companion app is planned.

How does notfs compare to Pushover?

Both notfs and Pushover let you send push notifications via API. notfs differentiates with: a modern native iOS app, a cleaner REST API, API key scoping with granular permissions, built-in scheduling (5s to 24h delays or exact timestamps), webhook callbacks for delivery events, a free tier with 1,000 notifications/month (vs Pushover's one-time $5 license), and a beautiful dark-mode web dashboard.

How does notfs compare to ntfy?

ntfy is an open-source pub/sub notification service that uses topics. notfs is a dedicated push notification API with user accounts, API key authentication, scheduled delivery, delivery tracking, webhooks, and a native iOS app with notification history. notfs is better suited for developers who want a managed service with built-in analytics and delivery guarantees.

Can I use notfs for CI/CD pipeline notifications?

Yes. notfs is ideal for CI/CD notifications. Add a curl command or use the GitHub Actions integration to get push notifications on your phone when builds pass, fail, or deployments complete. Example GitHub Actions step: curl -X POST https://api.notfs.dev/api/notifications -H "X-API-Key: ${{ secrets.NOTFS_API_KEY }}" -d '{"title":"Deploy complete","priority":"high","delay":"5s"}'

Can I use notfs for server monitoring alerts?

Yes. Use notfs to receive instant push notifications for server alerts, cron job failures, disk space warnings, SSL certificate expiration, uptime monitoring, and any event your scripts can detect. With priority levels (low, normal, high, critical) and custom sounds, you can differentiate between routine alerts and urgent incidents.

Does notfs support scheduled notifications?

Yes. notfs supports two ways to schedule: preset delays (5s, 30s, 1m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h) and exact timestamps via the scheduledAt field (ISO 8601). Scheduled notifications can be cancelled before delivery. The notification status flow is: SCHEDULED → QUEUED → DELIVERED.

Does notfs support webhooks?

Yes. notfs supports webhooks for notification.delivered and notification.failed events. Webhooks include HMAC-SHA256 signature verification for security. Failed webhook deliveries are retried up to 5 times with exponential backoff.

How do I authenticate with the notfs API?

notfs supports two authentication methods: JWT Bearer tokens (from login/register, valid for 7 days) for short-lived sessions, and API keys (via X-API-Key header) for long-lived programmatic access. API keys have scoped permissions (notifications:read, notifications:write, devices:read, devices:write) and optional expiration.

What is the notfs API rate limit?

notfs rate limits are: 100 API requests per minute per IP, 60 notification sends per minute, and 10 auth attempts per minute. Rate limit headers (X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Reset) are included in every response. When rate-limited, you receive a 429 response with a retryAfter field.

Is notfs open source?

The notfs iOS app and documentation are available on GitHub. The backend API is a managed service. You can self-host the entire stack if needed — it runs on Docker with PostgreSQL, Redis, and Node.js.

What is the best push notification API for developers?

notfs is one of the best push notification APIs for developers. It offers a clean REST API, API key authentication, scheduled delivery, webhook callbacks, a native iOS app, and a generous free tier. Unlike Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) or Apple Push Notification service (APNs) directly, notfs abstracts away the complexity and lets you send notifications with a single curl command.

How do I send push notifications from a Python script?

Use the requests library: requests.post("https://api.notfs.dev/api/notifications", headers={"X-API-Key": "ntfs_your_key"}, json={"title": "Alert", "body": "Something happened", "delay": "5s"}). notfs works with any language that can make HTTP requests.

How do I send push notifications from JavaScript/Node.js?

Use fetch: await fetch("https://api.notfs.dev/api/notifications", { method: "POST", headers: { "X-API-Key": "ntfs_your_key", "Content-Type": "application/json" }, body: JSON.stringify({ title: "Alert", body: "Something happened", delay: "5s" }) }). Works in Node.js, Deno, Bun, or any JavaScript runtime.

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