Guide · Get notified

Send alerts to ntfy

ntfy is a dead-simple push service (use the public ntfy.sh or self-host your own). You subscribe to a topic on your phone or desktop, and Mortemain publishes alerts to it. It needs a topic and a server, plus an optional access token for a private server.

1. Choose a server and a topic

Use the public server at https://ntfy.sh or your own ntfy server. Pick a topic name of 1 to 64 characters from A-Z a-z 0-9 underscore and hyphen:

your topic

mortemain-a8f3k2z9

On a public server the topic name is the only secret: anyone who guesses it can read, and forge, your alerts, so make it long and random.

2. Subscribe to the topic

Install the ntfy app (iOS or Android) or open the web app at ntfy.sh, and subscribe to your topic on the same server. That device now receives everything published to it.

3. Add the target in Mortemain

In your Mortemain dashboard, add a notification target:

Type → ntfy
ntfy topic → your topic
ntfy server → the full server URL, e.g. https://ntfy.sh (this is required, Mortemain will not silently assume ntfy.sh)
ntfy access token → leave empty for an open server, or paste a token like tk_xxxxxxxx if your server requires authentication

Save, then wire it to the checks you care about.

For a private or self-hosted server set to deny anonymous access, the access token is what lets Mortemain publish (it is sent as a Bearer token); without it that server returns a 403.

Test it

Hit Test on the target. A push notification arrives on your subscribed device within a second or two. Trouble alerts (down, late) arrive at a higher priority than a recovery.