expo-server-sdk

What is expo-server-sdk?

The expo-server-sdk is a Node.js library for sending push notifications to devices using the Expo push notification service. It allows you to send notifications to both iOS and Android devices with ease.

What are expo-server-sdk's main functionalities?

Sending Push Notifications

This feature allows you to send push notifications to multiple devices. The code sample demonstrates how to create a list of messages and send them in chunks using the Expo push notification service.

const { Expo } = require('expo-server-sdk');
let expo = new Expo();
let messages = [];
let somePushTokens = ['ExponentPushToken[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]', 'ExponentPushToken[yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy]'];
for (let pushToken of somePushTokens) {
  if (!Expo.isExpoPushToken(pushToken)) {
    console.error(`Push token ${pushToken} is not a valid Expo push token`);
    continue;
  }
  messages.push({
    to: pushToken,
    sound: 'default',
    body: 'This is a test notification',
    data: { withSome: 'data' },
  });
}
let chunks = expo.chunkPushNotifications(messages);
let tickets = [];
(async () => {
  for (let chunk of chunks) {
    try {
      let ticketChunk = await expo.sendPushNotificationsAsync(chunk);
      tickets.push(...ticketChunk);
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(error);
    }
  }
})();

Handling Receipts

This feature allows you to handle receipts for the notifications you have sent. The code sample demonstrates how to retrieve and process the status of sent notifications using their receipt IDs.

let receiptIds = ['xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx'];
(async () => {
  try {
    let receipts = await expo.getPushNotificationReceiptsAsync(receiptIds);
    for (let receiptId in receipts) {
      let { status, message, details } = receipts[receiptId];
      if (status === 'ok') {
        continue;
      } else if (status === 'error') {
        console.error(`There was an error sending a notification: ${message}`);
        if (details && details.error) {
          console.error(`The error code is ${details.error}`);
        }
      }
    }
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(error);
  }
})();

Other packages similar to expo-server-sdk

node-pushnotifications

node-pushnotifications is a Node.js library for sending push notifications to multiple platforms including iOS, Android, and Windows. It provides a unified API for different push notification services, making it versatile but potentially more complex to set up compared to expo-server-sdk.

firebase-admin

firebase-admin is the official Firebase SDK for server-side use. It allows you to send push notifications via Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM). While it offers more features beyond push notifications, it requires Firebase project setup and is more complex compared to the straightforward setup of expo-server-sdk.

onesignal-node

onesignal-node is a Node.js client for OneSignal, a service that provides push notifications, email, and SMS messaging. It offers a rich set of features and analytics but requires integration with the OneSignal service, which can be more involved than using expo-server-sdk.

README

expo-server-sdk-node

Server-side library for working with Expo using Node.js.

If you have problems with the code in this repository, please file issues & bug reports at https://github.com/expo/expo. Thanks!

Usage

Note: the following code assumes that you are using JavaScript modules with import. If you aren't then you should use the old syntax for the SDK import: const { Expo } = require('expo-server-sdk').

yarn add expo-server-sdk

import { Expo } from 'expo-server-sdk';

// Create a new Expo SDK client
// optionally providing an access token if you have enabled push security
let expo = new Expo({ accessToken: process.env.EXPO_ACCESS_TOKEN });

// Create the messages that you want to send to clients
let messages = [];
for (let pushToken of somePushTokens) {
  // Each push token looks like ExponentPushToken[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

  // Check that all your push tokens appear to be valid Expo push tokens
  if (!Expo.isExpoPushToken(pushToken)) {
    console.error(`Push token ${pushToken} is not a valid Expo push token`);
    continue;
  }

  // Construct a message (see https://docs.expo.io/push-notifications/sending-notifications/)
  messages.push({
    to: pushToken,
    sound: 'default',
    body: 'This is a test notification',
    data: { withSome: 'data' },
  })
}

// The Expo push notification service accepts batches of notifications so
// that you don't need to send 1000 requests to send 1000 notifications. We
// recommend you batch your notifications to reduce the number of requests
// and to compress them (notifications with similar content will get
// compressed).
let chunks = expo.chunkPushNotifications(messages);
let tickets = [];
(async () => {
  // Send the chunks to the Expo push notification service. There are
  // different strategies you could use. A simple one is to send one chunk at a
  // time, which nicely spreads the load out over time:
  for (let chunk of chunks) {
    try {
      let ticketChunk = await expo.sendPushNotificationsAsync(chunk);
      console.log(ticketChunk);
      tickets.push(...ticketChunk);
      // NOTE: If a ticket contains an error code in ticket.details.error, you
      // must handle it appropriately. The error codes are listed in the Expo
      // documentation:
      // https://docs.expo.io/push-notifications/sending-notifications/#individual-errors
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(error);
    }
  }
})();

...

// Later, after the Expo push notification service has delivered the
// notifications to Apple or Google (usually quickly, but allow the the service
// up to 30 minutes when under load), a "receipt" for each notification is
// created. The receipts will be available for at least a day; stale receipts
// are deleted.
//
// The ID of each receipt is sent back in the response "ticket" for each
// notification. In summary, sending a notification produces a ticket, which
// contains a receipt ID you later use to get the receipt.
//
// The receipts may contain error codes to which you must respond. In
// particular, Apple or Google may block apps that continue to send
// notifications to devices that have blocked notifications or have uninstalled
// your app. Expo does not control this policy and sends back the feedback from
// Apple and Google so you can handle it appropriately.
let receiptIds = [];
for (let ticket of tickets) {
  // NOTE: Not all tickets have IDs; for example, tickets for notifications
  // that could not be enqueued will have error information and no receipt ID.
  if (ticket.id) {
    receiptIds.push(ticket.id);
  }
}

let receiptIdChunks = expo.chunkPushNotificationReceiptIds(receiptIds);
(async () => {
  // Like sending notifications, there are different strategies you could use
  // to retrieve batches of receipts from the Expo service.
  for (let chunk of receiptIdChunks) {
    try {
      let receipts = await expo.getPushNotificationReceiptsAsync(chunk);
      console.log(receipts);

      // The receipts specify whether Apple or Google successfully received the
      // notification and information about an error, if one occurred.
      for (let receiptId in receipts) {
        let { status, message, details } = receipts[receiptId];
        if (status === 'ok') {
          continue;
        } else if (status === 'error') {
          console.error(
            `There was an error sending a notification: ${message}`
          );
          if (details && details.error) {
            // The error codes are listed in the Expo documentation:
            // https://docs.expo.io/push-notifications/sending-notifications/#individual-errors
            // You must handle the errors appropriately.
            console.error(`The error code is ${details.error}`);
          }
        }
      }
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(error);
    }
  }
})();

Developing

The source code is in the src/ directory and babel is used to turn it into ES5 that goes in the build/ directory.

To build, npm run build.

To build and watch for changes, npm run watch.

See Also

• https://github.com/expo-community/expo-server-sdk-ruby
• https://github.com/expo-community/expo-server-sdk-python