node-notifier

What is node-notifier?

The node-notifier package is a Node.js module for sending native notifications on different platforms like Windows, Mac, and Linux. It provides an easy-to-use API to show system notifications using the native notification system of the operating system.

What are node-notifier's main functionalities?

Cross-platform notifications

This feature allows you to send desktop notifications across different operating systems. The code sample shows how to send a simple notification with a title and a message.

const notifier = require('node-notifier');
notifier.notify({
  title: 'My notification',
  message: 'Hello, this is a notification!'
});

Notification actions

This feature allows you to listen for user interactions with the notification, such as clicking on it. The code sample demonstrates how to handle a click event on the notification.

const notifier = require('node-notifier');
notifier.notify({
  title: 'My notification',
  message: 'Click to perform an action',
  wait: true
}, (err, response, metadata) => {
  if (metadata.activationType === 'clicked') {
    console.log('Notification clicked!');
  }
});

Custom notification sound

This feature allows you to customize the notification sound and appearance. The code sample shows how to send a notification with a custom sound and icon.

const notifier = require('node-notifier');
notifier.notify({
  title: 'My notification',
  message: 'With a custom sound!',
  sound: true, // Only Notification Center or Windows Toasters
  appIcon: '/path/to/icon.png', // Absolute path (doesn't work on balloons)
  contentImage: '/path/to/image.png' // Absolute Path to Attached Image (Content Image)
});

Other packages similar to node-notifier

electron-notifications

A package specifically designed for Electron applications to show desktop notifications. It is similar to node-notifier but tailored for the Electron environment, which means it might not be suitable for non-Electron Node.js applications.

pushover-notifications

This package allows you to send notifications using the Pushover service. It differs from node-notifier in that it requires an internet connection and uses the Pushover API to send messages to devices, whereas node-notifier works offline and uses the native OS notification systems.

toastr

Toastr is a Javascript library for non-blocking notifications. It is designed for web applications and provides in-browser notifications as opposed to the system-level notifications provided by node-notifier.

README

node-notifier

A node module for sending notification using node. Uses terminal-notifier on mac, notify-send for Linux, toaster for Windows 8.1 and Growl for others.

Requirements

• Mac OS X >= 10.8.
• Linux with the notify-osd/notify-send module
• Windows >= 8.1.
• Or if no of the above requirements are met, Growl is used.

If using Linux, notify-osd must be installed on your system. For Mac, terminal-notifier, comes bundled in the module. So on Mac, not additional installations is necessary.

This also goes for native Windows (version >=8.1) as well, where toaster.exe is bundled. Note, for native Windows notifications a toast must have a shortcut installed (though not necessarily pinned) to the Start screen or in the Apps view

If no of the other requirements are met, node-notifier will use Growl. You have to have Growl installed on your system. See Growl for Windows or Growl for Mac.

Install

$ npm install node-notifier

Standard Usage

var Notification = require('node-notifier');

var notifier = new Notification();
notifier.notify({
  title: 'My awesome title',
  message: 'Hello from node, Mr. User!'
});

Notification also has specifications for all types of notifications, to be used manually.

Example:

var nn = require('node-notifier');

new nn.NotificationCenter().notify();
new nn.NotifySend().notify();
new nn.WindowsToaster().notify(options);
new nn.Growl().notify(options);

Mapping between notifiers

Common options between the modules (i.e. icon) is mapped. This means, if you are using a Mac and someone on your project is using Linux, you can both see icons.

Usage NotificationCenter

Same usage and parameter setup as terminal-notifier.

Native Notification Center requires Mac OS X version 10.8 or higher. If you have earlier versions, Growl will be the fallback. If Growl isn't installed, an error will be thrown.

---

Note: Output parsing from Notification Center is deprecated as of 3.0.0.

Parsing of output given by terminal-notifier is removed as of node-notifier 3.0.0. You can still use both remove and list but the output given will not be parsed into a object.

See removed documentation for pre version 3.0.0 in Deprecated documentation

---

Example

Where terminal-notifier say to use the -message option, you can do this in node-notifier

var Notification = require('node-notifier');

var notifier = new Notification();
notifier.notify({
  message: 'Hello World'
});

You can specify the second argument as a callback for getting error and response.

var Notification = require('node-notifier');

var notifier = new Notification({
  // Options passed to Growl if fallback
});

notifier.notify({
  title: 'My application',
  message: 'New notification'
}, function(error, response) {
  console.log(response);
});

As of version 3.0.0, you can also specify image used as icon or content image. For Mac OS notifications, requires 10.9.

notifier.notify({
  "title": "Phil Coulson",
  "subtitle": "Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.",
  "message": "If I come out, will you shoot me? 'Cause then I won't come out.",
  "sound": "Funk", // case sensitive
  "contentImage": __dirname + "/coulson.jpg",
  "appIcon": __dirname + "/coulson.jpg",
  "open": "file://" + __dirname + "/coulson.jpg"
});

See terminal-notifier for more options.

Usage NotifySend

var Notification = require('node-notifier');

var notifier = new Notification({
  // Options passed to Growl if fallback
});
notifier.notify({
  title: 'Foo',
  message: 'Hello World',
  icon: __dirname + "/coulson.jpg",
  // .. and other notify-send flags
});

See flags and options on the man pages

Usage Native Windows

var Notification = require('node-notifier');

var notifier = new Notification({
  // Options passed to Growl if fallback
});
notifier.notify({
  title: 'Foo',
  message: 'Hello World',
  icon: __dirname + "/coulson.jpg"
});

Usage Growl

var Notification = require('node-notifier');

var notifier = new Notification({
  // Options as passed to Growler
});
notifier.notify({
  title: 'Foo',
  message: 'Hello World',
  icon: fs.readFileSync(__dirname + "/coulson.jpg")
  // and other growl options like sticky etc.
});

See more information for constructor options in growler.

Changelog

v3.2.0

1. Adds native Windows 8.1 support.

v3.1.0

1. Adds Growl as fallback for Mac OS X pre 10.8.

v3.0.6

1. Fixes typo: Changes Growl app name from Gulp to Node.

v3.0.5

1. Maps common options between the different notifiers. Allowing for common usage with different notifiers.

v3.0.4

1. Fixes expires for notify-send (Issue #13)

v3.0.2

1. Fixes version check for Mac OS X Yosemite

v3.0.0

1. Updates terminal-notifier to version 1.6.0; adding support for appIcon and contentImage
2. Removes parsing of output sent from notifier (Notification Center)

License

MIT License

Changelog

v3.2.0

1. Adds native Windows 8 support.