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, balloons for Windows pre 8 or Growl for others.

Requirements

• Mac OS X >= 10.8.
• Linux with the notify-osd/notify-send module
• Windows. Using "toasters" for Win8, Balloons for pre Win8 (if Growl isn't found).
• 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) 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, but this happens automatically.

Growl takes precidence over Windows balloons. So if Growl is active, growl is used, if not, balloons are shown.

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.

See documentation and flow chart for reporters

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.WindowsBalloon().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 8

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 Native Windows Version 7 and below

For earlier Windows versions, the taskbar balloons are used. For balloons a great project called notifu is used.

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

var notifier = new Notification({
  // Options passed to Growl if fallback
});
notifier.notify({
  p: 'Foo', // Title (can use title:)
  m: 'Hello World', // Message (can use message:)
  d: 1000 // Show for 1000 ms
});

See full usage on the project homepage: notifu.

Usage Growl

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

var notifier = new Notification({
  name: 'Growl Name Used' // Defaults as 'Node'
});

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.

License

MIT License