Simple developer-friendly chat app for home automation
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I have various small projects and home automation systems that I want to be able to invoke remotely and receive alerts from, without setting up a web server and UI.
I used to use Notify17 for receiving alerts, but since this shut down I've been forced back to email, and am now looking for a solution to cover both receiving alerts and sending basic commands.
These are the options I've considered already:
* Pushover - Fine for receiving alerts, multiple recipients supported. No options to respond to them.
* Telegram - Sending + receiving. Might be a bit heavy for my use case, and would be better not having the bot publicly accessible. Also makes managing notifications (DND etc) more difficult when also receiving human messages.
* Gotify - No iOS app.
Essentially what I'm looking for is an app with a chat-like UI which converts messages to a webhook, and allows me to send responses via an API. Ideally preshared key auth, no OAuth.
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That exact pain point is why half my home server setup runs on custom scripts. Relying on email for alerts is absolute torture when a service goes down at 3 AM and your inbox gets flooded.
If you want something dead-simple that fits that exact webhook-in, API-out chat UI without the overhead of public Telegram bots, take a look at Ntfy.sh (or self-hosting it). It supports simple HTTP PUT/POST for sending alerts directly to your phone, and while it’s primarily an alert system, you can handle simple actions or tie it into local automations.
Another option that developers love for this is Discord/Slack webhooks routed into a private channel, but keeping it out of heavy chat apps like Telegram or iMessage is smart—otherwise your smart home alerts get buried under group chats and spam.
Did you end up finding a clean native app for this, or did you end up spinning up a lightweight custom solution?