Webhook Desktop Notifications

Set up secure, reliable webhook-to-desktop notification systems that receive webhooks from any source and display native desktop notifications on macOS.

Architecture

The system uses a proven pattern:

1. Cloudflare Worker - Receives webhooks from external services (Stripe, GitHub, custom apps)
2. ntfy.sh - Message relay service (no account required)
3. Local Listener - Background process that subscribes to ntfy.sh and displays desktop notifications
4. macOS Service - Keeps listener running automatically

Benefits:

• No local port exposure or tunneling required
• Secure and reliable message delivery
• Free tier sufficient for most use cases
• Handles network interruptions with automatic reconnection

Quick Start

Run the init script to set up a new webhook notification system:

scripts/init_webhook.sh <webhook-name> <ntfy-topic> [output-dir] [sound-file]

Example:

scripts/init_webhook.sh stripe-payments myapp-stripe

This creates:

• Cloudflare Worker for receiving webhooks
• Local listener script for desktop notifications
• macOS launchd service configuration
• All necessary configuration files

Workflow

Step 1: Initialize Webhook System

Run init_webhook.sh with appropriate parameters:

Arguments:

• webhook-name: Identifier for this webhook (e.g., "stripe-payments", "github-prs")
• ntfy-topic: Your unique ntfy.sh topic name (e.g., "myapp-notifications-2024")
• output-dir: (Optional) Where to create files (default: ~/.claude/webhooks/<webhook-name>)
• sound-file: (Optional) Custom notification sound (default: system sound)

Example with custom sound:

scripts/init_webhook.sh github-alerts my-github-topic ~/webhooks /path/to/alert.mp3

Step 2: Customize Worker Logic

Edit the generated worker.js to handle your specific webhook format.

The worker template includes examples for:

• Generic webhooks (title/message/url format)
• Stripe payment events
• GitHub events (PRs, issues, releases)

Modify the extractNotification() function to parse your webhook structure and return notification details.

Example for custom app webhooks:

function extractNotification(event) {
  // Your custom webhook format
  if (event.type === 'user.signup') {
    return {
      title: 'New User Signup',
      message: `${event.user_email} just created an account`,
      priority: '4',
      tags: 'user,tada',
      url: `https://myapp.com/admin/users/${event.user_id}`,
    };
  }

  return null; // Ignore other events
}

Notification object fields:

• title: Notification title (required)
• message: Notification body text (required)
• priority: 1-5, where 5 is highest (optional, default: 3)
• tags: Emoji tags for ntfy.sh like "moneybag", "warning", "fire" (optional)
• url: URL to open when notification is clicked (optional)

For common patterns, see EXAMPLES.md with complete examples for:

• Stripe payments and refunds
• GitHub PR/issue notifications
• Error monitoring and alerts
• Custom business events
• Event filtering and routing

Step 3: Deploy Cloudflare Worker

Navigate to the webhook directory and deploy:

cd ~/.claude/webhooks/<webhook-name>/webhook
npx wrangler deploy

The deployment will output your worker URL:

https://<webhook-name>.<your-subdomain>.workers.dev

Configure your webhook source to send POST requests to:

https://<webhook-name>.<your-subdomain>.workers.dev/webhook

Optional: Add webhook secret for signature verification:

npx wrangler secret put WEBHOOK_SECRET

Step 4: Install Local Listener

Install the listener as a background service that starts automatically:

scripts/install_service.sh ~/.claude/webhooks/<webhook-name>/com.webhook.<webhook-name>.plist

The service will:

• Start immediately
• Restart automatically if it crashes
• Run on system startup

Test manually before installing:

~/.claude/webhooks/<webhook-name>/listener.sh

Then send a test notification:

curl -d 'Test notification!' https://ntfy.sh/<your-topic>

Step 5: Test End-to-End

Send a test webhook to verify the complete flow:

curl -X POST https://<webhook-name>.<your-subdomain>.workers.dev/webhook \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Test","message":"Hello from webhook!"}'

You should see:

1. Worker logs in Cloudflare dashboard
2. Message in listener logs: ~/.claude/webhooks/<webhook-name>/logs/listener.log
3. Desktop notification with sound

Troubleshooting

No notification received:

1. Check worker logs: cd webhook && npx wrangler tail
2. Check listener logs: tail -f ~/.claude/webhooks/<webhook-name>/logs/*.log
3. Verify service is running: launchctl list | grep webhook
4. Test ntfy.sh directly: curl -d "Test" https://ntfy.sh/<your-topic>

Notification sound not playing:

• Verify sound file exists and is valid audio format
• Check macOS notification permissions for terminal-notifier
• Try with default system sound first

Service keeps stopping:

• Check stderr log: cat ~/.claude/webhooks/<webhook-name>/logs/stderr.log
• Ensure terminal-notifier is installed: brew install terminal-notifier
• Verify listener script has execute permissions

Too many notifications (keepalive messages):

• The listener template already filters empty keepalive messages
• If still seeing duplicates, check worker extractNotification() logic

Common Patterns

Multiple Webhooks

Create separate notification systems for different sources:

scripts/init_webhook.sh stripe-payments myapp-stripe
scripts/init_webhook.sh github-alerts myapp-github
scripts/init_webhook.sh error-monitoring myapp-errors

Each runs independently with its own worker, listener, and service.

Event Filtering

Return null from extractNotification() to ignore events:

function extractNotification(event) {
  // Ignore test events
  if (event.test || event.environment !== 'production') {
    return null;
  }

  // Ignore low-priority actions
  if (event.action === 'labeled') {
    return null;
  }

  // Handle other events...
}

Priority-Based Sounds

Modify listener.sh to play different sounds by priority:

priority=$(echo "$message" | python3 -c "import sys,json; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(d.get('priority','3'))" 2>/dev/null || echo "3")

if [[ "$priority" == "5" ]]; then
    afplay "/System/Library/Sounds/Sosumi.aiff" &  # Critical
elif [[ "$priority" == "4" ]]; then
    afplay "$CUSTOM_SOUND" &  # High priority
fi

Rich Notifications

ntfy.sh supports image attachments and action buttons:

await fetch(NTFY_URL, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Title': notification.title,
    'Attach': 'https://example.com/screenshot.png',
    'Actions': 'view, View details, https://example.com',
  },
  body: notification.message,
});

Managing Services

Check if service is running:

launchctl list | grep com.webhook.<webhook-name>

View live logs:

tail -f ~/.claude/webhooks/<webhook-name>/logs/*.log

Restart service:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.webhook.<webhook-name>.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.webhook.<webhook-name>.plist

Stop service:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.webhook.<webhook-name>.plist

Uninstall completely:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.webhook.<webhook-name>.plist
rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.webhook.<webhook-name>.plist
rm -rf ~/.claude/webhooks/<webhook-name>

Resources

scripts/

• init_webhook.sh - Initialize new webhook notification system
• install_service.sh - Install listener as macOS background service

assets/

• worker-template.js - Cloudflare Worker template
• listener-template.sh - Local listener script template
• launchd-template.plist - macOS service configuration template

references/

• EXAMPLES.md - Complete examples for common webhook sources (Stripe, GitHub, error monitoring, custom apps) with code samples and patterns