Rpush. The push notification service for Ruby.

Rpush aims to be the de facto gem for sending push notifications in Ruby. Its core goals are ease of use, reliability and a rich feature set. Rpush provides numerous advanced features not found in others gems, giving you greater control & insight as your project grows. These are a few of the reasons why companies worldwide rely on Rpush to deliver their notifications.

Supported Services

• Apple Push Notification Service
  • Including Safari Push Notifications.
• Firebase Cloud Messaging (used to be Google Cloud Messaging)
• Amazon Device Messaging
• Windows Phone Push Notification Service
• Pushy
• Webpush

Feature Highlights

• Use ActiveRecord or Redis for storage.
• Plugins for Bugsnag, Sentry, StatsD or write your own.
• Seamless integration with your projects, including Rails.
• Run as a daemon, inside a job queue, on the command-line or embedded in another process.
• Scales vertically (threading) and horizontally (multiple processes).
• Designed for uptime - new apps are loaded automatically, signal HUP to update running apps.
• Hooks for fine-grained instrumentation and error handling (Reflection API).
• Tested with MRI

Getting Started

Add it to your Gemfile:

gem 'rpush'

Initialize Rpush into your project. Rails will be detected automatically.

$ cd /path/to/project
$ bundle
$ bundle exec rpush init

Create an App & Notification

Apple Push Notification Service

There is a choice of two modes (and one legacy mode) using certificates or using tokens:

• Rpush::Apns2 This requires an annually renewable certificate. see https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/setting_up_a_remote_notification_server/establishing_a_certificate-based_connection_to_apns
• Rpush::Apnsp8 This uses encrypted tokens and requires an encryption key id and encryption key (provide as a p8 file). (see https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/setting_up_a_remote_notification_server/establishing_a_token-based_connection_to_apns)
• Rpush::Apns There is also the original APNS (the original version using certificates with a binary underlying protocol over TCP directly rather than over Http/2). Apple have announced that this is not supported after March 31, 2021.

If this is your first time using the APNs, you will need to generate either SSL certificates (for Apns2 or Apns) or an Encryption Key (p8) and an Encryption Key ID (for Apnsp8). See Generating Certificates for instructions.

Apnsp8

To use the p8 APNs Api:

app = Rpush::Apnsp8::App.new
app.name = "ios_app"
app.apn_key = File.read("/path/to/sandbox.p8")
app.environment = "development" # APNs environment.
app.apn_key_id = "APN KEY ID" # This is the Encryption Key ID provided by apple
app.team_id = "TEAM ID" # the team id - e.g. ABCDE12345
app.bundle_id = "BUNDLE ID" # the unique bundle id of the app, like com.example.appname
app.connections = 1
app.save!

n = Rpush::Apnsp8::Notification.new
n.app = Rpush::Apnsp8::App.find_by_name("ios_app")
n.device_token = "..." # hex string
n.alert = "hi mom!"
n.data = { foo: :bar }
n.save!

Apns2

(NB this uses the same protocol as Apnsp8, but authenticates with a certificate rather than tokens)

app = Rpush::Apns2::App.new
app.name = "ios_app"
app.certificate = File.read("/path/to/sandbox.pem")
app.environment = "development"
app.password = "certificate password"
app.bundle_id = "BUNDLE ID" # the unique bundle id of the app, like com.example.appname
app.connections = 1
app.save!

n = Rpush::Apns2::Notification.new
n.app = Rpush::Apns2::App.find_by_name("ios_app")
n.device_token = "..." # hex string
n.alert = "hi mom!"
n.data = {
  headers: { 'apns-topic': "BUNDLE ID" }, # the bundle id of the app, like com.example.appname. Not necessary if set on the app (see above)
  foo: :bar
}
n.save!

You should also implement the ssl_certificate_will_expire reflection to monitor when your certificate is due to expire.

Apns (legacy protocol)

app = Rpush::Apns::App.new
app.name = "ios_app"
app.certificate = File.read("/path/to/sandbox.pem")
app.environment = "development" # APNs environment.
app.password = "certificate password"
app.connections = 1
app.save!

n = Rpush::Apns::Notification.new
n.app = Rpush::Apns::App.find_by_name("ios_app")
n.device_token = "..." # hex string
n.alert = "hi mom!"
n.data = { foo: :bar }
n.save!

Safari Push Notifications

Using one of the notifications methods above, the url_args attribute is available for Safari Push Notifications.

Environment

The app environment for any Apns* option is "development" for XCode installs, and "production" for app store and TestFlight. Note that for Apns2 you can now use one (production + sandbox) certificate (you don't need a separate "sandbox" or development certificate), but if you do generate a development/sandbox certificate it can only be used for "development". With Apnsp8 tokens, you can target either "development" or "production" environments.

Firebase Cloud Messaging

FCM and GCM are – as of writing – compatible with each other. See also this comment for further references.

Please refer to the Firebase Console on where to find your auth_key (probably called Server Key there). To verify you have the right key, use tools like Postman, HTTPie, curl or similar before reporting a new issue. See also this comment.

app = Rpush::Gcm::App.new
app.name = "android_app"
app.auth_key = "..."
app.connections = 1
app.save!

n = Rpush::Gcm::Notification.new
n.app = Rpush::Gcm::App.find_by_name("android_app")
n.registration_ids = ["..."]
n.data = { message: "hi mom!" }
n.priority = 'high'        # Optional, can be either 'normal' or 'high'
n.content_available = true # Optional
# Optional notification payload. See the reference below for more keys you can use!
n.notification = { body: 'great match!',
                   title: 'Portugal vs. Denmark',
                   icon: 'myicon'
                 }
n.save!

FCM also requires you to respond to Canonical IDs.

Check the FCM reference for what keys you can use and are available to you. Note: Not all are yet implemented in Rpush.

Amazon Device Messaging

app = Rpush::Adm::App.new
app.name = "kindle_app"
app.client_id = "..."
app.client_secret = "..."
app.connections = 1
app.save!

n = Rpush::Adm::Notification.new
n.app = Rpush::Adm::App.find_by_name("kindle_app")
n.registration_ids = ["..."]
n.data = { message: "hi mom!"}
n.collapse_key = "Optional consolidationKey"
n.save!

For more documentation on ADM.

Windows Phone Notification Service (Windows Phone 8.0 and 7.x)

Uses the older Windows Phone 8 Toast template

app = Rpush::Wpns::App.new
app.name = "windows_phone_app"
app.client_id = # Get this from your apps dashboard https://dev.windows.com
app.client_secret = # Get this from your apps dashboard https://dev.windows.com
app.connections = 1
app.save!

n = Rpush::Wpns::Notification.new
n.app = Rpush::Wpns::App.find_by_name("windows_phone_app")
n.uri = "http://..."
n.data = {title:"MyApp", body:"Hello world", param:"user_param1"}
n.save!

Windows Notification Service (Windows 8.1, 10 Apps & Phone > 8.0)

Uses the more recent Toast template

The client_id here is the SID URL as seen here. Do not confuse it with the client_id on dashboard.

You can (optionally) include a launch argument by adding a launch key to the notification data.

You can (optionally) include an audio element by setting the sound on the notification.

app = Rpush::Wns::App.new
app.name = "windows_phone_app"
app.client_id = YOUR_SID_URL
app.client_secret = YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET
app.connections = 1
app.save!

n = Rpush::Wns::Notification.new
n.app = Rpush::Wns::App.find_by_name("windows_phone_app")
n.uri = "http://..."
n.data = {title:"MyApp", body:"Hello world", launch:"launch-argument"}
n.sound = "ms-appx:///mynotificationsound.wav"
n.save!

Windows Raw Push Notifications

Note: The data is passed as .to_json so only this format is supported, although raw notifications are meant to support any kind of data. Current data structure enforces hashes and .to_json representation is natural presentation of it.

n = Rpush::Wns::RawNotification.new
n.app = Rpush::Wns::App.find_by_name("windows_phone_app")
n.uri = 'http://...'
n.data = { foo: 'foo', bar: 'bar' }
n.save!

Windows Badge Push Notifications

Uses the badge template and the type wns/badge.

n = Rpush::Wns::BadgeNotification.new
n.app = Rpush::Wns::App.find_by_name("windows_phone_app")
n.uri = 'http://...'
n.badge = 4
n.save!

Pushy

Pushy is a highly-reliable push notification gateway, based on MQTT protocol for cross platform push notification delivery that includes web, Android, and iOS. One of its advantages is it allows for reliable notification delivery to Android devices in China where Google Cloud Messaging and Firebase Cloud Messaging are blocked and to custom hardware devices that use Android OS but are not using Google Play Services.

Note: current implementation of Pushy only supports Android devices and does not include subscriptions.

app = Rpush::Pushy::App.new
app.name = "android_app"
app.api_key = YOUR_API_KEY
app.connections = 1
app.save!

n = Rpush::Pushy::Notification.new
n.app = Rpush::Pushy::App.find_by_name("android_app")
n.registration_ids = ["..."]
n.data = { message: "hi mom!"}
n.time_to_live = 60 # seconds
n.save!

For more documentation on Pushy.

Webpush

Webpush is a protocol for delivering push messages to desktop browsers. It's supported by all major browsers (except Safari, you have to use one of the Apns transports for that).

Using VAPID, there is no need for the sender of push notifications to register upfront with push services (as was the case with the now legacy Mozilla or Google desktop push providers).

Instead, you generate a pair of keys and use the public key when subscribing users in your web app. The keys are stored along with an email address (which, according to the spec, can be used by push service providers to contact you in case of problems) in the certificates field of the Rpush Application record:

vapid_keypair = Webpush.generate_key.to_hash
app = Rpush::Webpush::App.new
app.name = 'webpush'
app.certificate = vapid_keypair.merge(subject: '[email protected]').to_json
app.connections = 1
app.save!

The subscription object you obtain from a subscribed browser holds an endpoint URL and cryptographic keys. When sending a notification, simply pass the whole subscription as sole member of the registration_ids collection:

n = Rpush::Webpush::Notification.new
n.app = Rpush::App.find_by_name("webpush")
n.registration_ids = [subscription]
n.data = { message: "hi mom!" }
n.save!

In order to send the same message to multiple devices, create one Notification per device, as passing multiple subscriptions at once as registration_ids is not supported.

Running Rpush

It is recommended to run Rpush as a separate process in most cases, though embedding and manual modes are provided for low-workload environments.

See rpush help for all available commands and options.

As a daemon

$ cd /path/to/project
$ rpush start

As a foreground process

$ cd /path/to/project
$ rpush start -f

On the command-line

$ rpush push

Rpush will deliver all pending notifications and then exit.

In a scheduled job

Rpush.push
Rpush.apns_feedback

See Push API for more details.

Embedded inside an existing process

if defined?(Rails)
  ActiveSupport.on_load(:after_initialize) do
    Rpush.embed
  end
else
  Rpush.embed
end

Call this during startup of your application, for example, by adding it to the end of config/rpush.rb. See Embedding API for more details.

Using mina

If you're using mina, there is a gem called mina-rpush which helps you control rpush.

Cleanup

Rpush leaves delivered notifications in the database. If you do not clear them out, they will take up more and more space. This isn't great for any database, but is especially problematic if using Redis as the Rpush store. Here is an example solution for cleaning up delivered notifications in Redis.

Configuration

See Configuration for a list of options.

Updating Rpush

You should run rpush init after upgrading Rpush to check for configuration and migration changes.

From The Wiki

General

• Using Redis
• Using ActiveRecord
• Configuration
• Moving from Rapns
• Deploying to Heroku
• Hot App Updates
• Signals
• Reflection API
• Push API
• Embedding API
• Writing a Plugin
• Implementing your own storage backend
• Upgrading from 2.x to 3.0

Apple Push Notification Service

• Generating Certificates
• Advanced APNs Features
• APNs Delivery Failure Handling
• Why open multiple connections to the APNs?
• Silent failures might be dropped connections

Firebase Cloud Messaging

• Notification Options
• Canonical IDs
• Delivery Failures & Retries

Contributing

Running Tests

Rpush uses Appraisal to run tests against multiple versions of Ruby on Rails. This helps making sure that Rpush performs correctly with multiple Rails versions.

Rpush also uses RSpec for its tests.

Bootstrapping your test suite:

First, we need to setup a test database, rpush_test.

E.g. (postgres): psql -c 'create database rpush_test;' -U postgres >/dev/null

bundle install
bundle exec appraisal install

This will install all the required gems that requires to test against each version of Rails, which defined in gemfiles/*.gemfile.

To run a full test suite:

bundle exec appraisal rake

This will run RSpec against all versions of Rails.

To run a single test

You need to specify a BUNDLE_GEMFILE pointing to the gemfile before running the normal test command:

BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/rails_5.2.gemfile rspec spec/unit/apns_feedback_spec.rb

Multiple database adapter support

When running specs, please note that the ActiveRecord adapter can be changed by setting the ADAPTER environment variable. For example: ADAPTER=postgresql rake.

Available adapters for testing are postgresql, jdbcpostgresql, mysql2, jdbcmysql, jdbch2, and sqlite3.

Note that the database username is changed at runtime to be the currently logged in user's name. So if you're testing with mysql and you're using a user named 'bob', you will need to grant a mysql user 'bob' access to the 'rpush_test' mysql database.

To switch between ActiveRecord and Redis, set the CLIENT environment variable to either active_record or redis.