← All PostsJul 8, 2026

Push notifications from bash

Your shell script finished. Your cron job ran — or didn’t. You find out by checking logs.

Here’s how to make bash scripts tell you directly.

The whole thing in one line

curl -s -X POST "https://trigger.fyi/$TRIGGER_FYI_SECRET_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: text/plain" \
  -d "Backup complete"

Set TRIGGER_FYI_SECRET_KEY in your environment, run this after your work, done. Your phone notifies.

A reusable function

Put this in your .bashrc, .zshrc, or source it in scripts:

fyi() {
  local title="$1"
  local body="${2:-}"
  local level="${3:-}"
  local key="${TRIGGER_FYI_SECRET_KEY:-}"
 
  [ -z "$key" ] && return 0
 
  if [ -n "$body" ] || [ -n "$level" ]; then
    local payload="{\"title\":\"$title\""
    [ -n "$body" ] && payload="$payload,\"body\":\"$body\""
    [ -n "$level" ] && payload="$payload,\"level\":\"$level\""
    payload="$payload}"
    curl -s -X POST "https://trigger.fyi/$key" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d "$payload" &>/dev/null &
  else
    curl -s -X POST "https://trigger.fyi/$key" \
      -H "Content-Type: text/plain" \
      -d "$title" &>/dev/null &
  fi
}
 
fyi_critical() { fyi "$1" "${2:-}" "critical"; }
fyi_log() { fyi "$1" "${2:-}" "log"; }

Usage:

# Simple
fyi "Deploy complete"
 
# With detail
fyi "Deploy complete" "commit abc1234 · 42s"
 
# Urgent
fyi_critical "Deploy failed" "Exit code 1"
 
# Feed only, no push
fyi_log "Cache warmed"

The &>/dev/null & sends the curl in the background — your script doesn’t wait for the notification.

In a cron job

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail
 
START=$(date +%s)
 
# Your work here
rsync -az /data/ /backup/
 
END=$(date +%s)
ELAPSED=$((END - START))
 
fyi "Backup complete" "${ELAPSED}s"

Cron doesn’t have environment variables by default. Set the key explicitly:

0 3 * * * TRIGGER_FYI_SECRET_KEY=your_key_here /usr/local/bin/backup.sh

Or export it in the script:

#!/bin/bash
export TRIGGER_FYI_SECRET_KEY="your_key_here"
# ... rest of script

On success or failure

#!/bin/bash
 
run_deploy() {
  ./deploy.sh
}
 
if run_deploy; then
  fyi "Deploy succeeded" "$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)"
else
  fyi_critical "Deploy failed" "$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)"
  exit 1
fi

Or with a trap:

#!/bin/bash
 
cleanup() {
  if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    fyi_critical "Script failed" "Line $LINENO"
  fi
}
trap cleanup EXIT
 
# Your work here — any failure notifies via the trap
rsync -az /data/ /backup/
fyi "Sync complete"

Timing

#!/bin/bash
START=$(date +%s)
 
do_work
 
ELAPSED=$(( $(date +%s) - START ))
MINUTES=$((ELAPSED / 60))
SECONDS=$((ELAPSED % 60))
 
fyi "Job complete" "${MINUTES}m ${SECONDS}s"

In a Makefile

deploy:
	./build.sh && ./deploy.sh
	@curl -s -X POST "https://trigger.fyi/$(TRIGGER_FYI_SECRET_KEY)" \
		-H "Content-Type: text/plain" \
		-d "Deploy complete" || true
 
test:
	npm test && \
		curl -s -X POST "https://trigger.fyi/$(TRIGGER_FYI_SECRET_KEY)" \
		  -d "Tests passed" || true

The || true prevents a failed notification from failing the make target.

Setup

npx trigger.fyi

Generates a key. Then add to your environment:

# ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
export TRIGGER_FYI_SECRET_KEY=your_key_here

Reload your shell, and fyi is available everywhere.

#The whole thing in one line

#A reusable function

#In a cron job

#On success or failure

#Timing

#In a Makefile

#Setup