[Research] Look into simplifying notification channels

[alexjustesen]

@alexjustesen I do wanted to have a look to simplify the notifications as some are similar. And maybe optimize the page as well. Let me know what you think ☺️

Originally posted by @svenvg93 in #1578 (comment)

Extracting our conversation to its own issue...

Yes, I want to go through and looks for optimization opportunities as well. We have a bunch of webhook based notifications that could probably be consolidated and where possible I want to do it "the framework way".

Laravel provides out of the box support for various notification channels and there are even more maintained 3rd party channels that could potentially make the code base simpler.

[svenvg93]

When I was looking for ntfy integration I did found a third party one https://github.com/wijourdil/ntfy-notification-channel.
Didn’t use it as I wasn’t sure if third party is the way you wanted it. As it makes it dependent of others to keep things working

[alexjustesen]

I'm ok with 3rd party deps as long as the follow/hook right into the framework notification pattern and are actively maintained.

"Actively maintained" means updates within the last year.

[svenvg93]

This might be outside of my capabilties 😉 I will leave this up to the more skilled developers to do it right ;)

[alexjustesen]

I'll take a whack at it at some point, I've been super busy with non-code stuff lately so it's been tough to find time to work on speedtest tracker.

[svenvg93]

Otherway might be to integrate Apprise https://github.com/caronc/apprise . As it hooks in to basically every service out there. No need to maintain it yourself.

[bwirt]

Otherway might be to integrate Apprise https://github.com/caronc/apprise . As it hooks in to basically every service out there. No need to maintain it yourself.

+1 for Apprise

[svenvg93]

Otherway might be to integrate Apprise https://github.com/caronc/apprise . As it hooks in to basically every service out there. No need to maintain it yourself.

+1 for Apprise

Not sure Apprise will work after more investigations, there is no Php libary to use, and requiring the users to run a additional app for the notifications seems the wrong way to do it. Installing it within the container using pip and calling it with system() seems a bit weird to do as there are php frameworks for most services.

[bwirt]

Doesn’t need to be a requirement but is a nice option if feasible.

I’m already running an Apprise container which basically functions as a notification proxy so I only ever have to configure email, Signal, telegram, whatever else just one time in one place.

There may be a way to do this with the webhook already, though it’s not clear how to use this or set POST body, etc. Will explore when I have time.

[armond-avanes]

I’m already running an Apprise container which basically functions as a notification proxy so I only ever have to configure email, Signal, telegram, whatever else just one time in one place.

I have the same configuration to centralize all my notification setup in a single Apprise API container:
https://github.com/caronc/apprise-api

+1 for Apprise (or Apprise API) support.

[etuck]

Another +1 for Apprise. I think a majority of self-hosters are probably already running it.

[alexjustesen]

Quick update on this, @svenvg93 and I are actively evaluating a pattern to implement Apprise to support additional notification channels. Expect the following to change:

1. Database, email and webhook notification channels will remain in Speedtest Tracker as "core" channels.
2. Any notification channel that isn't "core" will be deprecated and eventually removed.
3. Apprise will be implemented as a "sidecar" so you'll need to follow their instructions on how to set that up separately.
4. We don't have a timeline on this feature yet but once we start development a PR will be attached to this issue.

[svenvg93]

@etuck @armond-avanes @bwirt As the Apprise experts, I’m looking for guidance on implementation. Currently, I have it set up so that you define the Apprise Sidecar endpoint (http://apprise/notify) and the service URL (e.g., discord://12345/1223445323).

Is there a need to configure multiple Apprise Sidecars? Are there any specific features or considerations you’d recommend for the implementation?