apprise-rmcp

MCP server and CLI for Apprise: fan out notifications to dozens of delivery backends over stdio or streamable HTTP, with auth and plugin packaging.

It exposes one MCP tool, apprise, plus the rapprise CLI. Agents can send tagged notifications through a preconfigured Apprise server, run one-off Apprise URL sends, and check upstream health through stdio MCP, Streamable HTTP MCP, or direct shell commands.

30-second path: run npx -y @dinglebear/rapprise health --json -> start loopback HTTP with APPRISE_MCP_HOST=127.0.0.1 npx -y @dinglebear/rapprise serve -> call tools/call with {"action":"health"}.

Status: operational RMCP upstream-client server. Write-capable; notification sends are intentional side effects. HTTP MCP supports loopback dev mode, static bearer tokens, and Google OAuth through lab-auth.

Not for: replacing Apprise API, storing notification destinations in this repo, scheduling reminders, building a generic webhook relay, multi-tenant isolation, or passing upstream Apprise bearer tokens through MCP tool arguments.

Contents

• Naming
• Capabilities And Boundaries
• Install
• Quickstart
• Client Configuration
• Runtime Surfaces
• MCP Tool Reference
• CLI Reference
• Configuration
• Authentication
• Safety And Trust Model
• Architecture
• Distribution Contract
• Development
• Verification
• Deployment
• Troubleshooting
• Related Servers
• Documentation
• License

Naming

Surface	This repo
Repository	apprise-rmcp
Rust crate	apprise-mcp
Binary / CLI	rapprise
npm package	@dinglebear/rapprise
npm binary aliases	apprise-rmcp, rapprise
MCP tool	apprise
Config home	~/.apprise on hosts, /data in containers
Env prefixes	APPRISE_*, APPRISE_MCP_*, APPRISE_RMCP_* for npm launcher controls

The repo and npm package use the RMCP family name, while the shipped binary uses the short Rust CLI name rapprise.

Capabilities And Boundaries

• Send notifications through tags configured in the upstream Apprise API server.
• Send one-off notifications to Apprise URL schemas with notify_url.
• Check upstream Apprise API health.
• Expose the send_alert prompt for critical alert workflows.
• Provide setup and doctor commands for local plugin/runtime checks.

This repo owns	Apprise owns	Explicitly out of scope
MCP/CLI projection, request validation, auth policy, response shaping, setup checks, and transport wiring.	Notification delivery, configured destinations, tags, delivery backend credentials, upstream API semantics.	Destination storage, scheduling, retry policy beyond upstream behavior, multi-tenant sandboxing, arbitrary webhook relay behavior.

Install

Path	Command	Best for	Notes
npm / npx	npx -y @dinglebear/rapprise --help	Linux/Windows x86_64 clients.	Verifies the release archive SHA-256 before atomic install.
Release installer	Verified installer procedure	Linux x86_64 without Node.	Verifies checksum and offline provenance before executing installer code.
Docker / Compose	docker compose up -d	Shared HTTP MCP deployments.	Reads .env and exposes container port 40050. Needs the external network first — see Deployment.
Build from source	cargo build --release	Development and audits.	Produces target/release/rapprise.
Plugin	just build-plugin && claude plugin install ./plugins/apprise	Claude Code from this checkout.	Bundled rapprise stdio plugin. Ships no hooks.

Releases publish SHA-256 files and offline GitHub build-provenance bundles. The installers verify both the checksum and provenance identity with GitHub CLI 2.68+. The npm launcher supports x86_64 Linux and Windows release assets.

npm / npx

Run the stdio MCP server or CLI without a manual binary install:

npx -y @dinglebear/rapprise --help
npx -y @dinglebear/rapprise mcp
npx -y @dinglebear/rapprise health --json

The npm package downloads rapprise during postinstall. Override download behavior only when testing packaging:

Variable	Purpose
APPRISE_RMCP_SKIP_DOWNLOAD=1	Skip postinstall binary download.
APPRISE_RMCP_VERSION or APPRISE_RMCP_BINARY_VERSION	Select the GitHub Release tag.
APPRISE_RMCP_REPO	Select the GitHub repo used for release downloads.
APPRISE_RMCP_RELEASE_BASE_URL	Select a custom release base URL.

Verified binary installation is fail-closed and pins the repository, release workflow, and source tag. Install gh 2.68 or newer before using npm or the release installer.

Verified Release Installer

Download the installer and its verification material without executing it, then verify both integrity and provenance before running it:

Replace version with the release tag you want; v0.2.0 is current.

version=v0.2.0
base="https://github.com/dinglebear-ai/rapprise/releases/download/${version}/rapprise-installer.sh"
curl -fsSLO "$base"
curl -fsSLO "$base.sha256"
curl -fsSLO "$base.sigstore.json"
sha256sum --check rapprise-installer.sh.sha256
gh attestation verify rapprise-installer.sh \
  --repo dinglebear-ai/rapprise \
  --bundle rapprise-installer.sh.sigstore.json \
  --signer-workflow dinglebear-ai/rapprise/.github/workflows/release.yml \
  --source-ref "refs/tags/${version}" \
  --deny-self-hosted-runners
APPRISE_RMCP_VERSION="$version" bash rapprise-installer.sh

The --repo and --signer-workflow values must match the identity recorded in the attestation at build time. Releases cut before the repository moved to the dinglebear-ai org are attested as jmagar/rapprise; use dinglebear-ai/rapprise for releases cut afterwards.

The npm launcher supports Windows x86_64 only when GitHub CLI 2.68+ is installed and gh.exe is available on PATH; provenance verification is not skipped.

Build From Source

git clone https://github.com/dinglebear-ai/rapprise
cd rapprise
cargo build --release
./target/release/rapprise --help

Minimum supported Rust version: 1.90. Rust edition 2021. The Cargo workspace has two members: the root apprise-mcp package and xtask.

Quickstart

1. Start Or Point At Apprise API

The default upstream is http://localhost:8000.

docker run --rm -p 8000:8000 caronc/apprise:latest

Use APPRISE_URL when the API server is elsewhere:

export APPRISE_URL=http://100.120.242.29:8766

Set APPRISE_TOKEN only when your Apprise API server requires bearer auth:

export APPRISE_TOKEN=...

2. Run A Safe CLI Call

npx -y @dinglebear/rapprise health --json

3. Start Loopback HTTP MCP

APPRISE_MCP_HOST=127.0.0.1 npx -y @dinglebear/rapprise serve

In another shell:

curl -sf http://127.0.0.1:40050/health

4. Make A First MCP Call

curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:40050/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"apprise","arguments":{"action":"health"}}}'

Client Configuration

Claude Code Stdio

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apprise": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "apprise-rmcp", "mcp"],
      "env": {
        "APPRISE_URL": "http://localhost:8000"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code HTTP

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apprise": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:40050/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${APPRISE_MCP_TOKEN}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Codex / Labby Gateway

Register Apprise through Labby as an HTTP upstream when sharing one long-running server, or run it directly as stdio for local-only use.

[mcp_servers.apprise]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "apprise-rmcp", "mcp"]

Generic MCP JSON

{
  "command": "rapprise",
  "args": ["mcp"],
  "env": {
    "APPRISE_URL": "http://localhost:8000"
  }
}

Do not put APPRISE_TOKEN, OAuth secrets, SSH keys, passwords, or upstream bearer tokens in MCP tool arguments. Use env, config files, or the MCP client's secret storage.

Runtime Surfaces

Surface	Status	Entry point	Purpose
MCP stdio	Supported	rapprise mcp, npx -y @dinglebear/rapprise mcp	Local child-process MCP clients.
MCP HTTP	Supported	rapprise serve, POST /mcp	Streamable HTTP MCP for local or shared server deployments.
Liveness	Supported	GET /health	Always unauthenticated.
Readiness / status	Supported	GET /ready, GET /status	Behind the same auth layer as /mcp.
OAuth discovery	Conditional	/mcp/.well-known/* and lab-auth routes	Mounted only when auth_mode = oauth.
CLI	Supported	rapprise <command>	Scriptable parity and debugging.
Prompt	Supported	send_alert	Reusable critical-alert workflow.
REST API	Not shipped	N/A	Apprise API already owns the REST API.
Web UI	Not shipped	N/A	Apprise API already owns the web UI.

MCP Tool Reference

One MCP tool is exposed: apprise. Pass the required action argument to select the operation.

Read Actions

Action	Description	Required params	Optional params
health	Check Apprise API server health.	none	none
status	Return authenticated deployment and runtime status.	none	none
help	Return built-in markdown tool help.	none	none

Write Actions

Action	Description	Required params	Optional params
notify	Send to a configured Apprise tag, or all configured services when tag is omitted.	body	tag, title, type
notify_url	Send a stateless one-off notification to one or more Apprise URL schemas.	urls, body	title, type

Notification Types

Type	Meaning
info	Informational notification.
success	Successful operation.
warning	Non-critical warning.
failure	Critical failure or error.

MCP Call Examples

curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:40050/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"apprise","arguments":{"action":"health"}}}'

{
  "name": "apprise",
  "arguments": {
    "action": "notify",
    "body": "Deployment succeeded",
    "tag": "ops",
    "title": "Deploy complete",
    "type": "success"
  }
}

Curated action summaries live here. docs/INVENTORY.md is the current source of truth for complete parameters until a generated docs/MCP_SCHEMA.md is added.

CLI Reference

The CLI calls the same service methods as the MCP tool.

rapprise health [--json]
rapprise notify <body> [--tag TAG] [--title T] [--type info|success|warning|failure] [--json]
rapprise notify-url <urls> <body> [--title T] [--type info|success|warning|failure] [--json]

rapprise serve                          # Streamable HTTP MCP on :40050
rapprise serve mcp                      # same as `serve`
rapprise mcp                            # stdio MCP
rapprise doctor [--json]                # pre-flight environment validation
rapprise setup check                    # read-only audit of appdata/env
rapprise setup repair                   # idempotent: create missing setup files
rapprise setup install                  # copy this binary into ~/.local/bin
rapprise setup plugin-hook [--no-repair]

rapprise help                           # or --help / -h
rapprise --version                      # or -V

--json emits raw JSON instead of pretty-printed fields. --help prints the full environment-variable reference.

Configuration

Configuration loads from config.toml when present, then environment variables override those values. On startup it loads ${APPRISE_HOME:-~/.apprise}/.env on hosts or /data/.env in containers. See the complete inventory.

Upstream Variables

Variable	Required	Description
APPRISE_URL	no	Apprise API server base URL. Defaults to http://localhost:8000.
APPRISE_TOKEN	only for protected upstreams	Outbound bearer token for the upstream Apprise API. Distinct from the inbound APPRISE_MCP_TOKEN.
APPRISE_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS	no	Upstream request concurrency. Default 32, bounded 1..=1024.
APPRISE_MAX_RESPONSE_BYTES	no	Upstream response cap. Default 65536, bounded 1..=4194304.
APPRISE_HOME	no	Data directory. Defaults to ~/.apprise on hosts, /data in containers.

Runtime Variables

Variable	Default	Description
APPRISE_MCP_HOST	0.0.0.0	HTTP MCP bind host.
APPRISE_MCP_PORT	40050	HTTP MCP bind port.
APPRISE_MCP_TOKEN	empty	Static bearer token for HTTP MCP when not in loopback dev mode.
APPRISE_MCP_NO_AUTH	false	Disable HTTP MCP auth. Use only on loopback or behind a trusted gateway.
APPRISE_MCP_AUTH_MODE	bearer	Set to oauth for Google OAuth through lab-auth.
APPRISE_MCP_PUBLIC_URL	empty	Public URL for OAuth metadata and protected-resource discovery.
APPRISE_MCP_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	empty	Google OAuth client ID.
APPRISE_MCP_GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	empty	Google OAuth client secret.
APPRISE_MCP_AUTH_ADMIN_EMAIL	empty	Initial/admin OAuth email.
APPRISE_MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS	empty	Additional accepted HTTP Host values.
APPRISE_MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	empty	Additional CORS origins for HTTP MCP.
APPRISE_MCP_AUTH_ALLOWED_REDIRECT_URIS	empty	OAuth client redirect URIs.
APPRISE_MCP_AUTH_ALLOWED_EMAILS	empty	OAuth email allowlist.
APPRISE_MCP_AUTH_SQLITE_PATH	data-dir auth.db	OAuth state store path.
APPRISE_MCP_AUTH_KEY_PATH	data-dir auth-jwt.pem	JWT signing key path.
APPRISE_MCP_DISABLE_STATIC_TOKEN_WITH_OAUTH	true	Forbid the static bearer token from bypassing OAuth.
RUST_LOG	info	Rust log filter. Stdio logs must stay off stdout.

Token TTL and rate-limit variables (APPRISE_MCP_AUTH_*_TTL_SECS, APPRISE_MCP_AUTH_*_REQUESTS_PER_MINUTE, APPRISE_MCP_AUTH_MAX_PENDING_OAUTH_STATES) are listed in full in docs/INVENTORY.md.

Authentication

Policy	When	Effect
Stdio	rapprise mcp	Local process trust; HTTP auth does not apply.
Loopback dev	loopback plus no-auth	Permits unauthenticated local HTTP.
Non-loopback no-auth	non-loopback plus no-auth	Invalid; startup must reject it.
Static bearer	bearer plus APPRISE_MCP_TOKEN	Require exact bearer token.
OAuth	issuer/client/admin settings	Require OAuth/JWT.
OAuth static control	disable-static true	Static token must not bypass OAuth.

MCP scopes are apprise:notify and apprise:admin. OAuth tokens are checked before MCP calls are dispatched.

Safety And Trust Model

• MCP callers never provide APPRISE_TOKEN, OAuth secrets, static bearer tokens, passwords, SSH keys, or API keys as tool arguments.
• Upstream Apprise credentials are loaded from env/config only.
• notify is the preferred path because destinations are configured upstream under tags.
• notify_url intentionally accepts Apprise URL schemas in MCP arguments for one-off sends. Treat those URLs as sensitive payloads and avoid using them when a tagged upstream destination is available.
• Apprise API is the durable source of destination configuration; this server is a thin projection over that API.
• HTTP mode should not be exposed beyond loopback without bearer or OAuth auth plus TLS from an upstream reverse proxy.

Architecture

MCP client / CLI
       |
       v
rapprise
       |
       +-- MCP shim: JSON args -> AppriseService -> structured result
       +-- CLI shim: argv -> AppriseService -> stdout
       |
       v
AppriseService
       |
       v
AppriseClient
       |
       v
Apprise API server
       |
       v
Notification backends

Path	Role
src/app.rs	Business service layer, response shaping, counters, and notification calls.
src/apprise.rs	Apprise API REST client.
src/mcp/	RMCP tool, prompt, schema, routes, and auth checks.
src/cli.rs	CLI parser, doctor/setup helpers, and output formatting.
src/config.rs	Env/config loading and defaults.
packages/apprise-rmcp/	npm launcher and release-binary downloader.

Notification commands and MCP converge on AppriseService. The CLI also owns setup, doctor, self-install, filesystem, and output orchestration today; it is not a pure argument shim.

Distribution Contract

Artifact	File(s)	Must align with
Rust crate/binary	Cargo.toml, Cargo.lock	Git tag, release assets, CLI docs, install scripts.
npm launcher	packages/apprise-rmcp/package.json, bin/rapprise.js, lib/platform.js, scripts/install.js	GitHub Release tag and assets named rapprise-x86_64.tar.gz and rapprise-windows-x86_64.tar.gz.
GitHub Releases	.github/workflows/*, scripts/install.sh, install.sh	Package version, binary name, checksums, supported platforms.
Docker / Compose	config/Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, docker-compose.prod.yml	Exposed port 40050, healthcheck /health, env file contract.
MCP registry	server.json	Identity ai.dinglebear/rapprise, stdio package, version.
Plugin	plugins/apprise	Bundled rapprise stdio only. No hooks, no version, no userConfig in manifests.
Docs	README.md, docs/INVENTORY.md, docs/QUICKSTART.md	Current binary name, default port, action list, and env names.

Release invariant: npm, crate, registry/server metadata, manifest, GitHub tag, and native assets move together. Release Please owns these updates.

Development

cargo fmt -- --check
cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo test
cargo build --release
npm --prefix packages/apprise-rmcp run check
npm --prefix packages/apprise-rmcp test

# Contract checks
bash tests/docs-contract.sh              # docs, versions, and plugin invariants
bash scripts/validate-plugin-layout.sh   # or: just validate-plugin

just wraps the common loops: just check, just lint, just fmt, just test, just release, just build-plugin, just docker-up, just health. The plugin recipe is build-plugin — there is no plugin-build.

Cargo.toml declares rmcp = "1.6.0", but the caret range resolves forward and Cargo.lock pins rmcp 1.7.0. Trust the lock.

Verification

# Binary and CLI
cargo build --release
./target/release/rapprise --version
./target/release/rapprise health --json

# HTTP health
APPRISE_MCP_HOST=127.0.0.1 ./target/release/rapprise serve
curl -sf http://127.0.0.1:40050/health

# MCP tool call
curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:40050/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"apprise","arguments":{"action":"health"}}}'

For live notification tests, configure at least one destination in the Apprise API server and call notify with its tag.

Deployment

Docker / Compose

docker-compose.prod.yml declares the apprise-mcp network as external: true, so create it once before the first bring-up:

cp .env.example .env
$EDITOR .env
docker network create apprise-mcp
docker compose up -d
curl -sf http://127.0.0.1:40050/health

docker-compose.yml builds apprise-mcp:dev from config/Dockerfile and extends the production service. docker-compose.prod.yml alone runs the published image with pull_policy: never, so pull or load it first. The container runs read-only as UID 1000 and stores app data under /data, normally mounted from ${APPRISE_DATA_DIR:-${HOME}/.apprise}. Override the published host port with APPRISE_MCP_HOST_PORT.

Reverse Proxy

Expose only /mcp and /health — plus the lab-auth and /mcp/.well-known/* routes when running OAuth. Keep /ready and /status internal. Preserve Streamable HTTP headers, require TLS, and configure bearer or OAuth auth before exposing the server beyond loopback.

Plugin

The plugin is bundled stdio and ships no Claude Code hooks — nothing runs automatically on session start, so run setup yourself once:

just build-plugin
claude plugin install ./plugins/apprise
rapprise setup check

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
401 from /mcp	Missing or wrong bearer/OAuth token.	Check APPRISE_MCP_TOKEN and client headers, or use loopback dev mode locally.
CLI health fails	Apprise API is not reachable.	Check APPRISE_URL and the upstream Apprise API server.
notify sends nowhere	No upstream destinations match the tag.	Check configured tags in Apprise API or omit tag to send to all configured services.
notify_url fails	Invalid Apprise URL schema or blocked destination backend.	Test the URL with Apprise API directly and prefer configured tags for repeated use.
stdio MCP JSON parse errors	Logs went to stdout.	Keep protocol logs off stdout and lower RUST_LOG if needed.
npm launcher cannot find binary	Release asset download failed or was skipped.	Reinstall, check APPRISE_RMCP_VERSION, or build rapprise from source.

Related Servers

• soma - RMCP runtime and scaffold for provider-backed MCP servers.
• unifi-rmcp - UniFi controller REST API bridge.
• tailscale-rmcp - Tailscale API bridge for devices, users, and tailnet operations.
• unraid - Unraid monorepo; unraid-rs/ is the GraphQL MCP bridge (binary runraid).
• gotify-rmcp - Gotify push notification bridge for sends, messages, apps, and clients.
• arcane-rmcp - Arcane Docker management bridge for containers and related resources.
• yarr - Media-stack bridge for Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, Plex, and related services.
• ytdl-rmcp - Media download and metadata workflow server.
• synapse-rmcp - Local Synapse workflow server for scout and flux actions.
• cortex - Syslog and homelab log aggregation MCP server.
• axon - RAG, crawl, scrape, extract, and semantic search project.
• labby - Homelab control plane and MCP gateway project.

Documentation

Start here:

• docs/QUICKSTART.md - focused setup flow.
• docs/INVENTORY.md - component inventory for actions, CLI commands, env vars, and endpoints.
• docs/README.md - docs index.
• server.json - MCP registry metadata.
• packages/apprise-rmcp/README.md - npm package launcher notes.

This README is curated. Generated or exhaustive catalogs should be refreshed in their own files and treated as the source of truth for current branch details.

License

MIT