Push Notifications

mzchat implements push notifications using the UnifiedPush standard, allowing users to choose their own notification provider (distributor).

Local Delivery

For the user’s Home Server, the flow is direct:

1. Assertion: The Client registers a unique distributor endpoint URL with the Home Server.
2. Delivery: On a new message, the Home Server performs an unauthenticated POST request to the endpoint URL.

Federated Relay (S2S)

Since a client only connects to one server at a time, notifications from Remote Servers must be relayed through the user’s Home Server.

1. Delegation: During the federated join handshake, the Home Server issues a Push Delegation Token to the Remote Server.
2. Relay: When a mention occurs on the Remote Server, it calls the PushNotification RPC on the Home Server, providing the delegation token and the encrypted payload.
3. Final Delivery: The Home Server verifies the token and forwards the notification to the user’s active distributor endpoint.

Custom ntfy Topics

For platforms without a native distributor (Web, Desktop), users can generate a Custom ntfy Topic.

• This is effectively a standard ntfy.sh URL (e.g., https://ntfy.sh/mzchat_123).
• The Client registers this URL just like a UnifiedPush endpoint.
• Users can subscribe to the same topic on their desktop or mobile ntfy app to bridge notifications.