Deploy Apprise API on a VPS

Apprise is a lightweight notification gateway that lets you fire alerts to 80+ services (Discord, Slack, Telegram, email, ntfy, etc.) through one unified API. This guide deploys the Apprise API server via Docker on a RamNode VPS.

1. Prerequisites

A RamNode VPS running Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 (KVM plans work well; 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM is plenty)
A non-root sudo user
(Optional) A domain name pointed at your VPS's IP if you want HTTPS via a reverse proxy

2. Initial server setup

SSH into your VPS:

shell

ssh youruser@your-vps-ip

Update packages and set the timezone:

shell

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo timedatectl set-timezone UTC

Set up a basic firewall:

shell

sudo apt install -y ufw
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw enable

3. Install Docker and Docker Compose

shell

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

Verify:

shell

docker --version
docker compose version

4. Create the project directory

shell

mkdir -p ~/apprise/config
cd ~/apprise

5. Create the Docker Compose file

shell

nano docker-compose.yml

Paste:

shell

services:
  apprise:
    image: caronc/apprise:latest
    container_name: apprise
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - ./attach:/attach
    environment:
      - APPRISE_STATEFUL_MODE=simple
      - APPRISE_WORKER_COUNT=1

Notes:

/config persists any saved notification "configs" (URLs) created through the web UI.
/attach is used if you send attachments through the API.
APPRISE_STATEFUL_MODE=simple enables persistent storage of configs between restarts.

6. Launch it

shell

docker compose up -d

Check logs:

shell

docker compose logs -f

Visit http://your-vps-ip:8000 — you should see the Apprise web UI where you can add notification URLs and test them.

7. (Recommended) Put it behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS

Install Caddy (simplest option for automatic HTTPS):

shell

sudo apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https curl
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key' | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy-stable-archive-keyring.gpg
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-stable.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y caddy

Edit /etc/caddy/Caddyfile:

shell

apprise.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:8000
}

Restart Caddy:

shell

sudo systemctl restart caddy

Caddy will automatically obtain and renew a Let's Encrypt certificate. You can now close port 8000 externally and only expose 80/443:

shell

sudo ufw delete allow 8000

8. Using the API

Send a notification by POSTing to a config or a raw URL:

shell

curl -X POST http://your-vps-ip:8000/notify/myconfig \
  -F "body=Backup completed successfully" \
  -F "title=Server Alert"

Or without a saved config, pass URLs directly:

shell

curl -X POST http://your-vps-ip:8000/notify \
  -F "urls=tgram://bottoken/ChatID" \
  -F "body=Hello from Apprise"

9. Updating

shell

cd ~/apprise
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

10. Backup

Just back up the ~/apprise/config directory — it contains any persisted notification configs.

shell

tar czf apprise-backup-$(date +%F).tar.gz ~/apprise/config