Node.js SDK | ActivitySmith

Installation

Install the ActivitySmith Node.js SDK with npm:

Node

npm install activitysmith

Usage

Create an API key
Set ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY or pass apiKey when creating the client.
Reuse the client anywhere you send pushes or Live Activity updates.

Create the client once:

Node

import ActivitySmith from "activitysmith";

const activitysmith = new ActivitySmith({
  apiKey: process.env.ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY,
});

Send a Push Notification

Use activitysmith.notifications.send when a deploy finishes, a customer upgrades, or a background job needs attention. title is required. message and subtitle are optional. Push notification example for a new subscription event

Node

await activitysmith.notifications.send({
  title: "New subscription 💸",
  message: "Customer upgraded to Pro plan",
});

Rich Push Notifications with Media

Node

await activitysmith.notifications.send({
  title: "Homepage ready",
  message: "Your agent finished the redesign.",
  media: "https://cdn.example.com/output/homepage-v2.png",
  redirection: "https://github.com/acme/web/pull/482",
});

Send images, videos, or audio with your push notifications, press and hold to preview media directly from the notification, then tap through to open the linked content. Rich push notification with audio

What will work:

direct image URL: .jpg, .png, .gif, etc.
direct audio file URL: .mp3, .m4a, etc.
direct video file URL: .mp4, .mov, etc.
URL that responds with a proper media Content-Type, even if the path has no extension

media can be combined with redirection, but not with actions.

Actionable Push Notifications

Actionable push notification with redirection and actions

Push notification redirection and actions are optional and can be used to redirect the user to a specific URL when they tap the notification or to trigger a specific action when they long-press the notification. Webhooks are executed by ActivitySmith backend.

Node

await activitysmith.notifications.send({
  title: "New subscription 💸",
  message: "Customer upgraded to Pro plan",
  redirection: "https://crm.example.com/customers/cus_9f3a1d",
  actions: [
    {
      title: "Open CRM Profile",
      type: "open_url",
      url: "https://crm.example.com/customers/cus_9f3a1d",
    },
    {
      title: "Start Onboarding Workflow",
      type: "webhook",
      url: "https://hooks.example.com/activitysmith/onboarding/start",
      method: "POST",
      body: {
        customer_id: "cus_9f3a1d",
        plan: "pro",
      },
    },
  ],
});

Live Activities

Metrics Live Activity screenshot

There are three types of Live Activities:

metrics: best for live operational stats like server CPU and memory, queue depth, or replica lag
segmented_progress: best for step-based workflows like deployments, backups, and ETL pipelines
progress: best for continuous jobs like uploads, reindexes, and long-running migrations tracked as a percentage

When working with Live Activities via our API, you have two approaches tailored to different needs. First, the stateless mode is the simplest path - one API call can initiate or update an activity, and another ends it - no state tracking on your side. This is ideal if you want minimal complexity, perfect for automated workflows like cron jobs. In contrast, if you need precise lifecycle control, the classic approach offers distinct calls for start, updates, and end, giving you full control over the activity’s state. In the following sections, we’ll break down how to implement each method so you can choose what fits your use case best.

Simple: Let ActivitySmith manage the Live Activity for you

Use a stable streamKey to identify the system or workflow you are tracking, such as a server, deployment, or build pipeline. This is especially useful for cron jobs and other scheduled tasks where you do not want to store activity_id between runs.

Metrics

Metrics stream example

const status = await activitysmith.liveActivities.stream("prod-web-1", {
  content_state: {
    title: "Server Health",
    subtitle: "prod-web-1",
    type: "metrics",
    metrics: [
      { label: "CPU", value: 9, unit: "%" },
      { label: "MEM", value: 45, unit: "%" },
    ],
  },
});

Segmented progress

Segmented progress stream example

await activitysmith.liveActivities.stream("nightly-backup", {
  content_state: {
    title: "Nightly Backup",
    subtitle: "upload archive",
    type: "segmented_progress",
    number_of_steps: 3,
    current_step: 2,
  },
});

Progress

Progress stream example

await activitysmith.liveActivities.stream("search-reindex", {
  content_state: {
    title: "Search Reindex",
    subtitle: "catalog-v2",
    type: "progress",
    percentage: 42,
  },
});

Call stream(...) again with the same streamKey whenever the state changes.

End a stream

Use this when the tracked process is finished and you no longer want the Live Activity on devices. content_state is optional here; include it if you want to end the stream with a final state.

await activitysmith.liveActivities.endStream("prod-web-1", {
  content_state: {
    title: "Server Health",
    subtitle: "prod-web-1",
    type: "metrics",
    metrics: [
      { label: "CPU", value: 7, unit: "%" },
      { label: "MEM", value: 38, unit: "%" },
    ],
  },
});

If you later send another stream(...) request with the same streamKey, ActivitySmith starts a new Live Activity for that stream again. Stream responses include an operation field:

started: ActivitySmith started a new Live Activity for this streamKey
updated: ActivitySmith updated the current Live Activity
rotated: ActivitySmith ended the previous Live Activity and started a new one
noop: the incoming state matched the current state, so no update was sent
paused: the stream is paused, so no Live Activity was started or updated
ended: returned by endStream(...) after the stream is ended

Advanced: Full lifecycle control

Use these methods when you want to manage the Live Activity lifecycle yourself:

Call activitysmith.liveActivities.start(...).
Save the returned activity_id.
Call activitysmith.liveActivities.update(...) as progress changes.
Call activitysmith.liveActivities.end(...) when the work is finished.

Metrics Type

Use metrics when you want to keep a small set of live stats visible, such as server health, queue pressure, or database load.

Start

Metrics start example

const start = await activitysmith.liveActivities.start({
  content_state: {
    title: "Server Health",
    subtitle: "prod-web-1",
    type: "metrics",
    metrics: [
      { label: "CPU", value: 9, unit: "%" },
      { label: "MEM", value: 45, unit: "%" },
    ],
  },
});

const activityId = start.activity_id;

Update

Metrics update example

await activitysmith.liveActivities.update({
  activity_id: activityId,
  content_state: {
    title: "Server Health",
    subtitle: "prod-web-1",
    type: "metrics",
    metrics: [
      { label: "CPU", value: 76, unit: "%" },
      { label: "MEM", value: 52, unit: "%" },
    ],
  },
});

End

Metrics end example

await activitysmith.liveActivities.end({
  activity_id: activityId,
  content_state: {
    title: "Server Health",
    subtitle: "prod-web-1",
    type: "metrics",
    metrics: [
      { label: "CPU", value: 7, unit: "%" },
      { label: "MEM", value: 38, unit: "%" },
    ],
    auto_dismiss_minutes: 2,
  },
});

Segmented Progress Type

Use segmented_progress for jobs and workflows that move through clear steps or phases. It fits jobs like backups, deployments, ETL pipelines, and checklists. number_of_steps is dynamic, so you can increase or decrease it later if the workflow changes.

Start

Segmented progress start example

const start = await activitysmith.liveActivities.start({
  content_state: {
    title: "Nightly database backup",
    subtitle: "create snapshot",
    number_of_steps: 3,
    current_step: 1,
    type: "segmented_progress",
    color: "yellow",
  },
});

const activityId = start.activity_id;

Update

Segmented progress update example

await activitysmith.liveActivities.update({
  activity_id: activityId,
  content_state: {
    title: "Nightly database backup",
    subtitle: "upload archive",
    number_of_steps: 3,
    current_step: 2,
  },
});

End

Segmented progress end example

await activitysmith.liveActivities.end({
  activity_id: activityId,
  content_state: {
    title: "Nightly database backup",
    subtitle: "verify restore",
    number_of_steps: 3,
    current_step: 3,
    auto_dismiss_minutes: 2,
  },
});

Progress Type

Use progress when the state is naturally continuous. It fits charging, downloads, sync jobs, uploads, timers, and any flow where a percentage or numeric range is the clearest signal.

Start

Progress start example

const start = await activitysmith.liveActivities.start({
  content_state: {
    title: "EV Charging",
    subtitle: "Added 30 mi range",
    type: "progress",
    percentage: 15,
    color: "lime",
  },
});

const activityId = start.activity_id;

Update

Progress update example

await activitysmith.liveActivities.update({
  activity_id: activityId,
  content_state: {
    title: "EV Charging",
    subtitle: "Added 120 mi range",
    percentage: 60,
  },
});

End

Progress end example

await activitysmith.liveActivities.end({
  activity_id: activityId,
  content_state: {
    title: "EV Charging",
    subtitle: "Added 200 mi range",
    percentage: 100,
    auto_dismiss_minutes: 2,
  },
});

Live Activity Action

Just like Actionable Push Notifications, Live Activities can have a button that opens provided URL in a browser or triggers a webhook. Webhooks are executed by the ActivitySmith backend. Live Activity with action

Open URL action

Node

const start = await activitysmith.liveActivities.start({
  content_state: {
    title: "Deploying payments-api",
    subtitle: "Running database migrations",
    number_of_steps: 5,
    current_step: 3,
    type: "segmented_progress",
  },
  action: {
    title: "Open Workflow",
    type: "open_url",
    url: "https://github.com/acme/payments-api/actions/runs/1234567890",
  },
});

const activityId = start.activity_id;

Webhook action

Node

await activitysmith.liveActivities.update({
  activity_id: activityId,
  content_state: {
    title: "Reindexing product search",
    subtitle: "Shard 7 of 12",
    number_of_steps: 12,
    current_step: 7,
  },
  action: {
    title: "Pause Reindex",
    type: "webhook",
    url: "https://ops.example.com/hooks/search/reindex/pause",
    method: "POST",
    body: {
      job_id: "reindex-2026-03-19",
      requested_by: "activitysmith-node",
    },
  },
});

Channels

Target specific channels when sending a push or starting a Live Activity.

Node

await activitysmith.notifications.send({
  title: "New subscription 💸",
  message: "Customer upgraded to Pro plan",
  channels: ["ios-builds", "engineering"],
});

await activitysmith.liveActivities.start({
  channels: ["ios-builds"],
  content_state: {
    title: "Nightly database backup",
    number_of_steps: 3,
    current_step: 1,
    type: "segmented_progress",
  },
});

Error Handling

SDK calls return promises, so wrap API calls with try/catch:

Node

try {
  await activitysmith.notifications.send({ title: "Hello" });
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Overall

Official

Resources

Node.js

Installation

Usage

Send a Push Notification

Rich Push Notifications with Media

Actionable Push Notifications

Live Activities

Simple: Let ActivitySmith manage the Live Activity for you

Metrics

Segmented progress

Progress

End a stream

Advanced: Full lifecycle control

Metrics Type

Start

Update

End

Segmented Progress Type

Start

Update

End

Progress Type

Start

Update

End

Live Activity Action

Open URL action

Webhook action

Channels

Error Handling

Additional Resources

NPM Package

Source Code

Overall

Official

Resources

​Installation

​Usage

​Send a Push Notification

​Rich Push Notifications with Media

​Actionable Push Notifications

​Live Activities

​Simple: Let ActivitySmith manage the Live Activity for you

​Metrics

​Segmented progress

​Progress

​End a stream

​Advanced: Full lifecycle control

​Metrics Type

​Start

​Update

​End

​Segmented Progress Type

​Start

​Update

​End

​Progress Type

​Start

​Update

​End

​Live Activity Action

​Open URL action

​Webhook action

​Channels

​Error Handling

​Additional Resources

NPM Package

Source Code

Installation

Usage

Send a Push Notification

Rich Push Notifications with Media

Actionable Push Notifications

Live Activities

Simple: Let ActivitySmith manage the Live Activity for you

Metrics

Segmented progress

Progress

End a stream

Advanced: Full lifecycle control

Metrics Type

Start

Update

End

Segmented Progress Type

Start

Update

End

Progress Type

Start

Update

End

Live Activity Action

Open URL action

Webhook action

Channels

Error Handling

Additional Resources