Send Push Notifications and Trigger Live Activities with ActivitySmith CLI

Use the ActivitySmith CLI when you want shell-native commands for Push Notifications and Live Activity lifecycle control.

Install

npm i -g activitysmith-cli

Push Notifications

Send an immediate notification for a completed task or event:

activitysmith push \
  --title "New subscription 💸" \
  --message "Customer upgraded to Pro plan"

Rich Push Notifications with Media

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.

Image Preview

activitysmith push \
  --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"

Audio Preview

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.

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.

Actionable push notification with redirection and actions

activitysmith push \
  --title "Build Failed 🚨" \
  --message "CI pipeline failed on main branch" \
  --redirection "https://github.com/org/repo/actions/runs/123456789" \
  --actions '[{"title":"Open Failing Run","type":"open_url","url":"https://github.com/org/repo/actions/runs/123456789"},{"title":"Create Incident","type":"webhook","url":"https://hooks.example.com/incidents/create","method":"POST","body":{"service":"payments-api","severity":"high","source":"activitysmith-cli"}}]'

Live Activities

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 stream_key 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.

Run activitysmith activity stream <stream-key> ... again with the same stream_key whenever the state changes.

Metrics

activitysmith activity 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

activitysmith activity stream nightly-backup \
  --content-state '{
    "title": "Nightly Backup",
    "subtitle": "upload archive",
    "type": "segmented_progress",
    "numberOfSteps": 3,
    "currentStep": 2
  }'

Progress

activitysmith activity stream search-reindex \
  --content-state '{
    "title": "Search Reindex",
    "subtitle": "catalog-v2",
    "type": "progress",
    "percentage": 42
  }'

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.

If you later send another activity stream request with the same stream_key, ActivitySmith starts a new Live Activity for that stream again.

activitysmith activity end-stream 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": "%" }
    ]
  }'

Stream responses include an operation field:

started: ActivitySmith started a new Live Activity for this stream_key
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 activity end-stream after the stream is ended

Advanced: Full lifecycle control

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

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

Metrics

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

Start

activitysmith activity start \
  --content-state '{
    "title": "Server Health",
    "subtitle": "prod-web-1",
    "type": "metrics",
    "metrics": [
      { "label": "CPU", "value": 9, "unit": "%" },
      { "label": "MEM", "value": 45, "unit": "%" }
    ]
  }'

Update

activitysmith activity 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

activitysmith activity 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": "%" }
    ],
    "autoDismissMinutes": 2
  }'

Segmented Progress

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

Start

activitysmith activity start \
  --content-state '{
    "title": "Nightly database backup",
    "subtitle": "create snapshot",
    "numberOfSteps": 3,
    "currentStep": 1,
    "type": "segmented_progress",
    "color": "yellow"
  }' \
  --channels "devs,ops"

Update

activitysmith activity update \
  --activity-id "<activityId>" \
  --content-state '{
    "title": "Nightly database backup",
    "subtitle": "upload archive",
    "currentStep": 2
  }'

End

activitysmith activity end \
  --activity-id "<activityId>" \
  --content-state '{
    "title": "Nightly database backup",
    "subtitle": "verify restore",
    "currentStep": 3,
    "autoDismissMinutes": 2
  }'

Progress

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

activitysmith activity start \
  --content-state '{
    "title": "EV Charging",
    "subtitle": "Added 30 mi range",
    "percentage": 15,
    "type": "progress",
    "color": "lime"
  }'

Update

activitysmith activity update \
  --activity-id "<activityId>" \
  --content-state '{
    "title": "EV Charging",
    "subtitle": "Added 120 mi range",
    "percentage": 60
  }'

End

activitysmith activity end \
  --activity-id "<activityId>" \
  --content-state '{
    "title": "EV Charging",
    "subtitle": "Added 200 mi range",
    "percentage": 100,
    "autoDismissMinutes": 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.

Open URL action

activitysmith activity start \
  --content-state '{
    "title": "Server Health",
    "subtitle": "prod-web-1",
    "type": "metrics",
    "metrics": [
      { "label": "CPU", "value": 76, "unit": "%" },
      { "label": "MEM", "value": 52, "unit": "%" }
    ]
  }' \
  --action '{
    "title": "Open Dashboard",
    "type": "open_url",
    "url": "https://ops.example.com/servers/prod-web-1"
  }'

Webhook action

activitysmith activity update \
  --activity-id "<activityId>" \
  --content-state '{
    "title": "Reindexing product search",
    "subtitle": "Shard 7 of 12",
    "numberOfSteps": 12,
    "currentStep": 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-cli"
    }
  }'