Spyder

Spyder simplifies the push notification testing & debugging process for Apple's new APNs Provider API based on the HTTP/2 protocol so you can focus on building amazing software instead of wasting time on boiler-plate setup code. It doesn't require any certificate conversions, remote servers or complex procedures.

Spyder supports authentication tokens and conventional certificates with automatic conversions necessary for authenticating with APNs. Stop wasting time running openssl routines that you can never remember. Send a push notification with a single command.

spyder \
    --token ed1906d6c03875a6f827ed9ea7222f7c4c1946d902271058c9b22a681b756537 \
    --cert 1 \
    --topic com.company.app \
    --message Hey

Installation

Clone / download the repo. Build the Xcode project. Doing so will automatically install the spyder binary to /usr/local/bin.

Help

Spyder features a comprehensive summary of available options and their usage. Just type:

spyder --help

Signing

Spyder offers two alternatives for authenticating your APNs 2.0 requests - using conventional Certificates or the new Authentication Tokens that can be used across multiple applications.

Authentication Tokens

What you'll need is a .p8 key, your key identifier and team identifier. You can find these in your Apple Developer portal. That's it, you can then send a notification. The creation and signing of the JWT required for authenticating with APNs will be done entirely by Spypder.

spyder \
    --authKey /path/to/your-key.p8 \
    --token 4289663A43B176ECF25ADF11D7D9072233C7798914CDFD80CF1285D775124EE2 \
    --topic com.your.app.bundle.identifier \
    --keyID A1B2C3D4E5
    --teamID Z9Y8X7V6U5
    --message Hey

Certificates

One of the pains with push notifications is converting the necessary certificates to specific formats like .pem. Spyder lets you skip these steps entirely by using certificates in your keychain instead. First, list all available certificates:

spyder -i
1. Apple Push Services: com.company.app
2. Apple Push Services: com.other.application
3. iPhone Developer: John Smith (5C7S4N3J2O)
4. iPhone Developer: Andy Appleseed (8F7G6H5J4S)
5. iPhone Developer: Kelly Welshe (7S0J4A7M2F)
6. iPhone Distribution: John Smith (5C7S4N3J2O)
7. iPhone Distribution: Andy Appleseed (8F7G6H5J4S)
8. iPhone Distribution: Kelly Welshe (7S0J4A7M2F)

Note the index number used for the certificate and use it as the value to the --cert parameter. Alternatively, you could also provide a path to the .p12 file. The two methods are practically identical:

spyder \
    --cert 1 \
    --token 4289663A43B176ECF25ADF11D7D9072233C7798914CDFD80CF1285D775124EE2 \
    --topic com.your.app.bundle.identifier \
    --message Hey

or

spyder \
    --cert /path/to/certificate.p12 \
    --token 4289663A43B176ECF25ADF11D7D9072233C7798914CDFD80CF1285D775124EE2 \
    --topic com.your.app.bundle.identifier \
    --message Hey

Payload

This is the most important part of a push notification. Spyder features two alternatives for creating the payload:

Simple

You can simply use the --message option and provide just the body of the payload. The following default payload will be created:

{
    "aps": {
        "sound": "default",
        "alert": "This will the content of your message."
    }
}

Custom

If --message doesn't cut it for you, an entirely custom payload can be sent using the --payload option. This can be inline JSON or a path to a JSON file:

spyder \
    --cert /path/to/certificate.p12 \
    --token 4289663A43B176ECF25ADF11D7D9072233C7798914CDFD80CF1285D775124EE2 \
    --topic com.your.app.bundle.identifier \
    --payload "{\"aps\":{\"alert\":\"Hey\"}}"

or

spyder \
    --cert /path/to/certificate.p12 \
    --token 4289663A43B176ECF25ADF11D7D9072233C7798914CDFD80CF1285D775124EE2 \
    --topic com.your.app.bundle.identifier \
    --payload /path/to/payload.json

Sandbox, or no sandbox...

Spyder defaults to using the Apple's sandbox endpoint for sending push notifications. You can either explicitly set this option using --env dev flag, or switch to an endpoint for production applications with --env prod.

Ports

By default, Spyder uses the standard SSL port to connect the APNs servers - 443. You can provide an alternate port using the --port flag.