# Know when something happens at home.

> Get phone alerts from your homelab. Connect Uptime Kuma, Home Assistant, or a bash script to Pocket Alert with one curl. No port-forwarding, free for hobby use.

<!-- source: https://pocketalert.app/use-cases/homelab-alerts -->

Watch your homelab from anywhere — Home Assistant, Uptime Kuma, or any self-hosted box can reach your phone without ever exposing a port. The free tier covers a personal lab.

## Three steps to homelab alerts

1. **Get the URL or CLI** — Copy your application webhook URL, or install the Pocket Alert CLI on your box.
2. **Wire up your boxes** — Chain a curl onto a script, forward a webhook from Kuma or Home Assistant, or use systemd OnFailure.
3. **Monitor from anywhere** — Fire an event and your phone buzzes, even from behind NAT with no ports exposed.

## Monitoring for your homelab

Self-hosting still deserves eyes on it. Connect your homelab to your phone and drop the cloud monitoring bill.

- **Works with your stack** — Uptime Kuma, Home Assistant, Proxmox, Pi-hole, and the *arr apps forward a webhook or chain a curl.
- **No exposed ports** — Outbound HTTPS only. No public IP needed, and it runs fine from behind NAT or a VPN.
- **Per-machine channels** — One app per machine keeps NAS, Proxmox, and Pi-hole alerts in their own channels.
- **Scriptable anywhere** — Call it from bash, a systemd unit, a Docker healthcheck, or a cron job.
- **Free for hobby use** — The free tier covers a personal homelab, with no per-seat pricing.
- **Sub-second delivery** — Delivery takes under a second, so a problem at home reaches you wherever you happen to be.

## Connect your homelab

### 1. From a bash or cron script (CLI)

```
pocketalert auth YOUR_API_KEY
pocketalert send -t "NAS · disk degraded" -m "pool tank · drive 2 FAULTED"
```

Or skip the CLI and curl the messages API straight from any script:

```
curl -X POST "https://api.pocketalert.app/v1/messages" \
  -H "Token: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Proxmox backup failed","message":"vzdump job on pve1 exited 1","level":"high"}'
```

### 2. From Home Assistant

```
rest_command:
  pocketalert:
    url: "https://api.pocketalert.app/v1/messages"
    method: POST
    headers:
      Token: "YOUR_API_KEY"
    content_type: "application/json"
    payload: '{"title":"{{ title }}","message":"{{ message }}"}'
```

### 3. From Uptime Kuma (webhook)

Create a webhook on the [Webhooks](https://pocketalert.app/webhooks) page and copy its receive URL, e.g. `https://p4a.me/wh/1234abcd`. In Uptime Kuma add a **webhook** notification pointed at that URL, then map Kuma's payload with a GJSON template such as `%monitor.name% is %heartbeat.status%`.

Everything runs over outbound HTTPS, so port-forwarding never enters the picture. See the [docs](https://info.pocketalert.app/getting-started.html).

## FAQ

### How do I alert from my homelab?

Any self-hosted box that can make an HTTP request can reach you. Chain a curl onto a script, forward a webhook from Uptime Kuma or Home Assistant, or call the CLI from a systemd unit. The alert finds your phone no matter where the server runs.

### Does it work with self-hosted apps?

Yes. Pocket Alert pairs with Uptime Kuma, Home Assistant, Proxmox hooks, Pi-hole, the *arr apps, and plain bash scripts. If it can POST JSON, it works.

### Do I need to expose my server?

No public IP, no port-forwarding. Your server opens an outbound HTTPS request to Pocket Alert, which means it works from behind NAT, a home router, or a VPN.

### Can I separate my different machines?

Create one application per box or service. Your NAS, Proxmox, and Pi-hole alerts each land in a separate channel and stay easy to tell apart.

### Is there a free option for hobby use?

Yes. The free tier covers a personal homelab. No per-seat pricing, and no enterprise monitoring contract for the privilege of hearing about a sick NAS.

### Can an alert break through Do Not Disturb at night?

Yes. Send it with level critical and on Android it posts to a dedicated notification channel that bypasses Do Not Disturb and can even show full screen — you grant DND access once. On iPhone, high and critical arrive as time-sensitive notifications that break through Focus modes, and the full critical sound that overrides the mute switch is rolling out as Apple grants the entitlement. On the free plan critical is delivered as high: still instant, without the DND override.