apns-proxy

A lightweight HTTP/1.1 → HTTP/2 proxy for Apple Push Notification service (APNs).

Useful for tools like n8n, Zapier, or any HTTP client that doesn't support HTTP/2.

Running

docker compose up -d

Or with a custom port:

PORT=8080 docker compose up -d

API

Health check

GET /health

Send push notification

POST /send
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "device_token": "abc123...",
  "jwt":          "eyJhbGci...",
  "topic":        "com.yourcompany.yourapp",
  "title":        "Hello",
  "body":         "World",
  "badge":        1,
  "sound":        "default"
}

Field	Required	Description
device_token	✅	APNs device token
jwt	✅	Signed JWT (ES256) — see below
topic	✅	App bundle ID
title	✅	Notification title
body	✅	Notification body
badge	❌	Badge count
sound	❌	Sound name (default: default)

Response

{ "success": true, "apns_status": 200, "response": "" }

Generating a JWT

You need a .p8 key file from Apple Developer Portal → Keys → Apple Push Notifications service.

Node.js

const jwt = require('jsonwebtoken');
const fs  = require('fs');

const token = jwt.sign({}, fs.readFileSync('AuthKey_XXXXXXXXXX.p8'), {
  algorithm: 'ES256',
  keyid:     'YOUR_KEY_ID',
  issuer:    'YOUR_TEAM_ID',
  expiresIn: '1h'
});

n8n Code Node

const crypto = require('crypto');

const privateKey = `-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----`;

function base64url(str) {
  return btoa(str).replace(/\+/g, '-').replace(/\//g, '_').replace(/=/g, '');
}

const header  = base64url(JSON.stringify({ alg: 'ES256', kid: 'YOUR_KEY_ID' }));
const payload = base64url(JSON.stringify({ iss: 'YOUR_TEAM_ID', iat: Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) }));

const sign = crypto.createSign('SHA256');
sign.update(`${header}.${payload}`);
const signature = sign.sign({ key: privateKey, dsaEncoding: 'ieee-p1363' }).toString('base64url');

return [{ json: { jwt_token: `${header}.${payload}.${signature}` } }];

Sandbox vs Production

By default the proxy uses production APNs (api.push.apple.com).
For sandbox set the environment variable:

APNS_ENV=sandbox docker compose up -d

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
PORT	3456	HTTP port
APNS_ENV	production	production or sandbox