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-# ntfyd
+# ntfyd 💎
 
-tiny, statically-linked crystal daemon to subscribe to and get notifications for your ntfy topics, no web browser or desktop environment dependencies needed
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+tiny, statically-linked crystal daemon to subscribe to and get notifications for your ntfy topics, no web browser or desktop environment dependencies needed.
+
+## usage.
+
+### method 1: static
+
+its highly recommended to grab the static, musl binary from releases, and rename it to /usr/local/bin/ntfyd and make it executable. then you can call the daemon from your init or wm/desktop by running ``/usr/local/bin/ntfyd path/to/ntfyd.conf``, with ntfyd.conf being a list of your topics (can be from any ntfy instance) line by line. this will run on any distro, even ones that don't package crystal.
+
+### method 2: source (on host)
+
+if your distribution packages crystal, then build it with the following instructions:
+
+1. install openssl libs and their static counterparts.
+2. build in this repo with ``crystal build ntfyd.cr --release --link-flags "-static" --no-debug -o ntfyd``.
+3. afterwards, it's highly recommended to strip it with ``strip ntfyd``. this will reduce the binary size from 22mb to 6.7mb.
+4. follow above instructions for usage.
+
+if your distro doesnt have crystal available, resort to method 1.
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