NotiFER

NotiFER is a modern, open-source web application designed for students at FER, University of Zagreb. It automatically monitors university calendars and sends timely email notifications about timetable changes, ensuring students never miss an update.

Note

NotiFER is not affiliated with FER. It's creator is a student who wanted himself and his colleagues to have a useful tool.

Key Features

• Automatic Calendar Change Detection: Monitors FER calendars and notifies students by email whenever a change is detected.

• Easy Subscription: Students simply paste their calendar URL to subscribe.

• Secure & Privacy-Respecting: No unnecessary data is collected. All sensitive operations are protected and GDPR-friendly. Calendar credentials are encrypted at rest in the database.

• Internationalization: Fully localized in Croatian and English.

• Admin Dashboard: A built-in web dashboard at /dashboard/ lets administrators view subscription stats, manage users (pause/unpause/delete), and browse a full audit log of all actions.

• Audit Logging: Every significant action (subscription, activation, notification, deletion, etc.) is recorded to the database with a timestamp.

• Self-Hosting Ready: Easily deployable via Docker Compose.

Why NotiFER?

• Reliability: Developed and maintained by a FER student, NotiFER has already detected hundreds of timetable changes and helped students stay up-to-date with their studies.

• Open Source: Anyone can freely review, audit, and contribute to the codebase.

How It Works

1. Sign Up: Students visit the website and paste their FER calendar URL.
2. Confirm Subscription: A confirmation email is sent to their FER email address. They activate their subscription by clicking the magic link.
3. Receive Notifications: NotiFER monitors their calendar and sends an email notification whenever a change occurs.

Hosting & Deployment

Quick Start - From Source (Docker compose)

1. Install Docker: Official instructions

2. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/EmilPopovic/notifer.git
   cd notifer

3. Configure environment:

   Edit .env.example, then rename:

   mv .env.example .env
   

4. Initialize the database:

   If you have Make on your system, run:

   make initdb COMPOSE_FILE=compose.dev.yaml

   Otherwise, run:

   docker compose -f compose.dev.yaml run --build --rm notifer python -m src.db_manager create

5. Run the service:

   Again, there is a Make version and a no-Make version:

   make upd COMPOSE_FILE=compose.dev.yaml

   docker compose -f compose.dev.yaml up --build -d

6. Set up a reverse proxy (optional): The app runs on port 8026.

Quick Start - From Registry (Docker compose)

This is the recommended deployment method for production environments.

1. Install Docker: Official instructions

2. Download and run the deployment script:

   curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/EmilPopovic/notifer/refs/heads/master/deploy.sh | bash

   Or manually download and execute:

   wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/EmilPopovic/notifer/refs/heads/master/deploy.sh
   chmod +x deploy.sh
   ./deploy.sh

3. Configure environment:

   The script creates a notifer/ directory with all necessary files. Edit the .env file:

   cd notifer
   nano .env  # or use your preferred editor

   Required configuration:

   • SMTP_SERVER - the server used for sending email
   • SMTP_PORT - SMTP port (usually 465 or 587)
   • SMTP_USERNAME
   • SMTP_SENDER_EMAIL - the address in the "From" field
   • SMTP_PASSWORD
   • POSTGRES_PASSWORD
   • JWT_KEY - secret key used for generating tokens (long random string)
   • ENCRYPTION_KEY - Fernet key for encrypting calendar credentials at rest; generate with:

     python -c "from cryptography.fernet import Fernet; print(Fernet.generate_key().decode())"

   • NOTIFER_API_TOKEN_HASH - SHA-256 hash of the admin API token; generate with echo -n "your-secret-token" | sha256sum
   • DASHBOARD_USERNAME - username for the admin web dashboard (default: admin)
   • DASHBOARD_PASSWORD_HASH - hashed dashboard password; generate with:

     docker compose exec notifer python -c "from shared.auth_utils import hash_password; print(hash_password('yourpassword'))"

   • API_URL - the URL at which users will access the app (for example https://notifer.emilpopovic.com)

4. Deploy:

   # If you have Make
   make initdb
   make upd

   # If you do not have make
   docker compose run --rm notifer python -m src.db_manager create
   docker compose up -d

What gets deployed:

• Pre-built Docker image from GHCR
• PostgreSQL database

Deployment structure:

notifer/
├── compose.yaml          # Main deployment file
├── .env                  # Your configuration
└── Makefile              # Management actions

Admin Dashboard

A password-protected web UI is available at /dashboard/. It provides:

• Overview: total and active subscription counts, total changes detected.
• User management: list all subscribers, pause/unpause/delete with confirmation.
• Audit log: paginated, filterable history of every action taken in the system.
• Per-user view: subscription details and the full action history for a specific user.

Credentials are configured via DASHBOARD_USERNAME and DASHBOARD_PASSWORD_HASH in .env.

Admin API

The REST API at /admin allows programmatic management of subscriptions:

• Add or remove subscriptions.
• Pause or resume notifications for any user.
• Query subscription status and details.

All endpoints require a Bearer token matching NOTIFER_API_TOKEN_HASH.

Security & Privacy

• No unnecessary data collection.
• Calendar credentials are encrypted at rest using Fernet (AES-128-CBC + HMAC-SHA256).
• All sensitive actions require confirmation via token-protected links and/or POST form submission (preventing email scanner prefetch attacks).
• Full audit trail — every action is logged with a timestamp to the database.
• Open codebase for full transparency.

License

NotiFER is open source and available under the MIT License

Contact

For questions, support, or a demo, please contact: Emil Popović admin@emilpopovic.me

NotiFER is currently developed and maintained by Emil Popović, a student at FER.