ermes-node-sdk

Node/TypeScript SDK for the Ermes notification platform. Port of ermes-php-sdk with the same wire-level behavior, plus full TypeScript typings on config, request input, and response output.

Requirements

• Node.js 22+
• RSA private key (PEM) for signing user JWTs
• Credentials issued by the Ermes core admin: apiKey, apiSecret, tenantKey, applicationId

Installation

npm install @ottimis/ermes-node-sdk
# or
pnpm add @ottimis/ermes-node-sdk

---

Quick start

End-to-end integration in 4 steps:

1. Generate an RSA key pair

openssl genrsa -out ermes-private.pem 2048
openssl rsa -in ermes-private.pem -pubout -out ermes-public.pem

Share ermes-public.pem (or your JWKS endpoint URL) with the Ermes core admin. Keep the private key in your backend — never expose it client-side.

2. Set environment variables

Create .env (do not commit):

NOTIFICATION_CORE_URL=https://ermes.yourcompany.com
NOTIFICATION_TENANT_KEY=myapp
NOTIFICATION_APPLICATION_ID=my-backoffice
NOTIFICATION_ISSUER=https://api.yourcompany.com
NOTIFICATION_API_KEY=ak_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
NOTIFICATION_API_SECRET=as_yyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
NOTIFICATION_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH=/run/secrets/ermes-private.pem
NOTIFICATION_KID=myapp-key-1

Alternative (inline key, suitable for Heroku/Vercel/Docker secrets without volume mount):

NOTIFICATION_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\nMIIE...\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n"

3. Instantiate the client (single shared instance)

import { NotificationClient, NotificationConfig } from '@ottimis/ermes-node-sdk';

export const ermes = new NotificationClient(NotificationConfig.fromEnv());

4. Expose JWKS + send your first event

// HTTP route: GET /.well-known/jwks.json
app.get('/.well-known/jwks.json', (_req, res) => res.json(ermes.getJwks()));

// Send an event
await ermes.sendEvent({
  topic:           'contract.termination.completed',
  title:           'Cessazione completata',
  body:            'Contratto C-1234 elaborato.',
  severity:        'success',
  entity_type:     'contract',
  entity_id:       'C-1234',
  recipient_users: ['user_42'],
});

That's it. Frontend connects via Socket.IO using a token from client.createUserToken(userId) — see User tokens.

---

Configuration

Option A — explicit (recommended for multi-project setups)

import { NotificationClient, NotificationConfig } from '@ottimis/ermes-node-sdk';
import * as fs from 'fs';

const config = new NotificationConfig({
  coreUrl:       'https://ermes.yourcompany.com',
  tenantKey:     'myapp',
  applicationId: 'my-backoffice',
  issuer:        'https://auth.yourcompany.com',
  apiKey:        'ak_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx',
  apiSecret:     'as_yyyyyyyyyyyyyyy',
  privateKeyPem: fs.readFileSync('/path/to/private.pem', 'utf8'),
  kid:           'myapp-key-1',
});

const client = new NotificationClient(config);

Option B — from environment variables

const client = new NotificationClient(NotificationConfig.fromEnv());

Env var	Required	Description
NOTIFICATION_CORE_URL	yes	Base URL of the Ermes core server
NOTIFICATION_TENANT_KEY	yes	Logical tenant identifier
NOTIFICATION_APPLICATION_ID	yes	Producer application identifier
NOTIFICATION_ISSUER	yes	iss claim in user JWTs
NOTIFICATION_API_KEY	yes	Basic auth key for event ingestion
NOTIFICATION_API_SECRET	yes	Basic auth secret for event ingestion
NOTIFICATION_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY	yes*	RSA private key PEM (inline, \n escaped)
NOTIFICATION_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH	yes*	Path to RSA private key PEM file
NOTIFICATION_KID	no	Key ID for JWKS (default: key-1)

*Either NOTIFICATION_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY or NOTIFICATION_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH is required.

Missing or invalid configuration throws ErmesConfigurationError.

---

JWKS endpoint

Your backend must expose /.well-known/jwks.json so the Ermes core can validate user JWTs:

// in your HTTP handler (Express / Nest / Fastify):
const jwks = client.getJwks();
res.json(jwks);

Returns a strongly-typed JwksDocument.

---

Sending events

import type { EventInput, SendEventResult } from '@ottimis/ermes-node-sdk';

const event: EventInput = {
  topic:           'contract.termination.completed',
  title:           'Cessazione completata',
  body:            'La cessazione del contratto C-1234 è stata elaborata.',
  severity:        'info',
  entity_type:     'contract',
  entity_id:       'C-1234',
  recipient_users: ['user_42'],
  payload:         { contract_id: 'C-1234' },
  event_name:      'notification.new', // optional — defaults to 'notification.new'
};

const result: SendEventResult = await client.sendEvent(event);
// result.eventId — generated `evt-...` id
// result.body    — decoded response body (unknown)

tenant_key, application_id, and event_id are injected automatically. If event_name is omitted it defaults to 'notification.new' — the event name the official Ermes FE client subscribes to. Override only if you know the consumer listens to a different name. Any non-202 response throws a typed error (see Error handling).

EventInput fields

Field	Type	Required	Notes
topic	string	yes	Hierarchical dot-path identifier (e.g. contract.termination.completed). Used for filtering and routing.
title	string	yes	Human-readable title (or i18n key).
body	string	no	Human-readable body (or i18n key).
severity	'info' | 'warning' | 'error' | 'success'	no	Defaults to 'info' on the BE side.
entity_type	string	no	Domain entity type the notification refers to.
entity_id	string	no	Domain entity id.
recipient_users	string[]	yes	User ids to deliver to.
payload	Record<string, unknown>	no	Arbitrary structured data forwarded to the FE.
event_name	string	no	Defaults to 'notification.new'. Name the WS client subscribes to.

---

User tokens (Socket.IO + inbox)

// Short form — token string only
const token = client.createUserToken('user_42');

// Full form — token + claims
const { token, info } = client.createUserTokenWithInfo('user_42');
// info.exp — Unix timestamp; current TTL is 9 years (parity with PHP SDK)

// Custom roles (default: ['operator'])
const adminToken = client.createUserToken('user_42', ['operator', 'admin']);

Frontend Socket.IO connection:

import { io } from 'socket.io-client';

const socket = io('wss://ermes.yourcompany.com', {
  auth: { token },
});

socket.on('notification.new', (notification) => {
  // notification.title, notification.body, notification.payload, ...
});

The FE client subscribes to notification.new — this is why event_name defaults to that value when sending. Mint the token server-side via createUserToken(userId) and ship it to the browser through your existing auth flow; never expose apiKey/apiSecret/privateKeyPem to the client.

---

Inbox proxy methods

All inbox methods return their response body directly on success and throw a typed error on any non-2xx status.

List notifications

const list = await client.getNotifications('user_42', {
  status: 'unread',
  page:   1,
  limit:  20,
  topic:  'contract.termination.completed',
});
// list.items       — InboxItem[]
// list.pagination  — { page, limit, total, nextCursor }

Unread count

const { count } = await client.getUnreadCount('user_42');

Sync (cursor-based)

const sync = await client.syncNotifications('user_42', { after: 'notif_1250', limit: 50 });
// sync.items  — InboxItem[]
// sync.cursor — string | null

Mark as read

await client.markAsRead('1b2c3d4e-5f60-4718-9abc-def012345678', 'user_42');

await client.markBulkRead(
  ['1b2c3d4e-5f60-4718-9abc-def012345678', '2c3d4e5f-6071-4829-abcd-ef0123456789'],
  'user_42',
);

await client.markAllAsRead('user_42');

All mark methods return Promise<void> on 200/204 and throw on any other status.

---

Error handling

All SDK methods follow Spring Boot–style typed exceptions. On any failure the SDK throws a subclass of ErmesError. Inspect with instanceof and switch on the class — never on string messages.

Hierarchy

Error
└── ErmesError                          // abstract base, all SDK errors extend this
    ├── ErmesHttpError                  // abstract, every HTTP non-2xx
    │   ├── ErmesBadRequestError        // 400
    │   ├── ErmesUnauthorizedError      // 401
    │   ├── ErmesForbiddenError         // 403
    │   ├── ErmesNotFoundError          // 404
    │   ├── ErmesConflictError          // 409
    │   ├── ErmesValidationError        // 422
    │   ├── ErmesRateLimitError         // 429 (+ retryAfterSeconds)
    │   ├── ErmesInternalServerError    // 500
    │   ├── ErmesBadGatewayError        // 502
    │   ├── ErmesServiceUnavailableError// 503
    │   ├── ErmesGatewayTimeoutError    // 504
    │   └── ErmesUnexpectedStatusError  // fallback for unmapped statuses
    ├── ErmesNetworkError               // DNS, connection refused, socket errors
    │   └── ErmesTimeoutError           // request aborted by timeout
    ├── ErmesConfigurationError         // invalid config / missing env vars / non-RSA key
    └── ErmesParseError                 // server returned non-JSON body when JSON was required

Every ErmesError exposes:

• name — class name ("ErmesNotFoundError")
• code — stable machine-readable code ("ERMES_NOT_FOUND")
• message — human-readable diagnostic
• cause — original underlying error if any (e.g. wrapped axios error)

Every ErmesHttpError adds:

• status — HTTP status code
• responseBody — parsed JSON body, or null if non-JSON
• requestUrl — full request URL
• requestMethod — 'GET' or 'POST'

ErmesRateLimitError additionally exposes retryAfterSeconds (parsed from Retry-After).

Status → class mapping

HTTP status	Error class	Code
400	ErmesBadRequestError	ERMES_BAD_REQUEST
401	ErmesUnauthorizedError	ERMES_UNAUTHORIZED
403	ErmesForbiddenError	ERMES_FORBIDDEN
404	ErmesNotFoundError	ERMES_NOT_FOUND
409	ErmesConflictError	ERMES_CONFLICT
422	ErmesValidationError	ERMES_VALIDATION
429	ErmesRateLimitError	ERMES_RATE_LIMIT
500	ErmesInternalServerError	ERMES_INTERNAL
502	ErmesBadGatewayError	ERMES_BAD_GATEWAY
503	ErmesServiceUnavailableError	ERMES_UNAVAILABLE
504	ErmesGatewayTimeoutError	ERMES_GATEWAY_TIMEOUT
other	ErmesUnexpectedStatusError	ERMES_UNEXPECTED_STATUS

Example

import {
  ErmesHttpError,
  ErmesUnauthorizedError,
  ErmesValidationError,
  ErmesRateLimitError,
  ErmesNetworkError,
  ErmesTimeoutError,
} from '@ottimis/ermes-node-sdk';

try {
  const inbox = await client.getNotifications('user_42');
  return inbox.items;
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof ErmesUnauthorizedError) {
    // re-auth flow
    throw err;
  }
  if (err instanceof ErmesValidationError) {
    // err.responseBody contains the server's validation payload
    logger.warn({ body: err.responseBody }, 'validation failed');
    throw err;
  }
  if (err instanceof ErmesRateLimitError) {
    await sleep((err.retryAfterSeconds ?? 1) * 1000);
    // retry...
  }
  if (err instanceof ErmesTimeoutError) {
    // request timed out before any response
  } else if (err instanceof ErmesNetworkError) {
    // DNS / TCP / TLS failure
  } else if (err instanceof ErmesHttpError) {
    // any other HTTP failure — err.status, err.responseBody available
  }
  throw err;
}

NestJS / Express integration

Both NestJS exception filters and Express error middlewares can pattern-match on these classes the same way you would on HttpException subclasses — e.g. map ErmesUnauthorizedError → 401, ErmesValidationError → 422, anything else → 502.

---

Type exports

All public types and error classes are exported from the package entry point:

import {
  // client
  NotificationClient, NotificationConfig,
  // errors (classes — runtime values)
  ErmesError, ErmesHttpError,
  ErmesBadRequestError, ErmesUnauthorizedError, ErmesForbiddenError,
  ErmesNotFoundError, ErmesConflictError, ErmesValidationError, ErmesRateLimitError,
  ErmesInternalServerError, ErmesBadGatewayError, ErmesServiceUnavailableError,
  ErmesGatewayTimeoutError, ErmesUnexpectedStatusError,
  ErmesNetworkError, ErmesTimeoutError,
  ErmesConfigurationError, ErmesParseError,
  mapHttpError,
} from '@ottimis/ermes-node-sdk';

import type {
  // config
  NotificationConfigOptions,
  // events
  EventInput, EventSeverity, SendEventResult,
  // inbox
  InboxItem, Pagination, ListParams, InboxListResponse,
  SyncParams, SyncResponse, UnreadCountResponse,
  // jwt / jwks
  JwtClaims, TokenWithInfo, JwksKey, JwksDocument,
  // http
  HttpResponseRaw,
  // error option shapes
  ErmesErrorOptions, ErmesHttpErrorOptions, ErmesHttpMethod,
  ErmesRateLimitErrorOptions, ErmesParseErrorOptions, MapHttpErrorArgs,
} from '@ottimis/ermes-node-sdk';