Is a server required for Firebase Cloud Messaging?

Question

I am currently developing an Android app and I would like to include Firebase Cloud Messaging. I was planning to have a Raspberry Pi checking a website every 5 Minutes or so and sending push notifications when something changed. In the official documentation they say that I need an 'app-server' in order to send messages via Firebase.

Does that mean I need to have my Raspi up and running as a server 24/7 and need a static IP / Domain for it? Or is it enough to have my Raspi send the message via the Api (https://fcm.googleapis.com/fcm/send) as I only need downstream messages?

Any help and explanation would be highly appreciated as I can't find a definite answer in any thread or documentation.

Answer 1

You don't as such need an app-server for just one device. If you have some sort of internet connectivity on your Raspberry Pi device, all you need to do is make a request to the firebase API.

Firebase (Google servers) will handle the rest by pushing notifications to all the registered devices.