wbmalert

README

wbm-alert

This script creates (text) snapshots for a given list of websites. A request to each website is made every 30 seconds. If the contents of the website have changed, a notification sound is played.

Prequisites

• Go >= 1.21, older versions may work but aren't tested.

Usage

• Create a configuration.json file, use the one from this repository as a template. Also see configuration options.
• Install: go install github.com/zzzFelix/wbmalert@latest
• Run the script and provide the path to your configuration: wbmalert -c configuration.json

Configuration options

• interval: Time in seconds between requests.
• beeps: Number of times beep sound is played on a success event. Depending on OS, beep sound varies in annoyance (see beeep library). On macOS it is a gentle knock sound which is why the default value is 3.
• websites: Array of websites to make requests to.
  • name: Name to identify the website. Does not need to be unique.
  • url: Url to make HTTP GET request to.
  • regexpRemove (optional): A regular expression. Removes every substring that matches.

What is it good for?

I used it to monitor real estate websites to be notified of new listings. I was particularly interested in Berlin's state-owned Wohnungsbaugesellschaft Berlin-Mitte (WBM), hence the name wbm-alert.

Limitations

The snapshot only considers the textual contents of a website. If images, links, or HTML attributes change, the alarm may not sound. In more technical terms: <a href="https://google.com">Link</a> is sanitized to Link. All whitespace (including tabs and line breaks) is also removed.