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Update README with complete feature documentation

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- Comprehensive feature list covering all functionality
- Tech stack table
- Supported retailers list
- API reference
- Notification setup guides
- Rate limiting best practices
- AI collaboration disclosure

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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# PriceGhost
# PriceGhost 👻
A full-stack web application for tracking product prices across any website. Monitor prices over time and visualize price history with interactive charts.
A self-hosted price tracking application that monitors product prices across major retailers. Get notified when prices drop or items come back in stock.
## Features
- Track prices from any product URL
- Automatic price extraction using heuristics and structured data
- Configurable refresh intervals (15 min to 24 hours)
- Price history visualization with Recharts
- User authentication with JWT
- Background price checking with node-cron
- Docker support for easy deployment
### Price Tracking
- **Universal scraping** - Works with Amazon, Newegg, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, eBay, Home Depot, Costco, AliExpress, and any site with standard price markup
- **Smart price detection** - Uses multiple strategies: site-specific selectors, JSON-LD structured data, and intelligent heuristics
- **Price history charts** - Interactive visualization with customizable date ranges (7d, 30d, 90d, all time)
- **7-day sparklines** - Quick price trend overview on the dashboard
- **Configurable check intervals** - From 30 minutes to 24 hours per product
### Notifications
- **Telegram alerts** - Get notified via Telegram bot when prices drop
- **Discord webhooks** - Send alerts to any Discord channel
- **Per-product thresholds** - Set custom price drop amounts (e.g., "notify me when it drops $10+")
- **Back-in-stock alerts** - Get notified when out-of-stock items become available
### Stock Tracking
- **Out-of-stock detection** - Automatically detects when products are unavailable
- **Visual indicators** - Clear badges showing stock status on dashboard and detail pages
- **Stock history** - Track when items go in and out of stock
### User Experience
- **Dark/Light mode** - System-aware theme with manual toggle
- **Responsive design** - Works on desktop and mobile
- **Manual refresh** - Force an immediate price check with one click
- **Dashboard notifications** - See which products have alerts configured at a glance
## Tech Stack
- **Backend**: Node.js, Express, TypeScript
- **Frontend**: React, Vite, TypeScript
- **Database**: PostgreSQL
- **Scraping**: Cheerio
- **Charts**: Recharts
- **Auth**: JWT + bcrypt
- **Containerization**: Docker
| Layer | Technology |
|-------|------------|
| **Frontend** | React 18, TypeScript, Vite |
| **Backend** | Node.js, Express, TypeScript |
| **Database** | PostgreSQL 16 |
| **Scraping** | Cheerio, Axios |
| **Charts** | Recharts |
| **Auth** | JWT + bcrypt |
| **Scheduling** | node-cron |
| **Containerization** | Docker, Docker Compose |
| **CI/CD** | GitHub Actions |
## Quick Start with Docker
## Supported Retailers
Optimized scrapers for:
- Amazon (US, UK, CA, DE, FR, ES, IT, JP, IN, AU)
- Newegg
- Walmart
- Best Buy
- Target
- eBay
- Home Depot
- Costco
- AliExpress
Generic scraping works on most other e-commerce sites.
## Quick Start
### Docker (Recommended)
1. Clone the repository:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/priceghost.git
cd priceghost
```
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/clucraft/PriceGhost.git
cd PriceGhost
2. Start all services:
```bash
# Start all services
docker-compose up -d
# Access at http://localhost:8089 (or your configured port)
```
3. Initialize the database:
```bash
docker-compose exec backend npm run db:init
```
### Environment Variables
4. Access the application at http://localhost
Create a `.env` file or set these in your environment:
```env
# Database
POSTGRES_USER=postgres
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your_secure_password
POSTGRES_DB=priceghost
# Backend
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret_here
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:password@db:5432/priceghost
# Frontend (optional)
VITE_API_URL=/api
```
## Development Setup
### Prerequisites
- Node.js 20+
- PostgreSQL 16+
### Backend Setup
### Backend
```bash
cd backend
npm install
# Create .env file
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your database credentials
# Initialize database
npm run db:init
# Start development server
cp .env.example .env # Edit with your database credentials
npm run dev
```
### Frontend Setup
### Frontend
```bash
cd frontend
npm install
# Start development server
npm run dev
```
## Environment Variables
### Backend (.env)
```
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/priceghost
JWT_SECRET=your-secret-key
PORT=3001
NODE_ENV=development
```
## API Endpoints
## API Reference
### Authentication
- `POST /api/auth/register` - Register new user
- `POST /api/auth/login` - Login
| Method | Endpoint | Description |
|--------|----------|-------------|
| POST | `/api/auth/register` | Create account |
| POST | `/api/auth/login` | Login, returns JWT |
### Products (Protected)
- `GET /api/products` - List tracked products
- `POST /api/products` - Add product to track
- `GET /api/products/:id` - Get product details
- `PUT /api/products/:id` - Update product settings
- `DELETE /api/products/:id` - Remove product
### Products
| Method | Endpoint | Description |
|--------|----------|-------------|
| GET | `/api/products` | List all tracked products |
| POST | `/api/products` | Add product by URL |
| GET | `/api/products/:id` | Get product details + stats |
| PUT | `/api/products/:id` | Update settings/notifications |
| DELETE | `/api/products/:id` | Stop tracking product |
### Prices (Protected)
- `GET /api/products/:id/prices` - Get price history
- `POST /api/products/:id/refresh` - Force price refresh
### Prices
| Method | Endpoint | Description |
|--------|----------|-------------|
| GET | `/api/products/:id/prices` | Get price history |
| POST | `/api/products/:id/refresh` | Force immediate price check |
### Settings
| Method | Endpoint | Description |
|--------|----------|-------------|
| GET | `/api/settings/notifications` | Get notification config |
| PUT | `/api/settings/notifications` | Update Telegram/Discord settings |
| POST | `/api/settings/notifications/test/telegram` | Send test notification |
| POST | `/api/settings/notifications/test/discord` | Send test notification |
## Project Structure
```
PriceGhost/
├── backend/
│ ├── src/
│ │ ├── config/ # Database configuration
│ │ ├── middleware/ # JWT auth middleware
│ │ ├── models/ # Database queries
│ │ ├── routes/ # API routes
│ │ ├── services/ # Scraper & scheduler
│ │ └── utils/ # Price parsing utilities
│ ├── Dockerfile
│ └── package.json
│ └── src/
│ ├── config/ # Database connection
│ ├── middleware/ # JWT authentication
│ ├── models/ # Database queries
│ ├── routes/ # API endpoints
│ ├── services/ # Scraper, scheduler, notifications
│ └── utils/ # Price parsing
├── frontend/
│ ├── src/
│ │ ├── api/ # Axios client
│ │ ├── components/ # React components
│ │ ├── context/ # Auth context
│ │ ├── hooks/ # Custom hooks
│ │ └── pages/ # Page components
│ ├── Dockerfile
│ └── package.json
│ └── src/
│ ├── api/ # Axios client
│ ├── components/ # Reusable components
│ ├── context/ # Auth context
│ ├── hooks/ # Custom hooks
│ └── pages/ # Page components
├── database/
│ └── init.sql # Schema + migrations
├── docker-compose.yml
└── README.md
└── .github/workflows/ # CI/CD
```
## Rate Limiting & Best Practices
To avoid getting blocked by retailers:
- **Staggered checking** - Products are checked at randomized intervals with ±5 minute jitter
- **Request delays** - 2-5 second random delay between checking different products
- **Reasonable intervals** - Default 1 hour; use longer intervals (4-6 hours) if tracking many products
- **User-Agent rotation** - Requests use standard browser headers
## Setting Up Notifications
### Telegram
1. Create a bot via [@BotFather](https://t.me/botfather) on Telegram
2. Get your Chat ID from [@userinfobot](https://t.me/userinfobot)
3. Enter both in Settings → Telegram Notifications
### Discord
1. In your Discord server: Server Settings → Integrations → Webhooks
2. Create a new webhook and copy the URL
3. Enter the URL in Settings → Discord Notifications
---
## About This Project
This project was built collaboratively with [Claude](https://claude.ai) (Anthropic's AI assistant) using [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/claude-code). Every feature, from the initial architecture to the scraping heuristics to the notification system, was developed through iterative conversation and code generation.
**This isn't typical "AI slop."** Each component was thoughtfully designed, tested against real product pages, and refined based on actual usage. The codebase follows consistent patterns, handles edge cases properly, and includes real-world considerations like rate limiting and anti-bot detection avoidance.
Built with Claude Opus 4.5.
## License
MIT