Flatfindr

A Telegram bot that help you find your next apartment.

As this tool has originally been developed for flats in Montreal - Canada, it currently supports scrapping from :

• Facebook Marketplace
• Kijiji (coming soon)
• Craigslist (coming sooner or later)
  
  

💻 Setup

Install the package

Clone the project and install it:

git clone git@github.com:aduverger/flatfindr.git
cd flatfindr
make install

Copy your Facebook login infos

This part is mandatory only if you want to access the Facebook Marketplace.

Copy inside logins.py your id and password in place of "<ID>" and "<PWD>", or use this command instead:

make logins

Create a Telegram bot

• To generate an Access Token, you have to talk to BotFather and follow a few simple steps (described here).

• Once you have your token, paste it in ./flatfindr/logins.py in place of "<TOKEN>", or use this command instead:

make token

Download the appropriate chromedriver

• Go to the chromedriver website.

• Download the driver that is compatible with your Chrome version and system.

• Save this file as ./driver/chromedriver
  
  

🔥 Scrap it like it's hot

• You can run the bot instance locally (prefered) or in the cloud (not currently supported). To run it locally:

flatfindr-bot

Just keep in mind that if you shut down your computer, the bot won't be accessible anymore. So you'll have to re-run the above flatfindr-bot command.

When your bot instance is running, you can access it directly from Telegram:

• First you need to answer a few questions to set your search criteria.
• Once these criteria are defined, the bot will get back to you every 30 minutes with new flats if he found some.
• You can cancel the search at any time by sending /stop.
• To run it again, just send /run. Your previous search criteria will be used.
• To access your current criteria, send /params.
• If you want to modify some of these criteria, send /start again.