Outrage - Contact Your Representatives

Outrage is a web application that empowers citizens to quickly and effectively contact their elected representatives about issues they care about. With AI-powered draft generation, comprehensive representative lookup, and a Chrome extension for auto-filling contact forms, Outrage makes civic engagement accessible to everyone.

🚀 Features

Core Functionality

• 📍 Address-based Representative Lookup: Find all your representatives (federal, state, and local) with a single address search
• 🤖 AI-Powered Draft Generation: Create personalized, persuasive emails using Anthropic's Claude
• 📧 Multi-Representative Contact: Send emails to multiple representatives simultaneously
• 🔗 Shareable Campaigns: Create and share campaigns to mobilize others around issues

Advanced Features

• 🎥 YouTube Integration: Automatically extracts political demands from YouTube videos via cron jobs
• 🔧 Chrome Extension: Auto-fills government contact forms on .gov websites
• 📊 Campaign Analytics: Track how many messages have been sent for each campaign
• 💾 Session Persistence: Save and resume drafts across sessions
• 🎯 Smart Representative Selection: AI suggests which representatives to contact based on your issues

📸 Screenshots

Click to view application flow

1. Address Input - Google Maps autocomplete for easy address entry
2. Demands Selection - Browse pre-populated demands or enter custom ones
3. Representative Selection - View and select from all your representatives
4. Personal Info - Add optional details to strengthen your message
5. Draft Preview - Review and edit AI-generated drafts before sending

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Frontend: Next.js 14, React 18, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
• Backend: Next.js API Routes, PostgreSQL (Vercel Postgres/Neon)
• AI/ML: Anthropic Claude API, Apify (YouTube transcripts)
• External APIs: Google Maps, Cicero (representatives data)
• Infrastructure: Vercel (hosting), GitHub Actions (CI/CD)

🏃‍♂️ Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• npm (v9 or higher)
• PostgreSQL database (local or cloud)
• API keys (see Environment Variables section)

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/mitchellgordon95/Outrage.git
   cd Outrage

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Set up environment variables

   cp .env.example .env.local

   Edit .env.local with your API keys and configuration (see below)

4. Set up the database

   # Run the SQL scripts to create tables
   psql -d your_database -f campaigns_schema.sql
   psql -d your_database -f youtube_demands_schema.sql

5. Start the development server

   npm run dev

   Open http://localhost:3456 to see the application

Environment Variables

Create a .env.local file with the following variables:

# Database
DATABASE_URL=your_postgresql_connection_string
POSTGRES_URL=your_postgresql_connection_string

# Google APIs
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=your_google_maps_api_key

# Cicero API (Representative Data)
CICERO_API_KEY=your_cicero_api_key

# AI/ML
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_anthropic_api_key
ANTHROPIC_MODEL=claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022
APIFY_TOKEN=your_apify_token

# Chrome Extension
NEXT_PUBLIC_CHROME_EXTENSION_ID=your_extension_id

# YouTube Integration
YOUTUBE_CHANNEL_LIST=channel1,channel2,channel3

# Cron Jobs
CRON_SECRET=your_cron_secret

# Optional: Analytics
# Add Vercel Analytics or other tracking services

📦 Chrome Extension

The Chrome extension enables auto-filling of government contact forms.

Installation

1. Navigate to chrome-extension/ directory
2. Open Chrome and go to chrome://extensions/
3. Enable "Developer mode"
4. Click "Load unpacked" and select the chrome-extension folder

Development

See chrome-extension/README.md for detailed development instructions.

🗄️ Database Schema

The application uses PostgreSQL with two main tables:

• campaigns: Stores campaign information and tracking data
• youtube_demands: Stores extracted demands from YouTube videos

See campaigns_schema.sql and youtube_demands_schema.sql for complete schemas.

🔄 Cron Jobs

YouTube Demands Processing

• Endpoint: /api/cron/youtube-demands
• Frequency: Daily
• Function: Fetches videos from configured YouTube channels and extracts political demands

Configure in vercel.json or your hosting platform's cron configuration.

🚀 Deployment

Vercel (Recommended)

1. Push your code to GitHub
2. Import the project in Vercel
3. Add all environment variables in Vercel dashboard
4. Deploy

Other Platforms

The application is built with Next.js and can be deployed to any platform that supports Node.js applications. Ensure you:

• Set up PostgreSQL database
• Configure environment variables
• Set up cron jobs for YouTube processing

🧪 Testing

# Run tests
npm test

# Run tests in watch mode
npm test -- --watch

📝 API Documentation

Public Endpoints

• GET /api/demands/categories - Fetch categorized demands including YouTube sources
• GET /api/campaigns - List popular campaigns

Protected Endpoints

• POST /api/lookup-representatives - Find representatives by address
• POST /api/generate-representative-draft - Generate AI draft
• POST /api/campaigns/create - Create new campaign
• POST /api/campaigns/[id]/increment - Track message sent

See individual route files for detailed request/response schemas.

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guidelines for details.

Development Workflow

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Code Style

• Follow existing code patterns
• Use TypeScript for type safety
• Write tests for new features
• Ensure npm run lint passes

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Cicero API for comprehensive representative data
• Anthropic for Claude AI
• Apify for YouTube transcript extraction
• All contributors and users making civic engagement easier

📞 Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Email: contact@outrage.gg
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions

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Built with ❤️ to make democracy more accessible