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https://github.com/dhimmel/hackjohn

Bot to monitor for southbound permit spaces on the John Muir Trail
https://github.com/dhimmel/hackjohn

bot donahue-pass hiking jmt john-muir-trail permits python yosemite

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Bot to monitor for southbound permit spaces on the John Muir Trail

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# Bot to monitor for southbound permit spaces on the John Muir Trail



[![Hackjohn CI](https://github.com/dhimmel/hackjohn/workflows/Hackjohn%20CI/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/dhimmel/hackjohn/actions)



This repository contains a Python script for monitoring Yosemite's [permit availability report](https://yosemite.org/planning-your-wilderness-permit/).

Vacancies in this table indicate the availability of a southbound John Muir Trail permit, available for immediate reservation by filling out the online [permit request form](https://yosemite.org/yosemite-wilderness-permit-request-form/).

This strategy enables securing a soutbound JMT permit after the lottery drawing for a given date.



**Learn more about using hackjohn** and its history of success in the blog post titled [**Introducing the hackjohn bot for southbound John Muir Trail permits**](https://hive.blog/@dhimmel/introducing-the-hackjohn-bot-for-southbound-john-muir-trail-permits) and _The Mercury News_ article titled [**Here’s how to get a coveted reservation to hike the John Muir Trail**](https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/04/22/heres-how-to-get-a-reservation-to-hike-the-john-muir-trail/ "Written by Lisa M. Krieger on April 22, 2019").



## Usage



Follow these steps to run hackjohn:



1. Clone this repository.

2. Modify [`config.py`](config.py) with with the parameters of your permit search.

This includes your 2Captcha API key (see the Captcha solving service section) and your tokens for Telegram, IFTTT, and/or Twilio (see the Notifications section).

3. Then simply run the hackjohn Python script in the `hackjohn` appropriate environment (see Environment section) with:



```shell

python hackjohn.py

```



The script will print some progress messages and at the end it will print a message containing available permit details.

The same message will be sent via whichever notification services you set up.

An example of the report is:



```

2021-08-20:

5 permits for Happy Isles->Little Yosemite Valley

2 permits for Lyell Canyon



2021-09-03:

1 permit for Happy Isles->Little Yosemite Valley



Report last updated 2021-03-20 10:34:32 AM PDT.



Permit request form: https://yosemite.org/yosemite-wilderness-permit-request-form/

Permit office phone: 209-372-0826

```



By default, hackjohn writes the output to the file `hackjohn-output.txt` (as specified by the `OUTPUT_PATH` variable in `config.py`).

To avoid repeated notification, hackjohn skips sending notifications if its output matches the pre-existing output.



## Captcha solving service



As of June 22, 2020, the trailhead report switched to a new website that moved the permit report behind a Recaptcha (the "I am not a robot" thing).

This made it more difficult for bots to access the report. 



hackjohn uses [2Captcha](https://2captcha.com) to solve the Recaptcha and get to the permit report.

You will need to create a 2Captcha account and upload some funds, then copy your 2Captcha API key into the `CAPTCHA_API_KEY` variable in [`config.py`](config.py).



This costs money, but it is very cheap (a few dollars will get you 1000 Recaptchas).

hackjohn reuses the same Recaptcha authorization as long as it is still valid, so it only calls the 2Captcha service when necessary (currently the authentication lasts about a day, but that is subject to change).

Realistically, it will cost you at most a couple dollars to run hackjohn multiple times per day for an entire year.



**Note:** There are many alternatives to 2Captcha and they all work pretty much the same way.

I didn't have any particular reason for choosing 2Captcha.

Feel free to use a different Captcha solving service, but you will need to make modifications to the code.



## Notifications



hackjohn supports the following services to provide notifications:



* **The Telegram messaging app.**

Refer to the [webhook2telegram repo](https://github.com/muety/webhook2telegram) for more details.

  1. Download the Telegram app at https://telegram.org. Mobile and desktop apps are available.

  2. Message "\start" to @MiddleManBot. It will send back a token.

  3. In [`config.py`](config.py), set `ENABLE_TELEGRAM` to True and set `TELEGRAM_TOKEN` to the token you received in the previous step.



* **If This Then That (IFTTT).**

(Thanks Markus Neuhoff for [contributing](https://github.com/dhimmel/hackjohn/pull/4) this feature!)

  1. Create an applet at https://ifttt.com/create. (You will also need to create an IFTTT account.)

  2. In the "If This" section of your applet, click "Webhooks" and then "Receive a web request". Give it a name (e.g., "hackjohn"). Add this name to the `IFTTT_EVENT_NAME` variable in [`config.py`](config.py).

  3. In the "Then That" section of your applet, select the type of notification you would like to receive. For example, "Notifications -> Send a rich notification from the IFTTT app" or "Email -> Send me an email".

  4. Go to https://ifttt.com/maker_webhooks, click on documentation, and copy your key at the top of the screen into the `IFTTT_KEY` variable and set `ENABLE_IFTTT` to True in [`config.py`](config.py).



* **SMS text messages with Twilio.**

  1. Create an account at https://www.twilio.com.

  2. In the "Project Info" section of your Twilio dashboard, copy your Account SID and Auth Token values into the `TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID` and `TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN` variables in [`config.py`](config.py), respectively.

  3. Click "Get a trial phone number" in your Twilio dashboard. Twilio will generate a phone number for your account. Copy this phone number into the `TWILIO_PHONE_NUMBER` variable in [`config.py`](config.py).

  4. Set the `TWILIO_TO_PHONE` variable to the phone number you want to send notifications to (i.e., your phone number) and set`ENABLE_TWILIO` to True in [`config.py`](config.py).

  5. **Note:** It costs a small amount of money to operate your Twilio account (currently $1 per month to maintain your phone number plus $0.0075 per message sent).

  It is often possible to find promos that will add money to your account.

  For example, there is currently a promo code for $50 in free credits in the "Basic Training" section in [Twilio Quest](https://www.twilio.com/quest) (working as of March 2021).



hackjohn can be run without enabling notifications, which is useful for prototyping and development, but less useful for automated monitoring.



## Environment



The recommended installation method is to create a virtual environment for just hackjohn.

This ensures installation does not modify dependencies for other projects.

To install a [virtual environment](https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/venv.html), run the following:



```shell

# Create a virtual environment in the env directory

python3 -m venv env



# Activate the virtual environment

source env/bin/activate



# Install the required dependencies into the virtual env

pip install --requirement requirements.txt



# Now you can run hackjohn

python hackjohn.py

```



## Automation



You can automate the running of `hackjohn.py` at scheduled times every day.

According to the Yosemite permit office, the trailhead quotas are often updated around 11 AM Pacific Time.



I used `cron`, which despite its awful interface got the job done.

Therefore, I added the following lines to my `crontab` configuration (replacing `ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH` with the absolute path to the directory containing `hackjohn.py`):



```

# hackjohn bot scheduling (configured for a system on Eastern Time)

0 13 * * * ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.py >> ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.log

44 13 * * * ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.py >> ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.log

59 13 * * * ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.py >> ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.log

14 14 * * * ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.py >> ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.log

30 14 * * * ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.py >> ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.log

40 14 * * * ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.py >> ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.log

00 15 * * * ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.py >> ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.log

19 15 * * * ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.py >> ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.log

00 19 * * * ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.py >> ABOSOLUTE_REPO_PATH/hackjohn.log

```



Run `crontab -e` to edit your cron configuration.

In order to for the cron-scheduled script to run in the proper environment, you must add a shebang pointing to which Python to use.

For example, replace the following with the output of `which python` when you have activated the right environment:



```python

#!/home/username/path/to/hackjohn/env/bin/python

```