WG-bots

This is a collection of three bots that I have used to search for (shared) flats in Munich. The bots are inspired by immobot. The pipeline is designed to work on a headless Linux system with a Chrome browser and a Gmail account. Of course, it can be adapted to other platforms, browsers, and email providers.

Usage

1. Install the requirements with pip install -r requirements.txt
2. Install Chromedriver as described by immobot
3. Install X virtual frame buffer with sudo apt install xvfb to run headless
4. Create a Gmail account and get a password for third-party apps as shown here

wgzimmerbot

This bot checks the platform wg-gesucht.de every 60 seconds for new rooms. If a new offer has been found, it sends you a notification email. This allows you to write customized texts, which is recommended for shared flats. The bot is approximately 15 minutes faster than the built-in notification system.

Usage

1. Enter the URL of your search query in wg-gesucht-spider.py
2. Enter your Gmail address and password in run_bot.sh
3. Run the bot with ./wgzimmerbot/run_bot.sh

wgwohnungsbot

This bot checks the platform wg-gesucht.de every 60 seconds for new flats. If a new offer has been found, it sends you a notification email and contacts the offer directly with a prespecified message. A placeholder for the name of the contact person can be used to personalize the message. Further, the bot allows for attaching a "Gesuch", which contains more information about yourself. This is recommended for flats, as it allows you to stand out from the crowd.

Usage

1. Enter the URL of your search query in wg-gesucht-spider.py
2. Enter the prespecified message you want to send in message.txt (you can use the placeholder NAME for the name of the contact person followed by a colon)
3. Enter your Gmail address and password in run_bot.sh
4. Enter your wg-gesucht.de username and password in run_bot.sh
5. Run the bot with ./wgwohnungsbot/run_bot.sh

wochenanzeigerbot

This bot checks the website of Wochenanzeiger every five minutes for new offers. If new offers are found, it sends you a notification email with the descriptions along with a link to the website. This is helpful, as the website does not have a notification system.

Usage

1. Enter your Gmail address and password in run_bot.sh
2. Run the bot with ./wochenanzeigerbot/run_bot.sh