Proposal -- Use MQTT protocol as the output from the scapers and NodeRED for message and destination customization

[goatchurchprime]

MQTT is a very lightweight protocol designed for status updates of the type that your scrapers are generating.

NodeRED is a flow-based programming language using snippets of Javascript that you can edit through the browser without upload access to the server. It is accessible and tightly coupled to the MQTT protocol.

If you separated these two jobs into individual components which communicated through MQTT the system would more adaptable and enable new ideas to be more quickly implemented and torn down. Although NodeRED looks like a toy system, and you can do everything you want at the moment with your inlined Python code, it adds real flexibility to the inputs and outputs you can draw on. It would encourage the implementation of more creative ideas than simply posting the update messages to the platform of your choice.

NodeRED has plugins for outputting to Telegram, Discord, Tw*tter, Matrix, and into time-series databases like InfluxDB that can be used to update a cumulative log and record of the flights for more sophisticated messages, eg "this is the Nth time @muskjet has landed in the Bay Area this year."

An MQTT stream of flight data would also make it easy to wire up simple IoT devices such as a WhereDial or an internet connected light projecting an image of the MuskJet above the clouds onto the wall to remind us of the great work done by our favourite billionaires. See HackADay for other ideas. The point is to be able to turn these snippets of news into physical displays that can be enjoyed by everyone, not just those who happen to be watching the right website on their phone at the right time.