hansy / handle_ping

Script for pinging websites to check handle availability (e.g. check if @username is available on Twitter)

handle_ping

Cron script for pinging websites to check handle availability (e.g. check if @username is available on Twitter).

Twitter, Instagram support right out of the box.

Simple Installation

Requirements

• Gmail email address
• Heroku account

Steps

• Create Heroku project and push repo

  heroku create
  git push heroku master
  

• In your Heroku project's config settings, add these ENV variables

  • EMAIL_USERNAME (your gmail email address)
  • EMAIL_PASSWORD (your gmail password)
  • The handles you want with format SERVICE_HANDLE (e.g. TWITTER_HANDLE, INSTAGRAM_HANDLE)

• Add Heroku Scheduler add-on

• In the Scheduler's settings, add a new cron job: ruby ping.rb

• That's it!

Add additional services

Currently Twitter and Instagram are only supported, but if you'd like to add additional services, amend the constant HANDLE_URI_PATTERNS in ping.rb to include the new service(s). For example, if you want to add LinkedIn, you'd change HANDLE_URI_PATTERNS to equal:

{
  'TWITTER'   => "http://www.twitter.com/:username",
  'INSTAGRAM' => "http://www.instagram.com/:username",
  'LINKEDIN'  => "http://www.linkedin.com/in/:username"
}

and then add LINKEDIN_HANDLE to your ENV variables.