📦 Tracking Jack

Description

Tracking Jack is a full-stack application designed to retrieve real-time package statuses. It utilizes a vanilla web frontend and a Node.js backend that acts as a web scraper. The application currently supports scraping tracking details directly from the USPS website using headless Chrome.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Technologies Used
• Installation
• Usage
• License

🚀 Features

• Real-Time Scraping: Fetches up-to-date tracking information by directly scraping carrier web pages.
• Clean UI: A lightweight, responsive, and easy-to-use HTML/CSS interface.
• CORS Enabled: The backend safely communicates with the local HTML frontend using the Express CORS middleware.

🛠️ Technologies Used

• Frontend: HTML5, CSS3, Vanilla JavaScript
• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Web Scraping: Puppeteer

💻 Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/mtepenner/tracking-jack.git
   cd tracking-jack

2. Install backend dependencies: Navigate to the backend directory and install the required Node modules.

   cd backend
   npm install express cors puppeteer

⚙️ Usage

1. Start the backend server: From the backend directory, run the server script.

   node server.js

   The server will run at http://localhost:3000.

2. Launch the frontend: Open frontend/index.html in your preferred web browser.

3. Track a package:

   • Select your carrier from the carrier dropdown.
   • Enter your tracking number.
   • Click Track Package to view the current status.

📄 License

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