Development Bot 🏗️

An automated civic technology tool that generates RSS feeds for local development activity. Originally built for the Killarney/Glengarry community in Calgary, but designed to be adaptable for any city with open data APIs.

🎯 What It Does

Tracks and publishes development permits and land use rezoning applications through:

• 📡 RSS Feed: Automatically updated feed of development activity
• 🏗️ Development Permits: Building permits, renovations, new construction
• 🏛️ Rezoning Applications: Land use changes and redesignations
• 📊 State History: Complete audit trail of permit status changes
• 🔄 Daily Updates: Runs automatically at 6AM MT via GitHub Actions

The application tracks activity from the last 3 months to focus on current and relevant development activity.

We care about Development Permits and Land Use Redesignations in Killarney/Glengarry as well as on the edges of our boarders. The bounding box we care about is defined as:

• Northwest Corner
  • Latitude: 51.038912
  • Longitude: -114.142638
• Northeast Corner
  • Latitude: 51.038912
  • Longitude: -114.117927
• Southwest Corner
  • Latitude: 51.022361
  • Longitude: -114.142638
• Southeast Corner
  • Latitude: 51.022361
  • Longitude: -114.117927

🚀 How to Run

Prerequisites

• Go 1.24+ installed
• Internet connection (for Calgary Open Data API access)

Local Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/kgca-development/development-bot.git
cd development-bot

# Install dependencies
go mod download

# Run the application
go run main.go

What happens when you run it:

1. Fetches data from Calgary Open Data API for development permits and rezoning applications
2. Compares with stored data in ./data/ directory
3. Generates RSS feed at ./output/killarney-development.xml
4. Updates stored data for future comparisons
5. Console output shows what entries were created/updated:

   Development Permit DP2025-12345:
       Creating RSS feed entry...
       Created RSS feed entry!
   Combined RSS feed processed with 5 development permit actions and 2 rezoning application actions
   

Console Output Meanings:

• "Creating RSS feed entry": New permit/application found
• "Updating RSS feed entry": Existing permit status changed
• "0 actions": No changes detected (normal for subsequent runs)

🧪 How to Test

Run All Tests

# Run all tests with verbose output
go test ./... -v

# Run tests for specific modules
go test ./interactions/rssfeed/ -v
go test ./objects/developmentpermit/ -v
go test ./objects/rezoningapplications/ -v

Test Categories

• RSS Feed Tests: XML generation, namespace handling, item updates
• Development Permit Tests: Data parsing, action detection, timestamp handling
• Rezoning Application Tests: Status changes, close detection
• Integration Tests: End-to-end workflows

Manual Testing

# Clear stored data to test full regeneration
rm -rf data/*.json output/*.xml

# Run and verify all entries are created
go run main.go

# Run again to verify no duplicate actions
go run main.go

Validate RSS Output

# Check the generated RSS feed
cat output/killarney-development.xml

# Verify XML structure is valid
xmllint --noout output/killarney-development.xml

🚀 How Deployment Works

GitHub Actions Workflow

The application automatically deploys via GitHub Actions (.github/workflows/development-bot-runs.yml):

Triggers:

• Daily: 12:00 PM UTC (6:00 AM MT)
• Manual: Workflow dispatch from GitHub UI
• Push: When code is pushed to main branch

Deployment Process:

1. Setup Environment:

   - Checkout code with deploy key
   - Install Go 1.24
   - Download dependencies

2. Execute Bot:

   go run main.go

3. Commit Changes:

   git add data/ output/
   git commit -m "Update development data and RSS feed"
   git push origin main

4. Deploy to GitHub Pages:

   # Copy RSS feed to Pages directory
   cp output/killarney-development.xml _site/
   # Deploy to https://kgca-development.github.io/development-bot/

Deploy Key Authentication

• Uses DEVELOPMENT_BOT_DEPLOY_KEY secret for git operations
• Bypasses branch protection rules
• Enables automated commits to main branch

Live RSS Feed URL

When deployed, the RSS feed is available at:

• RSS Feed: https://kgca-development.github.io/development-bot/killarney-development.xml
• Web Interface: https://kgca-development.github.io/development-bot/

Monitoring Deployment

• Check GitHub Actions for run status
• View commit history for data updates
• Monitor RSS feed for new entries

Persistent Storage

The bot stores data in two locations:

./data/ Directory (Version Controlled)

• development-permits.json - Processed development permit data with state history
• rezoning-applications.json - Processed rezoning application data with state history

./output/ Directory (Version Controlled)

• killarney-development.xml - Combined RSS feed for all development activity

Data Structure

JSON files track what's been processed and store:

• Stable RSS GUIDs for each permit/application
• Complete state history tracking all status changes over time with timestamps
• Full permit data for comparison on subsequent runs

State History Example

"state_history": [
  {
    "status": "submitted",
    "timestamp": "2025-07-28T09:41:04-06:00"
  },
  {
    "status": "under review", 
    "timestamp": "2025-07-29T10:15:32-06:00",
    "decision": "approved"
  }
]

RSS Feed Features

Enhanced RSS Metadata

Each RSS item includes:

• Title: Shows permit type and address (e.g., "🏗️ Development Permit: DP2025-12345 - 123 Main St")
• Description: Full permit details with rich HTML formatting
• Link: Direct link to Calgary Development Map
• Category: "Development Permit" or "Land Use Rezoning"
• Author: Applicant name (when available)
• Source: "City of Calgary Open Data"
• Comments: Link to Development Map comments section
• Publication Date: Most recent timestamp from permit data (not midnight UTC!)
• GUID: Stable unique identifier that persists through status changes

XML Namespace Compliance

• Proper xmlns:content namespace declaration
• Valid content:encoded elements for rich content
• Validates in all RSS readers and browsers

🌍 Adapting for Your City

This bot can be adapted for any city with open data APIs:

1. Fork this repository
2. Update configuration:

   # config.yaml
   neighborhood:
     name: "Your Neighborhood"
     bounding-box:
       north-latitude: 51.038912
       east-longitude: -114.117927
       south-latitude: 51.022361
       west-longitude: -114.142638

3. Modify API endpoints in interactions/calgaryopendata/
4. Adjust data parsing for your city's JSON structure
5. Enable GitHub Actions and GitHub Pages in your fork

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

• 🐛 Bug Reports: Use GitHub Issues
• 💡 Feature Requests: Use GitHub Issues with "enhancement" label
• 🔧 Code Contributions: Fork, branch, test, and submit PR
• 📖 Documentation: Help improve setup guides and examples

📝 License

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

🏙️ Community Impact

This tool helps communities:

• Stay Informed: Know what's being built nearby
• Engage Actively: Participate in local development discussions
• Track Changes: Monitor permit status from application to completion
• Access Data: Make government data more accessible

🔮 Future Plans

• Add web server to serve RSS feeds directly
• Add geographic filtering options
• Enhanced filtering by permit type or status
• Multi-city support in single deployment
• Email notifications for RSS updates