rss-feedmonitor/archive/ALERT_CREATION_PROCESS.md

Robust Alert Creation Process

Key Principles for Reliability

1. Always Fresh Snapshots

• Get snapshot BEFORE every action
• Never reuse refs from previous snapshots
• Elements change refs on every page load

2. Dynamic Element Finding

• Find elements by name attribute, not cached refs
• Use grep to search snapshot files for element names
• Extract ref from current snapshot only

3. Random Variance (Human-like)

• Delays: 0.5-2 seconds between actions
• Typing: 30% slow, 70% fast
• Wait times: 1-3 seconds after clicks

4. Error Handling

• Retry failed actions with exponential backoff
• Get fresh snapshot on error
• Re-find elements on retry

Step-by-Step Process (Per Query)

1. Navigate → https://www.google.com/alerts
2. Wait 1-2s (random)
3. Get snapshot
4. Find "Create an alert about..." → extract ref
5. Click textbox
6. Wait 0.5-1s (random)
7. Type query (slowly=random 30% chance)
8. Wait 1-2s (random)
9. Get snapshot
10. Find "Show option" → extract ref
11. Click "Show option"
12. Wait 1-2s (random)
13. Get snapshot
14. Find delivery dropdown ("knappcolin04@gmail.com") → extract ref
15. Click dropdown
16. Wait 1-2s (random)
17. Get snapshot
18. Find "RSS feed" option → extract ref
19. Click "RSS feed"
20. Wait 0.5-1s (random)
21. Get snapshot
22. Find "Create Alert" → extract ref
23. Click "Create Alert"
24. Wait 2-4s (random)
25. Navigate back to alerts page
26. Repeat for next query

Implementation Pattern

# Pseudo-code pattern:
for query in queries:
    # Navigate
    browser_navigate("https://www.google.com/alerts")
    time.sleep(random_delay(1, 2))
    
    # Get fresh snapshot
    snapshot = browser_snapshot()
    
    # Find element dynamically
    ref = find_element_by_name(snapshot, "Create an alert about...")
    
    # Click with delay
    browser_click(ref)
    time.sleep(random_delay(0.5, 1))
    
    # Type with variance
    slowly = should_type_slowly()  # 30% chance
    browser_type(ref, query, slowly=slowly)
    time.sleep(random_delay(1, 2))
    
    # Continue pattern...

Why This Works

1. Fresh refs = No stale element errors
2. Random timing = Human-like, avoids detection
3. Dynamic finding = Works even when page structure changes
4. Retries = Handles transient errors
5. Proper waits = Elements ready before interaction