🌞 Tell Me Something Good

A feel-good Python/Flask API that scrapes heartwarming headlines from multiple positive news sources like Good News Network, Positive News, and The Optimist Daily.

Designed to power a mobile app that delivers a daily boost of joy — complete with randomized stories, caching, and push notification support.

Deployed @:

Backend URL:
👉 https://tell-me-something-good.fly.dev/api/news

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Features

• Scrapes articles from 3 curated sources of good news
• Returns a randomized selection of uplifting headlines
• Caches results daily to avoid repeat scraping
• Optional ?limit=10 param for custom batch sizes
• Filters out duplicate stories based on headline text
• Simple JSON API, built with Flask

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How It Works

The backend scrapes stories using BeautifulSoup, merges and deduplicates them, then returns a fresh mix of headlines via a /api/news endpoint.

Cached results are stored in a JSON file and refreshed every 24 hours using a cron job.

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Backend	Python, Flask, BeautifulSoup
Scraping	BeautifulSoup
Scheduling	Cron Job or APScheduler
Frontend	React Native (coming soon)
Notifications	Expo Push API (in progress)
Database	PostgreSQL
Deployment	Fly.io

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🧪 Example API Call

GET /api/news?limit=5 

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Example Response:

[
  {
    "headline": "Zoo Camera Captures Elephants Protecting Their Young During San Diego Earthquake",
    "link": "https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/zoo-camera-captures-elephants-protecting-their-young-during-san-diego-earthquake-watch/",
    "source": "Good News Network",
    "summary": null
  }
]

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Setup:

1. Clone Repo:

git clone https://github.com/CarterSwain/Tell-Me-Something-Good.git cd Tell-Me-Something-Good

2. Create a Virtual Environment:

python -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate

3. Install Dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Run the Server:

python3 run.py

5. Visit the API:

http://localhost:5000/api/news

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Coming Soon:

• React Native frontend with a swipeable list of stories

• Expo Push notifications

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Sources:

Good News Network ( https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ )

Positive News ( https://www.positive.news/ )

The Optimist Daily ( https://www.optimistdaily.com/ )