A full-stack web application for monitoring government procurement websites across team shifts. Converted from a Tkinter desktop application, sharing the same MySQL database.

Overview

Website Checker helps teams track which government websites need to be checked during each shift, manage bid/procurement opportunities, and run AI-powered document analysis on solicitation files. Administrators manage users, websites, shifts, and view reports; regular users work through their daily or weekly checklists.

Technology Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	Python 3.10+
Web Framework	Flask 3.0
Database	MySQL 8.x (shared with desktop app)
Application Server	Gunicorn
Reverse Proxy	Nginx
Process Manager	systemd
Credential Encryption	Fernet (PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256, 100k iterations)
Password Hashing	bcrypt (12 rounds)
AI Analysis	Groq REST API (llama-3.3-70b-versatile)
Frontend	Vanilla JS + DM Sans/DM Mono (Google Fonts)
OS	Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04 LTS

Features

All Users

Shift Checklist — Sites grouped by Daily / Weekly frequency, collapsible groups, live progress bar, bulk-check, search filter
Site Credentials — View stored credentials (password masked, copy-to-clipboard)
Per-site Notes — Add or update notes per check, displayed in a dedicated row under the site card
AI Document Analysis — Upload PDF / DOCX / XLSX / TXT solicitation files; AI extracts solicitation number, scope of work, due dates, driving distance from office, and evaluates against criteria
Bid Tracker — Split-pane view of all tracked opportunities; post updates, filter by status, search by title / source / solicitation number

Admins Only

Dashboard — KPI cards (users, active today, total sites) and per-user completion progress
User Management — Create, edit, activate/deactivate users; role assignment (admin / user)
Website Management — CRUD for monitored sites with credentials, check type (daily/weekly), and user assignment
Shift Management — Define shifts with days-of-week, time windows, assigned users and sites
Reports — Shift detail, unchecked sites, and summary reports with date/user/site filters; CSV export
Logs — Activity log (user actions) and application log (system events) with search and purge
Settings — SMTP email configuration and Groq AI API key / model selection
AI Criteria Management — Create, edit, reorder, and deactivate evaluation criteria used by AI analysis

Project Structure

webchecker_web/
├── app.py                  # Flask application factory, blueprint registration
├── config.py               # DB connection pool, schema DDL, get/set settings
├── models.py               # All data-access functions (no ORM)
├── wsgi.py                 # Gunicorn entry point
├── requirements.txt
├── .env.example            # Environment variable template
├── DEPLOY.md               # Full production deployment guide
│
├── routes/
│   ├── auth.py             # Login, logout, change password
│   ├── admin_dashboard.py  # /admin/
│   ├── admin_users.py      # /admin/users/
│   ├── admin_websites.py   # /admin/websites/
│   ├── admin_shifts.py     # /admin/shifts/
│   ├── admin_logs.py       # /admin/logs/
│   ├── admin_reports.py    # /admin/reports/
│   ├── admin_settings.py   # /admin/settings/
│   ├── user_dashboard.py   # /dashboard/
│   ├── ai_summary.py       # /ai-summary/
│   └── bid_tracker.py      # /bids/
│
├── templates/
│   ├── base.html           # Sidebar layout, flash messages, nav
│   ├── login.html
│   ├── change_password.html
│   ├── ai_summary.html
│   ├── bid_tracker.html
│   ├── admin/
│   │   ├── dashboard.html
│   │   ├── users.html
│   │   ├── websites.html
│   │   ├── shifts.html
│   │   ├── logs.html
│   │   ├── reports.html
│   │   └── settings.html
│   └── user/
│       └── dashboard.html
│
├── static/
│   ├── css/style.css       # Full light-theme design system
│   └── js/app.js           # Modal helpers, tabs, session timeout warning
│
└── utils/
    ├── crypto.py           # Fernet encryption (DB-compatible with desktop app)
    └── decorators.py       # @login_required, @admin_required

URL Routes

Prefix	Description	Access
`/`	Root redirect (role-based)	Any
`/login`	Login page	Public
`/logout`	Session clear + redirect	Authenticated
`/change-password`	Change own password	Authenticated
`/admin/`	Admin dashboard	Admin
`/admin/users/`	User CRUD	Admin
`/admin/websites/`	Website CRUD + credentials	Admin
`/admin/shifts/`	Shift CRUD + assignments	Admin
`/admin/logs/`	Activity & app logs	Admin
`/admin/reports/`	Shift reports + CSV export	Admin
`/admin/settings/`	Email + Groq AI settings	Admin
`/dashboard/`	User shift checklist	User
`/ai-summary/`	AI document analysis	Any
`/bids/`	Bid / opportunity tracker	Any

Environment Variables

Copy .env.example to .env and fill in all values:

SECRET_KEY=          # Flask session secret — generate with: python3 -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))"
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_NAME=webchecker
DB_USER=webchecker_user
DB_PASSWORD=
CRYPTO_SECRET=       # Fernet key — generate with: python3 -c "from cryptography.fernet import Fernet; print(Fernet.generate_key().decode())"
GROQ_API_KEY=        # Optional — used by AI Summary feature
FLASK_ENV=production

Important: CRYPTO_SECRET must match the key used by the desktop app if you are sharing the database. The salt for encryption is stored in the app_settings table under crypto.salt.

Database Compatibility

This web application shares the MySQL database with the desktop application. Key compatibility notes:

Encryption — utils/crypto.py uses the exact same key derivation as the desktop (APP_SECRET = b"WebsiteChecker-v1-CredentialKey", 100,000 PBKDF2 iterations, base64 salt, enc: prefix). Credentials are interchangeable between apps.
activity_log — The live database column is logged_at (desktop schema). Queries use al.logged_at AS created_at for template compatibility.
app_settings — On startup, initialize_database() seeds any settings keys that are blank in the DB from the corresponding .env variables (e.g. GROQ_API_KEY → groq.api_key), using ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE … IF(value = '', …) so admin-saved values are never overwritten.
login_attempts.ip_address — The only additive column the web app creates. Added via ALTER TABLE … ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS on startup.

Development

Run locally

# 1. Clone and enter the project
cd webchecker_web

# 2. Create and activate a virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

# 3. Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# 4. Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your local MySQL credentials

# 5. Run the development server
python app.py
# Open http://localhost:5000

Restart the production service

sudo systemctl restart webchecker
sudo journalctl -u webchecker -f

Security Notes

Passwords are hashed with bcrypt (12 rounds); legacy SHA-256 hashes from the desktop app are automatically rehashed on next login.
Sessions expire after 30 minutes of inactivity. A client-side warning fires 5 minutes before expiry.
Login is rate-limited: 5 failed attempts locks the account for 15 minutes.
Credentials stored in website_credentials are Fernet-encrypted at rest. Plaintext legacy values (without the enc: prefix) are returned as-is for backward compatibility.
SECRET_KEY must remain stable across restarts — changing it invalidates all active sessions.

Deployment

See DEPLOY.md for the full step-by-step guide covering MySQL setup, Gunicorn systemd service, Nginx reverse proxy, Certbot SSL, firewall rules, log rotation, and database backup.