costco-watch: client-side browser headers, drop Transform Rule requirement

This commit is contained in:
2026-08-12 07:47:13 -07:00
parent bdace45cd6
commit 0d1da8583e
3 changed files with 29 additions and 17 deletions
+7 -4
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@@ -5,9 +5,12 @@ Source: https://git.alexzaw.dev/alexz/costco-watch (working copy:
~/projects/costco-watch). Build + push with ./build.sh.
Gotchas:
- TARGET_URL must go through the costco-tire cloudflared proxy AND that
hostname needs a Cloudflare Transform Rule adding browser headers
(User-Agent, Accept, Accept-Language, Sec-Fetch-*). Without it Costco stalls
the request until timeout and the checker reports "error"/"blocked".
- Costco stalls (no response, just a hang) on requests lacking Sec-Fetch-*
headers. watch.js sends a browser header set in BROWSER_HEADERS - do not
strip it. Any single Sec-Fetch-* header is sufficient; UA/Accept alone are
not. Cloudflare Transform Rules CANNOT substitute for this: Sec-* headers are
on Cloudflare's restricted list, and cloudflared can't add headers at all.
- TARGET_URL goes through the costco-tire cloudflared ingress, which sets
httpHostHeader: tires.costco.com.
- State (last stock value, transition history) lives in ${APP_DATA_DIR}/data;
wiping it means the next check can re-alert.
+1 -1
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@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
"automation",
"utilities"
],
"description": "Polls a Costco tire product page on an interval and pushes an ntfy alert the moment it flips from out-of-stock to in-stock. Points at the costco-tire cloudflared proxy, which needs a Cloudflare Transform Rule attaching browser-like request headers - Costco stalls non-browser header sets.",
"description": "Polls a Costco tire product page on an interval and pushes an ntfy alert the moment it flips from out-of-stock to in-stock. Sends browser fetch-metadata headers itself - Costco stalls requests without Sec-Fetch-*, and neither cloudflared nor Cloudflare Transform Rules can supply them (Sec-* is on Cloudflare's restricted list). No Cloudflare-side configuration needed.",
"short_desc": "Alerts when a Costco tire is back in stock",
"author": "alexz",
"source": "https://git.alexzaw.dev/alexz/costco-watch",
+20 -11
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@@ -3,19 +3,28 @@
Polls a Costco tire product page on an interval and pushes an ntfy alert when
the item flips from out-of-stock to in-stock.
## Why it points at a proxy, not costco.com
## The header gotcha
Costco's bot mitigation silently stalls requests carrying a non-browser header
set (the connection completes TLS, then nothing comes back - no 403, just a
hang). The page loads fine through `costco-tire.alexzaw.dev`, a cloudflared
ingress rule with `httpHostHeader: tires.costco.com`, **provided** a Cloudflare
Transform Rule attaches browser-like request headers (`User-Agent`, `Accept`,
`Accept-Language`, `Sec-Fetch-*`, `Upgrade-Insecure-Requests`) for that
hostname. cloudflared itself cannot add headers - its `originRequest` block has
no such option - which is why the rule lives at the edge.
Costco's bot mitigation silently stalls requests that lack browser
fetch-metadata headers - TLS completes, then nothing comes back, no 403, just a
hang until timeout. Bisecting against the live site showed the gate is the
`Sec-Fetch-*` family: **any single one** of `Sec-Fetch-Site`, `Sec-Fetch-Mode`
or `Sec-Fetch-Dest` is enough to get a normal response, even with no
`User-Agent` at all. User-Agent, Accept and Accept-Language on their own make
no difference.
If the checker starts reporting `blocked`, that Transform Rule is the first
thing to verify.
This service therefore sends a browser header set itself (see
`BROWSER_HEADERS` in `watch.js`). Two things that do **not** work as fixes:
- cloudflared cannot add headers - its `originRequest` block has no such
option, it only forwards what the client sent.
- Cloudflare Transform Rules cannot set `Sec-*` headers - they're on
Cloudflare's restricted list, so the edge can't supply the one header family
that matters.
`TARGET_URL` still points at the `costco-tire.alexzaw.dev` cloudflared ingress
(which sets `httpHostHeader: tires.costco.com`), but no Cloudflare-side
configuration is required.
## Config