applibot

applibot is a small React application that generates synthetic applications for DAHLIA housing listings. It automates the multi-step process of fetching listing preferences, creating realistic applicant data, and submitting short-form applications through the existing DAHLIA API.

Features

• Automated application runs – Generate one or many submissions against a listing with a single click.
• Preference-aware requests – Pulls the active preference set for a listing and fills the short-form payload accordingly.
• Reusable architecture – Business logic lives in a dedicated useApplicationGenerator hook and services/applications module, while the UI is decomposed into small React components.
• Tailwind CSS v4 – Uses the new CSS-first configuration approach for styling.
• One-command startup – Run the dev server via npm start, npm run dev, or npx applibot.

Project structure

├── bin/cli.js                    # CLI entry that boots Vite and opens the served URL
├── package.json
├── src/
│   ├── App.jsx                   # App shell wired to the custom hook and UI components
│   ├── components/
│   │   ├── CreatedApplicationsList.jsx
│   │   ├── ListingForm.jsx
│   │   └── StatusBanner.jsx
│   ├── hooks/
│   │   └── useApplicationGenerator.js
│   └── services/
│       └── applications.js
└── vite.config.js

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 or newer (Tailwind v4 tooling requires modern Node versions).
• npm (ships with Node). The CLI relies on npm_execpath when available.

Getting started

# install dependencies
npm install

# start the development server
npm start

npm start runs the custom CLI, which launches Vite and automatically opens the detected localhost URL in your default browser. If ports 5173, 5174, etc. are already taken, Vite will prompt for another port and the CLI will follow it.

CLI environment variables

Variable	Purpose	Default
APPLIBOT_URL	Override the URL opened in the browser (useful when running --host or a tunnel).	http://localhost:5173
APPLIBOT_OPEN_DELAY	Delay (ms) before the fallback URL opens if Vite hasn't printed a link.	2000
APPLIBOT_NO_OPEN	Set to any truthy value to skip auto-opening the browser.	unset

You can also bypass the CLI and run Vite directly:

npm run dev        # start Vite without auto-opening a browser
npm run preview    # preview the production build locally
npm run build      # produce an optimized build in dist/

To try the app without cloning, publish the package or point npx at the repository:

npx applibot                # runs the CLI if the package is published
# or	npx github:YOUR_ORG/applibot  # runs straight from the repo

Application flow

1. Enter a DAHLIA listing ID and the number of applications to generate.
2. The app fetches preferences for that listing (services/applications.js#getPreferences).
3. For each request, submitApplication creates fake applicant data using @faker-js/faker and posts the payload.
4. Progress is reported in the status banner, and successful applicants appear in the list with Salesforce links.

Development notes

• The default listing ID is intentionally empty; set one in useApplicationGenerator if you prefer a preset.
• API calls are proxied through Vite to https://dahlia-full.herokuapp.com. Update vite.config.js if you need a different upstream.
• Styling lives in src/index.css and leverages Tailwind directives alongside a few custom base rules.
• There are currently no automated tests; manual verification is recommended after significant changes.

Contributing

1. Fork or branch from main.
2. Run npm install and npm start.
3. Make your changes with tabs, double quotes, and semicolons to match project style.
4. Ensure the generator still creates applications successfully.
5. Open a PR summarizing the change and any manual testing performed.

Troubleshooting

• CLI opened the wrong URL – Ensure no custom console output filters the Vite logs; the CLI reads stdout to detect the first http://localhost link. Set APPLIBOT_URL as a fallback override.
• Port already in use – Vite auto-increments to the next free port. The CLI will follow, but you can pin a specific port with npm run dev -- --port 4000.
• API errors – Check the browser console/network tab for the upstream response. Authentication or listing permissions may be required.