Munich-news/QUICKSTART.md

Quick Start Guide

Get Munich News Daily running in 5 minutes!

Prerequisites

• Docker & Docker Compose installed
• (Optional) Ollama for AI summarization

Setup

1. Configure Environment

# Copy example environment file
cp backend/.env.example backend/.env

# Edit with your settings (required: email configuration)
nano backend/.env

Minimum required settings:

SMTP_SERVER=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587
EMAIL_USER=your-email@gmail.com
EMAIL_PASSWORD=your-app-password

2. Start System

# Start all services
docker-compose up -d

# View logs
docker-compose logs -f

3. Add RSS Feeds

mongosh munich_news

db.rss_feeds.insertMany([
  {
    name: "Süddeutsche Zeitung München",
    url: "https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/rss",
    active: true
  },
  {
    name: "Merkur München",
    url: "https://www.merkur.de/lokales/muenchen/rss/feed.rss",
    active: true
  }
])

4. Add Subscribers

mongosh munich_news

db.subscribers.insertOne({
  email: "your-email@example.com",
  active: true,
  tracking_enabled: true,
  subscribed_at: new Date()
})

5. Test It

# Test crawler
docker-compose exec crawler python crawler_service.py 5

# Test newsletter
docker-compose exec sender python sender_service.py test your-email@example.com

What Happens Next?

The system will automatically:

• Backend API: Runs continuously at http://localhost:5001 for tracking and analytics
• 6:00 AM Berlin time: Crawl news articles
• 7:00 AM Berlin time: Send newsletter to subscribers

View Results

# Check articles
mongosh munich_news
db.articles.find().sort({ crawled_at: -1 }).limit(5)

# Check logs
docker-compose logs -f crawler
docker-compose logs -f sender

Common Commands

# Stop system
docker-compose down

# Restart system
docker-compose restart

# View logs
docker-compose logs -f

# Rebuild after changes
docker-compose up -d --build

Need Help?

• Check README.md for full documentation
• See docs/DEPLOYMENT.md for detailed setup
• View docs/API.md for API reference

Next Steps

1. Configure Ollama for AI summaries (optional)
2. Set up tracking API (optional)
3. Customize newsletter template
4. Add more RSS feeds
5. Monitor engagement metrics

That's it! Your automated news system is running. 🎉