Munich News Daily 📰

A TLDR/Morning Brew-style news email platform specifically for Munich. Get the latest Munich news delivered to your inbox every morning.

Features

• 📧 Email newsletter subscription system
• 📰 Aggregated news from multiple Munich news sources
• 🎨 Beautiful, modern web interface
• 📊 Subscription statistics
• 🔄 Real-time news updates

Tech Stack

• Backend: Python (Flask) - Modular architecture with blueprints
• Frontend: Node.js (Express + Vanilla JavaScript)
• Database: MongoDB
• News Crawler: Standalone Python microservice
• News Sources: RSS feeds from major Munich news outlets

Setup Instructions

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• Node.js 14+
• npm or yarn
• Docker and Docker Compose (recommended for MongoDB) OR MongoDB (local installation or MongoDB Atlas account)

Backend Setup

1. Navigate to the backend directory:

cd backend

2. Create a virtual environment (recommended):

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Set up MongoDB using Docker Compose (recommended):

   # From the project root directory
   docker-compose up -d
   

   This will start MongoDB in a Docker container. The database will be available at mongodb://localhost:27017/

   Useful Docker commands:

   # Start MongoDB
   docker-compose up -d
   
   # Stop MongoDB
   docker-compose down
   
   # View MongoDB logs
   docker-compose logs -f mongodb
   
   # Restart MongoDB
   docker-compose restart mongodb
   
   # Remove MongoDB and all data (WARNING: deletes all data)
   docker-compose down -v
   

   Alternative options:

   • Local MongoDB: Install MongoDB locally and make sure it's running
   • MongoDB Atlas (Cloud): Create a free account at mongodb.com/cloud/atlas and get your connection string

5. Create a .env file in the backend directory:

   # Copy the template file
   cp env.template .env
   

   Then edit .env with your configuration:

   # MongoDB connection (default: mongodb://localhost:27017/)
   # For Docker Compose (no authentication):
   MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/
   # For Docker Compose with authentication (if you modify docker-compose.yml):
   # MONGODB_URI=mongodb://admin:password@localhost:27017/
   # Or for MongoDB Atlas:
   # MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://username:password@cluster.mongodb.net/
   
   # Email configuration (optional for testing)
   SMTP_SERVER=smtp.gmail.com
   SMTP_PORT=587
   EMAIL_USER=your-email@gmail.com
   EMAIL_PASSWORD=your-app-password
   
   # Ollama Configuration (for AI-powered features)
   # Remote Ollama server URL
   OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://your-remote-server-ip:11434
   # Optional: API key if your Ollama server requires authentication
   # OLLAMA_API_KEY=your-api-key-here
   # Model name to use (e.g., llama2, mistral, codellama, llama3)
   OLLAMA_MODEL=llama2
   # Enable/disable Ollama features (true/false)
   OLLAMA_ENABLED=false
   

Notes:

• For Gmail, you'll need to use an App Password instead of your regular password.
• For Ollama, replace your-remote-server-ip with your actual server IP or domain. Set OLLAMA_ENABLED=true to enable AI features.

6. Run the backend server:

python app.py

The backend will run on http://localhost:5001 (port 5001 to avoid conflict with AirPlay on macOS)

Frontend Setup

1. Navigate to the frontend directory:

cd frontend

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Run the frontend server:

npm start

The frontend will run on http://localhost:3000

Usage

1. Open your browser and go to http://localhost:3000
2. Enter your email address to subscribe to the newsletter
3. View the latest Munich news on the homepage
4. The backend will aggregate news from multiple Munich news sources

Sending Newsletters

To send newsletters to all subscribers, you can add a scheduled task or manually trigger the send_newsletter() function in app.py. For production, consider using:

• Cron jobs (Linux/Mac)
• Task Scheduler (Windows)
• Celery with Redis/RabbitMQ for more advanced scheduling
• Cloud functions (AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions)

Example cron job to send daily at 8 AM:

0 8 * * * cd /path/to/munich-news/backend && python -c "from app import send_newsletter; send_newsletter()"

Project Structure

munich-news/
├── backend/                # Main API server
│   ├── app.py              # Flask application entry point
│   ├── config.py           # Configuration management
│   ├── database.py         # Database connection
│   ├── routes/             # API endpoints (blueprints)
│   ├── services/           # Business logic
│   ├── templates/          # Email templates
│   └── requirements.txt    # Python dependencies
├── news_crawler/           # Crawler microservice
│   ├── crawler_service.py  # Standalone crawler
│   ├── ollama_client.py    # AI summarization client
│   ├── requirements.txt    # Crawler dependencies
│   └── README.md           # Crawler documentation
├── news_sender/            # Newsletter sender microservice
│   ├── sender_service.py   # Standalone email sender
│   ├── newsletter_template.html  # Email template
│   ├── requirements.txt    # Sender dependencies
│   └── README.md           # Sender documentation
├── frontend/               # Web interface
│   ├── server.js           # Express server
│   ├── package.json        # Node.js dependencies
│   └── public/
│       ├── index.html      # Main page
│       ├── styles.css      # Styling
│       └── app.js          # Frontend JavaScript
├── docker-compose.yml      # Docker Compose for MongoDB (development)
├── docker-compose.prod.yml # Docker Compose with authentication (production)
└── README.md

API Endpoints

POST /api/subscribe

Subscribe to the newsletter

• Body: { "email": "user@example.com" }

POST /api/unsubscribe

Unsubscribe from the newsletter

• Body: { "email": "user@example.com" }

GET /api/news

Get latest Munich news articles

GET /api/stats

Get subscription statistics

• Returns: { "subscribers": number, "articles": number, "crawled_articles": number }

GET /api/news/<article_url>

Get full article content by URL

• Returns: Full article with content, author, word count, etc.

GET /api/ollama/ping

Test connection to Ollama server

• Returns: Connection status and Ollama configuration
• Response examples:
  • Success: { "status": "success", "message": "...", "response": "...", "ollama_config": {...} }
  • Disabled: { "status": "disabled", "message": "...", "ollama_config": {...} }
  • Error: { "status": "error", "message": "...", "error_details": "...", "troubleshooting": {...}, "ollama_config": {...} }

GET /api/ollama/models

List available models on Ollama server

• Returns: List of available models and current configuration
• Response: { "status": "success", "models": [...], "current_model": "...", "ollama_config": {...} }

GET /api/rss-feeds

Get all RSS feeds

• Returns: { "feeds": [...] }

POST /api/rss-feeds

Add a new RSS feed

• Body: { "name": "Feed Name", "url": "https://example.com/rss" }
• Returns: { "message": "...", "id": "..." }

DELETE /api/rss-feeds/<feed_id>

Remove an RSS feed

• Returns: { "message": "..." }

PATCH /api/rss-feeds/<feed_id>/toggle

Toggle RSS feed active status

• Returns: { "message": "...", "active": boolean }

Database Schema

Articles Collection

{
  _id: ObjectId,
  title: String,
  link: String (unique),
  summary: String,
  source: String,
  published_at: String,
  created_at: DateTime
}

Subscribers Collection

{
  _id: ObjectId,
  email: String (unique, lowercase),
  subscribed_at: DateTime,
  status: String ('active' | 'inactive')
}

Indexes:

• articles.link - Unique index to prevent duplicate articles
• articles.created_at - For efficient sorting
• subscribers.email - Unique index for email lookups
• subscribers.subscribed_at - For analytics

News Crawler Microservice

The project includes a standalone crawler microservice that fetches full article content from RSS feeds.

Running the Crawler

cd news_crawler

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run crawler
python crawler_service.py 10

See news_crawler/README.md for detailed documentation.

What It Does

• Crawls full article content from RSS feed links
• Extracts text, word count, and metadata
• Stores in MongoDB for AI processing
• Skips already-crawled articles
• Rate-limited (1 second between requests)

Customization

Adding News Sources

Use the API to add RSS feeds dynamically:

curl -X POST http://localhost:5001/api/rss-feeds \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "Your Source Name", "url": "https://example.com/rss"}'

Styling

Modify frontend/public/styles.css to customize the appearance.

License

MIT

Contributing

Feel free to submit issues and enhancement requests!