interview-notify

Push notifications from IRC for your private tracker interviews

features

this script parses log files from your irc client and attempts to be client-agnostic.

it sends push notifications when:

• interviews are happening
• YOUR interview is happening!
• someone mentions you
• you get disconnected from IRC
• you lose your spot in the queue due to a netsplit
• you get kicked

new in v1.4.0:

• GUI application – optional graphical interface for easy configuration (use python3 interview_notify_gui.py)
• interview analytics – track interview statistics, success rates, queue lengths, and trends (enable with --enable-analytics)
• rate limiting – prevents notification spam during mass events like netsplits (configurable with --rate-limit)
• notification history – logs all notifications to a file for review (enable with --notification-log)
• multi-channel support – watch multiple IRC channels simultaneously (specify --log-dir multiple times)

installing

• install python3. i suggest homebrew, winget, or just use the installer: https://www.python.org/downloads/
  • this script might require python3.11
• install the requests module with pip3 install requests (or use pipenv install to automatically install dependencies)
• clone this repo
  • git clone https://github.com/ftc2/interview-notify.git
• python3 interview_notify.py

for GUI users

IMPORTANT: The GUI requires tkinter. You must install the version that matches your Python installation.

Step 1: Check your Python version:

python3 --version

Step 2: Install the matching python-tk package:

• macOS (Homebrew Python):

  • For Python 3.13: brew install python-tk@3.13
  • For Python 3.14: brew install python-tk@3.14
  • Match the version to what you saw in Step 1!

• macOS (alternative): use system Python /usr/bin/python3 interview_notify_gui.py

  • Note: You may see a deprecation warning, but it will work

• Linux (Debian/Ubuntu): sudo apt-get install python3-tk

• Linux (Fedora/RHEL): sudo dnf install python3-tkinter

• Windows: tkinter is usually included, if not reinstall Python with tcl/tk option

using

GUI (recommended for beginners)

for a user-friendly graphical interface:

python3 interview_notify_gui.py

the GUI provides:

• easy configuration with forms instead of command-line arguments
• start/stop monitoring with buttons
• live log viewer
• save/load configuration
• multi-channel support with add/remove buttons

command line

for advanced users and automation, use the CLI:

pretty self explanatory if you read the help:

./interview_notify.py -h

usage: interview_notify.py [-h] --topic TOPIC [--server SERVER] --log-dir PATH --nick NICK [--check-bot-nicks | --no-check-bot-nicks] [--bot-nicks NICKS] [--mode {red,orp}] [-v] [--version]

IRC Interview Notifier v1.4.0
https://github.com/ftc2/interview-notify

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --topic TOPIC         ntfy topic name to POST notifications to
  --server SERVER       ntfy server to POST notifications to – default: https://ntfy.sh
  --log-dir PATH        path to IRC logs (continuously checks for newest file to parse)
  --nick NICK           your IRC nick
  --check-bot-nicks, --no-check-bot-nicks
                        attempt to parse bot's nick. disable if your log files are not like '<nick> message' – default: enabled
  --bot-nicks NICKS     comma-separated list of bot nicks to watch – default: Gatekeeper
  --mode {red,orp}      interview mode (affects triggers) – default: red
  -v                    verbose (invoke multiple times for more verbosity)
  --version             show program's version number and exit

Sends a push notification with https://ntfy.sh/ when it's your turn to interview.
They have a web client and mobile clients. You can have multiple clients subscribed to this.
Wherever you want notifications: open the client, 'Subscribe to topic', pick a unique topic
  name for this script, and use that everywhere.
On mobile, I suggest enabling the 'Instant delivery' feature as well as 'Keep alerting for
  highest priority'. These will enable fastest and most reliable delivery of the
  notification, and your phone will continuously alarm when your interview is ready.

testing/troubleshooting

first, use -v and make sure you can see new messages from IRC showing up:

interview_notify.py --topic your_topic --log-dir /path/to/logs --nick your_nick -v

testing notifications

interview_notify.py --topic your_topic --log-dir /path/to/logs --nick your_nick --bot-nicks Gatekeeper,your_nick -v

then type Currently interviewing: your_nick in IRC.

if it doesn't work, maybe you have a wonky log file format. try with --no-check-bot-nicks:

interview_notify.py --topic your_topic --log-dir /path/to/logs --nick your_nick --no-check-bot-nicks -v

advanced features

multi-channel support

watch multiple IRC channels simultaneously by specifying --log-dir multiple times:

interview_notify.py --topic your_topic \
  --log-dir /path/to/red/logs \
  --log-dir /path/to/ops/logs \
  --nick your_nick

interview analytics

track interview statistics and analyze patterns:

# enable analytics tracking
interview_notify.py --topic your_topic --log-dir /path/to/logs --nick your_nick \
  --enable-analytics

the script will automatically track:

• interview starts and queue lengths
• interview outcomes (passed/failed/missed)
• busiest hours for interviews
• success rates and trends

view your statistics:

# view stats for the last 30 days
python3 view_stats.py

# view stats for the last 7 days
python3 view_stats.py --days 7

# view stats for a specific channel
python3 view_stats.py --channel "red-invites"

example output:

======================================================================
Interview Statistics (Last 30 days)
======================================================================

📊 Total Interviews:     145
✅ Passed:               87 (60.0%)
❌ Failed:               42
⏰ Missed:               16
📈 Average Queue Length: 45.3

🕐 Busiest Hours (most interviews):
   18:00 - 23 interviews
   19:00 - 21 interviews
   20:00 - 19 interviews

database is stored at ~/.interview-notify-history.db by default. old data (>90 days) is automatically cleaned up.

notification history

log all notifications to a file for review:

interview_notify.py --topic your_topic --log-dir /path/to/logs --nick your_nick \
  --notification-log ~/interview-notifications.log

rate limiting

prevent notification spam during mass events (like netsplits). default is 60 seconds. critical notifications (your interview, disconnect, kick) are never rate-limited:

# set rate limit to 120 seconds
interview_notify.py --topic your_topic --log-dir /path/to/logs --nick your_nick \
  --rate-limit 120