Portfolio & AlpenQueue Playground

Transformed from postcard to playground – an interactive portfolio that doubles as a live demo for AlpenQueue, featuring real-time web scraping with Server-Sent Events.

Live Demo

Try it now: https://maxtheweb.com

Submit a scraping job and watch results stream in real-time. Pre-filled with HackerNews for instant gratification:

• URL: https://news.ycombinator.com
• Selector: .athing .titleline

Features

• Interactive Web Scraping Demo – Submit jobs to AlpenQueue, see results instantly
• Real-Time Updates – Server-Sent Events stream results as they complete
• Live Statistics – Track jobs queued and results received in your session
• Terminal Aesthetic – Dark theme with mountain-green (#4a9e5f) accents
• Auto-Reconnection – SSE connection automatically recovers from network issues
• CSS Selector Support – Extract any content using standard CSS selectors

Architecture

┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐
│   Browser   │────▶│  Portfolio  │────▶│ AlpenQueue  │
│             │     │   (Nginx)   │     │     API     │
└─────────────┘     └─────────────┘     └─────────────┘
       ▲                                        │
       │                                        │
       │            ┌─────────────┐            │
       └────SSE─────│ Webhook-SSE │◀──Webhook──┘
                    │   (:8081)   │
                    └─────────────┘

Technology Stack

• Frontend: HTML5, CSS3, Vanilla JavaScript (no frameworks!)
• Backend: Go 1.25 (webhook-SSE service)
• Integration: AlpenQueue API
• Infrastructure: Nginx, Systemd, Let's Encrypt SSL
• Hosting: Self-hosted on €5/month Hetzner VPS

Project Structure

portfolio/
├── index.html          # Main interactive playground
├── styles.css          # Terminal-style dark theme
├── script.js           # SSE client & form handler
├── webhook-sse/        # Go SSE broker service
│   ├── main.go        # Webhook receiver & SSE broadcaster
│   └── go.mod         # Go module (1.25)
└── README.md          # You are here!

Installation & Deployment

Local Development

1. Clone the repository

   git clone git@git.maxtheweb.com:maxtheweb/Portfolio.git
   cd Portfolio
   

2. Run the webhook-SSE service

   cd webhook-sse
   go run main.go
   # Server listening on :8081
   

3. Serve the frontend

   # From project root
   python3 -m http.server 8080
   # Visit http://localhost:8080
   

4. Configure AlpenQueue endpoint (optional)

   • Update script.js to point to your AlpenQueue instance
   • Or use the public demo at https://alpenqueue.maxtheweb.com

Production Deployment

1. Nginx Configuration (/etc/nginx/conf.d/portfolio.conf)

   server {
       server_name maxtheweb.com www.maxtheweb.com;
       root /var/www/portfolio;
   
       location / {
           try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
       }
   
       location /events {
           proxy_pass http://localhost:8081/events;
           proxy_set_header Connection "";
           proxy_http_version 1.1;
           proxy_buffering off;
           proxy_cache off;
       }
   
       location /webhook {
           proxy_pass http://localhost:8081/webhook;
       }
   }
   

2. Systemd Service (/etc/systemd/system/webhook-sse.service)

   [Unit]
   Description=Webhook SSE Service for Portfolio
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   User=webhost
   Group=webhost
   WorkingDirectory=/var/www/portfolio/webhook-sse
   ExecStart=/var/www/portfolio/webhook-sse/webhook-sse
   Restart=always
   RestartSec=10
   
   # Security hardening
   NoNewPrivileges=true
   PrivateTmp=true
   ProtectHome=true
   ProtectSystem=strict
   ReadWritePaths=/var/www/portfolio/webhook-sse
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   

3. Enable and start the service

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl enable webhook-sse
   sudo systemctl start webhook-sse
   

4. SSL with Let's Encrypt

   sudo certbot --nginx -d maxtheweb.com -d www.maxtheweb.com
   

How It Works

1. User submits a scraping job via the web form
2. Portfolio sends POST request to AlpenQueue API
3. AlpenQueue queues the job and returns job ID
4. AlpenQueue processes the job (fetches URL, extracts content)
5. AlpenQueue sends webhook with results to webhook-SSE service
6. Webhook-SSE broadcasts result to all connected SSE clients
7. Browser receives event and displays result with animation
8. Statistics update to reflect new job and result

API Integration

AlpenQueue Jobs API

Request:

POST https://alpenqueue.maxtheweb.com/jobs
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "selector": ".content",
  "webhook_url": "https://maxtheweb.com/webhook"
}

Response:

Job 7 created

SSE Event Format

Connection:

const eventSource = new EventSource('https://maxtheweb.com/events');

Event Data:

event: job-result
data: {
  "status": "ok",        // or "error", "blocked"
  "took": "0.3s",       // execution time
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "content": "Extracted content here..."
}

Keep-Alive:

event: ping
data: keep-alive

Configuration

Webhook-SSE Service

The service runs on port 8081 by default. No configuration file needed – it's designed to be simple and self-contained.

CORS Headers

• SSE Endpoint (/events): Allows https://maxtheweb.com
• Webhook Endpoint (/webhook): Allows https://alpenqueue.maxtheweb.com

Frontend Configuration

Edit script.js to modify:

• AlpenQueue API endpoint (line ~50)
• SSE endpoint (line ~150)
• Result display limit (default: 10)
• Reconnection delay (default: 5000ms)

Development

Running Tests

# Test SSE connection
curl -N https://maxtheweb.com/events

# Test webhook endpoint
curl -X POST https://maxtheweb.com/webhook \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status":"ok","took":"0.5s","url":"test","content":"Hello!"}'

Building Webhook-SSE

cd webhook-sse
go build -o webhook-sse main.go

Code Style

• JavaScript: Vanilla JS, no frameworks, clear function names
• Go: Standard library only, channel-based concurrency
• CSS: BEM-like naming, CSS variables for theming

Security Considerations

• CORS: Properly configured for each endpoint
• Service User: Runs as non-root webhost user
• Systemd Hardening: PrivateTmp, ProtectSystem, NoNewPrivileges
• Input Validation: URL and selector validated client-side
• Rate Limiting: Consider adding nginx rate limits for production

Performance

• Buffered Channels: SSE broker uses 100-message buffer
• Result Limiting: Frontend displays last 10 results
• Non-Blocking Broadcast: Slow clients don't affect others
• Efficient DOM Updates: Results added with minimal reflow
• Auto-Reconnection: 5-second backoff prevents thundering herd

Contributing

Issues and pull requests welcome at git.maxtheweb.com/maxtheweb/Portfolio

Development Workflow

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test locally with both services running
5. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License – See LICENSE file for details.

Credits

• Built by: Max @ maxtheweb.com
• Powered by: AlpenQueue – A lightweight task queue in Go
• Hosted on: €5/month Hetzner VPS (self-hosted with pride!)
• Inspired by: The transformation from "postcard to playground"

---

"What started as a simple portfolio became an interactive demonstration of real-time web technologies. Sometimes the best portfolios don't just tell – they show."

Links

• Live Demo: https://maxtheweb.com
• AlpenQueue: https://git.maxtheweb.com/maxtheweb/AlpenQueue
• AlpenQueue API: https://alpenqueue.maxtheweb.com