Configuration Outline

Overview

This library operates by keeping a local configuration file on the system. The configuration files are located at ~/.config/google_alerts/ and will contain a config.json and session file. Please note, when using this library, it's highly encouraged to use an account dedicated to Google Alerts and one that does not have access to any other sensitive data. While your password is encoded, it's not a strong method of encryption. Additionally, your session cookie will be stored within a file which could be replayed by someone if stolen.

config.json

As the name implies, config.json will store details about the configuration. This consists of your email address, encoded password and major version of Python you used when performing the setup. You can edit this file directly, though it's best to run through the built-in command line tool by running the setup option.

session

By default, the session file will not be present until a successful authentication has taken place. This file will keep the session cookie associated with your successful login in order to reduce the need to constantly authenticate and thus cause Google to throw a CAPTCHA. If you run into issues with your authentication process and which to manually run it again, simply delete the session file and it will trigger a full authentication flow.