FuelWatch — Crowdsourced SA Fuel Tracker
Overview
FuelWatch is a mobile-first web app for tracking diesel/petrol prices and availability at SA fuel stations. Built during the 2026 Iran war / diesel shortage crisis when diesel prices jumped from ~R21 to R28+ and many stations ran dry.
Live URL: http://161.97.110.234:8080
Files: /root/fuelwatch/ (index.html, style.css, app.js)
Service: systemctl status fuelwatch (auto-restarts, survives reboots)
Architecture
- Pure HTML + vanilla JS + CSS (no build step, no framework)
- Data in
localStorage (prototype — no backend yet) - Served by Python HTTP server via systemd
Key Features
- Station list/cards: name, suburb, fuel type, price/L, availability status
- Availability: 🟢 Has Fuel / 🟡 Low Stock / 🔴 Out of Stock
- Reports older than 2 hours flagged ⚠️ Unverified
- ➕ Report form (no login required)
- 📤 Share button (native share or clipboard)
- Search by suburb/station, filter by fuel type, sort by recent/price
- 8 seed reports pre-loaded (clears if localStorage has data)
- XSS-safe (user input escaped before render)
Extending the app
See references/backend-plan.md for the planned Supabase backend.
Add a new feature
Edit /root/fuelwatch/app.js for logic, style.css for styling, index.html for structure. No build step — changes are live immediately.
Deploy updates
# Files are served directly — edit and refresh browser
systemctl status fuelwatch # check service is running
systemctl restart fuelwatch # if needed
Add real backend (Phase 2)
- Supabase (free tier): Postgres + REST API + real-time
- Replace localStorage read/write in app.js with fetch() calls
- Add Supabase JS client via CDN script tag
- See references/backend-plan.md
WhatsApp Reporting Channel (Phase 3)
Number: +27822209212 (Stef's spare WhatsApp)
Concept: People send WhatsApp text or voice notes to report fuel availability. OpenClaw receives, parses/transcribes, and submits to FuelWatch DB automatically.
Flow:
- User sends: "Shell Edenvale diesel R27.50 has fuel" (or voice note)
- OpenClaw parses structured data: station / suburb / fuel type / price / availability
- Auto-inserts into Supabase reports table
- Web UI updates in real time
Why: Truckers + road users → voice note while driving. Zero friction. No app needed.
Requirements:
- WhatsApp channel connected to OpenClaw (wacli or WAHA)
- Supabase backend live (Phase 2 first)
- NLP parser for free-text reports (can use LLM extraction)
- Voice transcription: OpenAI Whisper or Groq Whisper
See: references/whatsapp-reporting.md (to be written when building Phase 3)
Marketing plan (when ready to go public)
- Register domain (fuelwatch.co.za or similar)
- Deploy to Vercel (free,
vercel --prod from /root/fuelwatch) - Post to: SA Facebook groups (Arrive Alive, Joburg/CT/DBN community groups, trucker groups)
- Tweet: #DieselShortage #FuelCrisis #SouthAfrica — tag @ArrivAlive @MyBroadband
- Comment on IOL/MyBroadband articles about diesel crisis
- Email MyBroadband/CarMag for coverage ("local tool built in response to crisis")
Competitive context
myTank.co.za — existing competitor. Has price comparison, rewards calc. Missing: availability status, no crowdsourcing, requires account to see prices, no crisis mode.
Our edge: availability (Has Fuel / Low Stock / Out of Stock) is the killer feature — what people actually need during a shortage.