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#

bash

# 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:

1. User sends: "Shell Edenvale diesel R27.50 has fuel" (or voice note)
2. OpenClaw parses structured data: station / suburb / fuel type / price / availability
3. Auto-inserts into Supabase reports table
4. 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.