Deploy and Host a BOCHK Appointment Monitor on Railway

Deploy a Flask dashboard that checks the Bank of China (Hong Kong) appointment system for available dates, records each check, and sends an email notification when a configured date becomes available.

About Hosting the BOCHK Monitor

This template runs the web dashboard and background monitor from one Railway service. The dashboard uses HTTP Basic Authentication, displays the latest result and history, and allows monitoring settings to be saved from the web interface.

A Railway Volume is mounted at /app/data. It stores config.json and daily logs, so settings and history survive normal redeployments. Email can be sent through SMTP with optional Resend API fallback.

Why Deploy the Monitor on Railway

Keep the checker and dashboard online without maintaining a server.
Persist configuration and daily logs on a Railway Volume.
Manage email credentials and monitoring intervals through Railway Variables.
Review service output and HTTP errors in Railway logs.

Common Use Cases

Monitor a small set of preferred appointment dates.
Track which dates are available while receiving email only for selected dates.
Review historical checks from the dashboard and daily log files.
Use SMTP, an email provider, or Resend for notifications.

Dependencies for BOCHK Monitor Hosting

Deployment Dependencies

SMTP credentials, or a Resend API key for email delivery.
A sender address and at least one receiver address.
A Railway Volume mounted at /app/data.
A strong dashboard password and Flask session secret.

Required Variables

ADMIN_USERNAME=admin
ADMIN_PASSWORD=replace-with-a-strong-password
FLASK_SECRET_KEY=replace-with-a-random-secret

MAIL_HOST=smtp.example.com
MAIL_PORT=465
MAIL_USER=your-email@example.com
MAIL_PASS=your-smtp-password-or-app-code
SENDER=your-email@example.com
RECEIVERS=receiver1@example.com,receiver2@example.com

Optional monitoring and fallback settings:

RESEND_API_KEY=re_your_resend_key
MONITOR_CHECK_DATES=20260213,20260214
MONITOR_INTERVAL_SECONDS=120
MONITOR_NOTIFY_ON_AVAILABLE=true
MONITOR_ALL_DATES=false
TZ=Asia/Hong_Kong

After Deployment

Open the Railway domain and sign in with ADMIN_USERNAME and ADMIN_PASSWORD.
Confirm the SMTP settings and send a test notification if the dashboard provides one.
Set the dates to monitor and the check interval.
Confirm that /app/data is attached to persistent storage.
Add Railway health monitoring and review logs after the first scheduled check.

The monitor only reports availability. It does not reserve or book appointments. Use it in accordance with the bank's terms and do not send excessive requests.

Source

https://github.com/wsbjj/bochk_monitor_web