Gas Price Alert

Find and monitor gas prices with daily notifications. Use when searching for the cheapest gas in a specific area, tracking Costco and other discount fuel stations, or setting up daily gas price alerts. Supports any US location with configurable radius and fuel type.

Overview

Automatically search for the cheapest gas prices in your area, with a focus on Costco and other discount stations. Get daily notifications with the best options within a specified radius.

Quick Start

1. Configure location - Set your city/coordinates and search radius
2. Run search - Find gas stations and estimated prices
3. Schedule daily alerts - Get morning notifications with cheapest options
4. Focus on Costco - Costco typically has gas $0.15-0.25 below market average

Workflow

Step 1: Configure Your Location

Option A: Use ZIP code (recommended)

# Search by ZIP code
python3 scripts/gas_alternative.py --zip 43215 --radius 20 --fuel 87 --summary

Option B: Use coordinates

Default locations are pre-configured for Columbus, Ohio:

# Columbus, OH (downtown)
lat: 39.9612
lon: -82.9988
radius: 20 miles

To use a different location:

python3 scripts/gas_alternative.py --lat <latitude> --lon <longitude> --radius <miles>

Common US cities:

• Columbus, OH: 39.9612, -82.9988
• Chicago, IL: 41.8781, -87.6298
• New York, NY: 40.7128, -74.0060
• Los Angeles, CA: 34.0522, -118.2437
• Miami, FL: 25.7617, -80.1918

Step 2: Search for Gas Stations

# Search with summary output
python3 scripts/gas_alternative.py --lat 39.9612 --lon -82.9988 --radius 20 --fuel 87 --summary

# Save to file
python3 scripts/gas_alternative.py --lat 39.9612 --lon -82.9988 --radius 20 --fuel 87 --output gas_prices.json

Parameters:

• --zip: ZIP code (overrides lat/lon, e.g., --zip 43215)
• --lat: Latitude (default: 39.9612 - Columbus, OH)
• --lon: Longitude (default: -82.9988 - Columbus, OH)
• --radius: Search radius in miles (default: 20)
• --fuel: Fuel type - 87, 89, 91, diesel (default: 87)
• --base-price: Base price for estimation (default: 2.89)
• --output: Output file (default: gas_prices.json)
• --summary: Print human-readable summary to stdout

Step 3: Set Up Daily Alerts

Use OpenClaw cron to receive daily morning notifications:

{
  "name": "Gas price alert",
  "schedule": {
    "kind": "cron",
    "expr": "0 8 * * *",
    "tz": "America/New_York"
  },
  "payload": {
    "kind": "agentTurn",
    "message": "Get me gas prices for Columbus, OH this morning. Focus on Costco and show the cheapest 87 octane within 20 miles of downtown."
  },
  "sessionTarget": "main"
}

This runs every day at 8 AM Eastern Time.

Step 4: Receive Notifications

The agent will:

1. Search for gas stations in your area
2. Identify Costco and discount stations
3. Generate a summary with the cheapest options
4. Send the summary via Telegram

Example notification:

⛽ Gas Prices (87 Octane) - Columbus, OH

🏠 Costco (Typically Cheapest)
• Costco Gas
  💰 $2.69 (est.)
  📍 5000 Morse Rd, Columbus, OH 43213 (7.9 miles from downtown)

💡 Tip: Costco typically has gas $0.15-0.25 below market average.

Output Format

Each station includes:

{
  "source": "osm",
  "name": "Costco Gas",
  "brand": "Costco",
  "address": "5000 Morse Rd, Columbus, OH 43213",
  "lat": 39.9667,
  "lon": -82.8500,
  "distance": 7.9,
  "fuel_type": "87",
  "price": 2.69,
  "price_text": "$2.69 (est.)",
  "is_costco": true,
  "scraped_at": "2026-02-10T21:00:00.000Z"
}

How It Works

1. OpenStreetMap/Overpass API - Finds all gas stations in the area
2. Costco database - Known Costco locations are matched and prioritized
3. Price estimation - Costco prices estimated $0.15-0.25 below market average
4. Distance calculation - Uses geodesic distance for accurate mileage
5. Smart filtering - Removes duplicates and sorts by relevance

Limitations

• Real-time prices: Currently uses estimated prices for Costco. For exact prices, check GasBuddy.com or station apps.
• Coverage: Relies on OpenStreetMap data completeness
• Estimation accuracy: Costco prices estimated based on typical discount patterns

For Real-Time Prices

To get actual real-time prices:

1. GasBuddy.com - Check manually or use their commercial API
2. Station apps - Costco, Kroger, Shell, etc., have apps with current prices
3. AAA - Provides average prices by region
4. Waze - Community-sourced price updates

Troubleshooting

No stations found

• Increase the --radius parameter
• Verify coordinates are correct
• Check if the area has good OpenStreetMap coverage

Incorrect prices

• Prices for non-Costco stations are estimated as "N/A"
• Costco prices are estimates based on typical discount patterns
• For exact prices, use GasBuddy or the station's app

Geopy not installed

pip install geopy

Resources

scripts/gas_alternative.py

Main script for searching gas stations using OpenStreetMap and Overpass API.

Features:

• Finds all gas stations within radius
• Identifies Costco locations
• Estimates Costco prices
• Calculates distances
• Generates human-readable summaries

scripts/gasbuddy_search.py

Alternative script for GasBuddy integration (requires Playwright or API key).

Use when:

• You have a GasBuddy API key
• You need real-time prices
• You're willing to use Playwright for JavaScript rendering

references/locations.md

Coordinates and configurations for common US cities.

Dependencies

Install required packages:

pip install requests geopy

For Playwright-based GasBuddy scraping (optional):

pip install playwright
playwright install