Building a virtual pet for repo health with GitLab webhooks

Tanukigotchi is a Flask-based GitLab webhook demo that translates repository activity such as pushes, merge requests, pipeline results, force pushes, issues, and emoji reactions into a virtual pet’s changing health score, with real-time browser updates delivered through Server-Sent Events. The example illustrates how to configure GitLab project webhooks, route multiple event types through a single endpoint, inspect delivery logs, and account for GitLab’s lack of automatic retries and temporary disabling after repeated failures. It emphasizes secure verification of Standard Webhooks HMAC-SHA256 signatures using raw request bytes and constant-time comparisons, while noting that signing tokens are only displayed once and should be stored during setup. The app also demonstrates asynchronous issue auto-labeling, safeguards against feedback loops caused by API write-backs, and agent-assisted development that remains subject to merge-request pipelines and human review. Operational considerations include automating webhook creation and token updates, preventing cold-start timeout failures with keepalive jobs or queues, and choosing GitLab’s built-in automation tools rather than webhooks when workflows do not need to leave the platform.

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