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Architecture

Stack

Layer Technology
Frontend Vue 3, Pinia, UnoCSS
API FastAPI (Python), host networking
Database SQLite (WAL mode)
Scraper Playwright + Chromium + Xvfb
Container Docker Compose

Data flow

graph LR
    User -->|search query| VueSPA
    VueSPA -->|GET /api/search| FastAPI
    FastAPI -->|Browse API or Playwright| eBay
    eBay --> FastAPI
    FastAPI -->|score_batch| TrustScorer
    TrustScorer --> FastAPI
    FastAPI -->|BTF enrich queue| XvfbScraper
    XvfbScraper -->|seller profile| eBayProfile
    eBayProfile --> XvfbScraper
    XvfbScraper -->|account_age update| SQLite
    FastAPI -->|SSE push| VueSPA

Database layout

Snipe uses two SQLite databases in cloud mode:

Database Contents
shared.db Sellers, listings, market comps, community signals, scammer blocklist
user.db Trust scores, saved searches, user preferences, background tasks

In local (self-hosted) mode, everything uses a single snipe.db.

WAL (Write-Ahead Logging) mode is enabled on all connections for concurrent reader safety.

Seller enrichment pipeline

eBay's Browse API returns listings without seller account ages. Snipe fetches account ages by loading the seller's eBay profile page in a headed Chromium instance via Xvfb.

Each enrichment session uses a unique Xvfb display number (:200–:299, cycling) to prevent lock file collisions across parallel sessions. Kasada bot protection blocks headless Chrome and curl-based requests — only a full headed browser session passes.

Affiliate URL wrapping

All listing URLs are wrapped with an eBay Partner Network (EPN) affiliate code before being returned to the frontend. Resolution order:

  1. User opted out → plain URL
  2. User has BYOK EPN ID (Premium) → wrap with user's ID
  3. CF affiliate ID configured in .env → wrap with CF's ID
  4. Not configured → plain URL

Licensing

Layer License
Discovery pipeline (scraper, trust scoring, search) MIT
AI features (photo analysis, description reasoning) BSL 1.1
Fine-tuned model weights Proprietary

BSL 1.1 is free for personal non-commercial self-hosting. SaaS re-hosting requires a commercial license. Converts to MIT after 4 years.