Curlex AKA Curlminder

Curlex is a number fetcher created by Beeminder, allowing you to track any number in any publicly accessible web page.

What can I beemind with Curlex?

This integration fetches a number from a URL on the web. Any publicly accessible link will do.

The number needs to be available in the HTML (not generated by Javascript) and something that is consistently available on that page, without logging in.

How do I use a regex to fetch the number I want?

If you don't know how to do this, you could try asking folks on our forum!

At the moment, the support team won't be able to help you with this, as it's intentionally designed as a self-serve integration.

Can I beemind numbers on private pages with Curlex?

No. Beeminder has to be able to visit the page without a login.

The datapoint from Curlex is way different than the actual number on the webpage or is no longer updating

Sounds like something's gone wrong with the regex! If it previously worked and now doesn't, something might have changed about the page design.

If you need help replacing the regex, contact support letting us know what the new one should be, and we can replace it for you.

Curlex sample goal setup

  1. Head to create a new goal (also accessible through the New Goal link in the top menu).
  2. Click the Curlex icon to start a new goal using Curlex data.
    Curlex logo
  3. Read the warning and click the "I am prepared" button to proceed!
  4. Paste the URL for the webpage containing the number you want us to fetch into the box, and then hit "Check URL". I'm grabbing a number from my character profile in Final Fantasy XIV...

    Beeminder + Curlex: "Enter a public URL which we can fetch with a GET request. We will GET your URL and take the body of that request as a string". There's a box to enter a URL, followed by a button that says "Check URL"
    You'll see a modal containing the raw HTML. It's a good idea at this point to check that the number you want is listed in the raw HTML, and isn't generated by Javascript. If you're happy, scroll to the bottom and click "Looks good!"
  5. Now you need to give us the regex! Enter it in the box, and then click the button to check it.

    Same Beeminder + Curlex page as before, but a new section has opened up. "Next, we need a regular expression. This should have at least one match group. We will take the first group and parse it as a number. That will be what we enter to your goal every day." Below that there's a box to add the Reglar Expression, a button to check it, and then a Match result which will show the number we get, the number which will be added to your goal.
    If the number matches your expectation, hit "Looks good" to continue! If not, you might need to troubleshoot your regular expression.
  6. Now you need to tell us your units (the name of the thing you're using us to count, which will determine the label on the y-axis of your graph), and the rate. If you want to add a bit of leeway to the start of your goal, where the rate is 0/day, this is also your chance.

    Another section has opened up, asking "What are we tracking?" with a box to enter the name of your goal units, and then your "Redline rate", the number you want to do per day. You can also check a box to start with extra safety buffer.
    Following this is a section explaining that this goal is being set up as a custom goal, so you can tweak things, e.g. change the safe side of the line. The world's your oyster, the sky's your limit, and we're mixing our metaphors like a kid with fingerpaints.
  7. Give your goal a brief name. If you want, you can also write a short description with more information.

    "Give your goal a name", followed by two text entry boxes. The first allows you to enter a short slug which will name your goal and create a URL for it. The second textbox allows you to set a short description, and is optional.
  8. Finally, choose your initial pledge. This is the amount you will pay the first time you derail on the goal. After derailing, the pledge will increase by default — use the dropdown below to control how high it goes by selecting the cap. In the example below, I have chosen to start at a $5 pledge, which will increase each time I derail, until it reaches $270 — the pledge cap. (To read more about pledges and payments, check out some FAQs!)

    If you want to start out with a sort of trial period, you can choose to start the goal at $0. If you do that, the pledge will automatically increase to $5 after seven days. If you derail before that, it will also increase to $5.

    Screenshot of the "Starting Stakes" screen. The text says "Your pledge will increase each time you derail until you reach your pledge cap (which you can adjust below)", with a demonstration below showing the pledge progression: 5, 10, 30, 90... to the pledge cap, which currently shows $270. Below, a checkbox button allows you to choose to "Hold the pledge at $0 for 7 days while I get my feet wet"
  9. And your goal's created! It might be ready to go already like this one... or you might need to jump into your custom goal settings to get things sorted.

    Example graph showing +1 minion due in 4 days or pay $5
    To do that, click on the "Settings" tab below the graph, and scroll to the bottom. Here the goal's set up like a Do More goal, but you can change all kinds of settings. For more info, check out the page on custom goals.

    Custom settings section of the graph page


Keywords: autodata integrations, nerds, URLminder, regular expressions, regexes, regex, cURL, curlex, curlminder, parsing numbers from web pages

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