wl_tools — WeatherLink Dashboard & Logger

A Python suite that polls the Davis WeatherLink API v2, logs readings to CSV/JSON, and serves a real-time environmental dashboard in the browser.

Features

• Live dashboard — dark/light theme, auto-refreshes every 5 minutes, shows sample data instantly before the API responds
• 4-column responsive grid — drag widgets to reorder, drag their right edge to resize (1–4 columns), hide/show per widget, all persisted to localStorage
• 5-day forecast — Open-Meteo (no API key), uses config lat/lon, browser geolocation, or a city/ZIP you type in edit mode; each day shows a Meteocons sky icon, high/low, precipitation chance, and dominant wind direction (arrow + compass point) with peak speed in knots
• Data logging — CSV + JSON per month, stored in LOGS/
• Daily email report — sends a summary and CSV attachment via SMTP/Gmail
• CI — flake8 lint + bandit security scan on every push

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• requests (pip install -r requirements.txt)
• A Davis WeatherLink account with API v2 credentials

Installation

git clone https://github.com/i-machine-things/wl_tools.git
cd wl_tools
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp example.config.json config.json

Edit config.json:

{
    "api": {
        "key":       "YOUR_API_KEY",
        "secret":    "YOUR_API_SECRET",
        "stationId": "YOUR_STATION_ID"
    },
    "email": {
        "sender_email":    "you@gmail.com",
        "sender_password": "app-specific-password",
        "recipient_email": ["you@gmail.com"],
        "smtp_server":     "smtp.gmail.com",
        "smtp_port":       587
    },
    "timezone": {
        "offset_hours": -8
    },
    "location": {
        "lat": 47.6062,
        "lon": -122.3321
    }
}

location is optional but improves the 5-day forecast on first load. If omitted the forecast falls back to browser geolocation or a city search in edit mode.

Get your API credentials from weatherlink.com/account/api.
Find your station ID by running python wl_logger.py --list-stations.

Dashboard

python wl_dashboard.py

Open http://localhost:8081. The dashboard shows built-in sample data immediately and replaces it silently when the API responds. A SAMPLE DATA badge in the header disappears once live data loads; it switches to NO CONNECTION if the API is unreachable.

Edit mode

Click EDIT in the header to enter edit mode:

Action	Result
Click a widget overlay	Toggle visibility
Drag the grip (≡)	Reorder widgets
Drag the blue handle on the right edge	Resize (1–4 columns)
Click the column indicator (■□□□)	Cycle column width
Set a location in the forecast widget	Save city/ZIP for the forecast

All layout changes persist across page reloads via localStorage.

Logger

Poll the API once and write to LOGS/:

python wl_logger.py

Schedule with crontab (Linux/macOS) or Task Scheduler (Windows):

# Every 15 minutes
*/15 * * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/wl_logger.py

Logs are written to LOGS/weather_data_<Mon>_<YYYY>.csv and .json.

Logged fields

Field	Description
timestamp	ISO 8601 local time
temp	Temperature (°F)
humidity	Relative humidity (%)
dew_point	Dew point (°F)
heat_index	Apparent temperature (°F)
wet_bulb	Wet bulb temperature (°F)
pm_1 / pm_2p5 / pm_10	Particulate matter (µg/m³)
aqi_val / aqi_desc	US EPA AQI value and category
wind_speed / wind_gust	MPH
wind_dir	Degrees
pressure	Barometric pressure (inHg)
rainfall	Daily accumulation (in)
solar_rad	Solar radiation (W/m²)
uv_index	UV index

Email report

python wl_report.py

Schedule a daily summary:

# Daily at 8 PM
0 20 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/wl_report.py

Requires Gmail app-specific password — see Google's guide.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
SAMPLE DATA badge stays visible	config.json not found or API credentials invalid — check key/secret/stationId
NO CONNECTION badge	Dashboard server running but API unreachable — verify credentials and network
401 Unauthorized	Wrong API key or secret
Forecast not loading	Set location.lat/lon in config.json, or use edit mode to search by city
Crontab not running	Check full Python path (which python3) and script path (pwd)

License

GNU General Public License — see LICENSE for details.