craigwatch and libcraigscrape are a tightly-coupled, ruby solution for (largely) unix-based systems.

craigwatch

craigwatch is an automated crontab-friendly script to monitor craigslist for new postings which match specific criteria.

libcraigscrape

libcraigscrape is the supporting ruby library designed to do the heavy lifting between craigslist and your ruby programs.

Installation

Via RubyGems:

sudo gem install libcraigscrape

And optionally, install the following libraries to support craigwatch itself:

sudo gem install kwalify activerecord actionmailer sqlite

craigwatch Usage

Review the craigwatch reference in rdoc for full details Sample email output:

libcraigscrape Usage

Review the full libcraigscrape rdoc reference for details, but here's a teaser:

require 'libcraigscrape'
require 'date'
require 'pp'
posts = CraigScrape.scrape_posts_since 'http://miami.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=apple', Time.parse('Apr 25')
posts.each do |post|
pp post
end

Download/More Resources

See our rubyforge libcraigscrape repository for relases and downloads, forums, and a wiki.

Other Useful craigslist programs and scripts

• cscrape - A GUI-based craigslist monitoring tool for Windows
• WWW::Scraper::CraigsList - a perl-based craigslist scraper
• Craigslist Monitor by WebServiceMart - Your Gateway to Web Services Information and Resources.
• The Craigslist Toolbar - A useful ie/firefox toolbar for working with craigslist.
• CLSearch Pro - A well-rounded commercial craigslist tool for Windows users.