Alarm for eBay, Game Build Times, and Medications: A Practical Reminder System

Why automate these three tasks together?

Automating eBay notifications, game build timers, and medication alerts may at first seem like mixing apples, bicycles, and stethoscopes. But they share several practical commonalities:

All three require scheduled or event-driven reminders.
Each benefits from clear, actionable notifications (e.g., bid placed, build completed, dose taken).
They often demand different urgency levels and delivery channels—some must be immediate (medication), while others are flexible (game builds).
A central system reduces cognitive load and avoids missed deadlines or doses.

Bringing them under one automation umbrella lets you reuse infrastructure (schedulers, notification services, user preferences) and apply consistent reliability and logging across diverse tasks.

Design principles

1) Prioritize safety and reliability

Medication alerts are safety-critical. They must be delivered reliably, confirmed when taken, and escalate if missed.
For eBay and game builds, missing a notification is inconvenient but non-critical. Design the system so non-critical failures never compromise critical ones.

2) Clear urgency levels and escalation

Define at least three priority levels:

High — medication reminders, missed-dose escalations (SMS/phone call).
Medium — auction-ending alerts, bid confirmations (push notifications, email).
Low — build progress updates and completion summaries (in-app notifications, desktop toasts).

Escalation paths for high priority: repeated reminders, alternate contacts, or phone call if no acknowledgement.

3) Centralized scheduling with modular adapters

Build a scheduler core that delegates to adapters:

eBay adapter — monitors auctions, triggers on events (ending soon, outbid).
Game-build adapter — integrates with build servers/CI (start, progress, complete).
Medication adapter — stores schedules, intervals, and rules (e.g., take after meals).

Adapters translate domain events into standardized notification objects consumed by the notification engine.

4) Multi-channel notifications with user preferences

Allow users to set preferred channels per priority and per task type. Typical channels:

Push notifications (mobile apps)
SMS (for high-priority or fallback)
Email (summaries, receipts)
Webhooks (for power users to connect to other systems)
Phone calls (TTS for critical escalations)

5) Auditing and confirmations

Maintain logs of all alerts sent and delivery/acknowledgement status. For medications, require user confirmation (tap button, scan QR code on pillbox) and log missed confirmations with timestamps.

Implementation overview

System components

Scheduler core (cron-like with reliability guarantees)
Adapters/integrations (eBay API, CI systems like Jenkins/GitHub Actions, medication database)
Notification engine (channels, templates, retries)
User preferences & rules engine
Persistence & auditing (database, event store)
Mobile/web client (for configuration, confirmations, and local notifications)
Fallback escalator (SMS gateway, phone call provider)

Data model (simplified)

User { id, contact_methods, timezone, preferences }
Task { id, type[eBay|Build|Medication], priority, schedule_or_event_rule, target }
Notification { id, task_id, channel, status[sent|delivered|acked|failed], timestamp }
Acknowledgement { notif_id, user_id, method, timestamp }

eBay adapter details

Use eBay APIs (Finding, Shopping, Trading, and Notifications APIs) to monitor listings, watchlist, bids, and seller messages.
Key events: auction ending soon, outbid/won, message from buyer/seller, price changes.
Poll frequency: for auctions ending soon, poll more frequently (e.g., every minute during last 15 minutes). For watchlists or saved searches, poll every 5–15 minutes.
Rate-limit handling: implement exponential backoff and cache responses to avoid API throttling.
Example notification flow: auction ends in 10 min → send medium-priority push → 1 min before end send SMS if user opted in.

Game build adapter details

Integrate with CI/CD/build systems via webhooks or API (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI, TeamCity).
Track build lifecycle: queued → running → progress (if available) → success/failure.
For long builds, send periodic progress or ETA updates to reduce context switching.
Offer “quiet hours” or do-not-disturb windows to avoid notifications during meetings/sleep.
For failed builds, include actionable details: failing job, error logs link, suggested next steps.

Medication adapter details

Support one-time doses, recurring schedules, PRN (as-needed) meds, and variable regimens.
Allow dosing rules: take with food, avoid within X hours of another med, splitting doses.
Store medications with metadata: name, dose, route, instructions, start/end dates, refill reminders.
Deliver reminders with acknowledgment workflows:
- Primary: push notification with “Taken” button.
- Secondary: SMS or automated call if no ack within configured window.
- Tertiary: notify caregiver or designated contact after repeated misses.
For high-risk meds, integrate with smart pill dispensers or Bluetooth pill bottles to confirm physical dispensing.
Maintain adherence reports and export options for clinicians.

Example user flows

1) eBay: Auction close alert

User watches an auction; system creates a task tied to the eBay listing ID.
Scheduler increases poll frequency during final 15 minutes.
At 10 minutes left: push notification sent.
At 1 minute left and user hasn’t bid: SMS sent (if enabled).
If auction won: email receipt and optional calendar entry for shipping deadlines.

2) Game build: Long-running build

Build starts; CI sends webhook with build ID.
System creates a build task and estimates duration from past runs.
User receives initial “build started” notification.
If build exceeds expected ETA by 30%: send progress update with link to logs.
On failure: immediate high-visibility notification with failure summary.

3) Medication: Daily insulin reminder

Medication schedule set for 8:00, 13:00, 20:00 daily.
At 8:00: push reminder sent. User taps “Taken” — logged.
At 8:10: if no ack, SMS sent.
At 8:30: call to user’s secondary phone number and notify caregiver if still missed.
Weekly adherence report emailed to user and optionally shared with clinician.

UX considerations

Simple onboarding: import watchlists from eBay, connect CI accounts with OAuth, and add meds via scanning pill bottles or Rx barcodes.
Template notifications with context: for eBay include remaining time and minimum bid; for builds include failing step and logs link; for meds include dosage and precautions.
Flexible snooze and reschedule: allow quick snooze (5/10/30 min) for non-critical alerts.
Privacy: medication and health data must be encrypted at rest, with clear consent for sharing with caregivers or clinicians.
Accessibility: voice prompts for visually impaired users, large-action buttons, and easy confirmation flows.

Reliability, security, and compliance

Use durable job queues and persistent state to ensure scheduled notifications survive restarts.
Implement retry policies with exponential backoff for failed deliveries.
Encrypt sensitive data (medication lists, contact numbers) at rest; use TLS in transit.
Audit trails for all sent notifications and acknowledgments.
For medical use cases, consider regulatory requirements (HIPAA in the US, GDPR in EU) when storing or sharing health data; minimize stored sensitive data and offer data export/deletion.
Rate-limit handling for third-party APIs (eBay, SMS providers, CI services) and fallbacks when quotas exhausted.

Example tech stack

Backend: Node.js/Python/Go microservices
Scheduler & queues: Redis + BullMQ or RabbitMQ/Kafka
Database: PostgreSQL for relational data; event store (e.g., Kafka) for audit trails
Mobile: React Native or native iOS/Android for push notifications
Notification providers: Twilio (SMS/voice), FCM/APNs (push), SendGrid (email)
CI integrations: Webhooks for GitHub Actions, Jenkins APIs
Infrastructure: Kubernetes for scaling, Prometheus/Grafana for monitoring

Measuring success

Key metrics to track:

Delivery rate by channel (sent → delivered → acknowledged)
Medication adherence rate (daily/weekly)
Time-to-notify for eBay events (latency between event and user notification)
Mean time to acknowledge build failures
False-positive/false-negative rates for detected events
System uptime and scheduler reliability

Collect user feedback loops to fine-tune notification thresholds, escalation rules, and channel preferences.

Conclusion

A unified automation system for eBay notifications, game build durations, and medication alerts can reduce cognitive load and prevent costly or dangerous misses. The key is to treat medication reminders with the highest reliability and escalation, while crafting flexible, user-friendly flows for eBay and build notifications. By designing modular adapters, a robust scheduler, multi-channel delivery, and strong security and auditing, you can build a single platform that keeps auctions on track, builds moving, and medications taken on time.