2026-05-29

Session 2026-05-29

Goal

Set up the Smart Groceries project structure and investigate/document the most urgent task — the Coles importer blocked by Imperva anti-bot protection.

Progress

1. Scaffolded project — Created wiki/projects/smart-groceries/ with index.md and sessions/ directory
2. Documented blocker — Identified Coles.com.au Imperva challenge as priority 1
   • Scraper returns 403 or CAPTCHA pages
   • Entire pipeline blocked until resolved
3. Investigated Imperva (brief web search):
   • Imperva’s DDoS Protection is a WAF that challenges suspicious traffic with JavaScript challenges
   • Common solutions: headless browsers with proper fingerprinting, rotating residential proxies, or using official APIs
   • Coles does not appear to have a public grocery API

Next Steps

• Explore using Playwright/Selenium with stealth plugins for Coles scraping
• Check if any third-party data providers (e.g., Grocer.co API) cover Coles pricing
• Consider reaching out to Coles about developer access

Files Modified

• wiki/projects/smart-groceries/index.md — created
• wiki/projects/smart-groceries/sessions/2026-05-29.md — this file

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Session complete. Blocker documented. No code written yet — need to determine best approach for bypassing Imperva before writing any scraper code.