Patch Web Local Alert Digest

WHAT IT DOES

Patch Web Local Alert Digest automatically scans Patch local news pages and alert sections to extract comprehensive local alert data including alert type (Weather, Traffic, Crime, Community, Health, School), headline, summary, timestamp, and urgency level (High, Medium, Low). The tool compiles all alerts into a chronological digest panel with color-coded urgency indicators—red for High urgency, yellow for Medium, and gray for Low. A summary badge shows total alerts, high urgency count, and medium/low urgency count at a glance. The most recent and most urgent alerts are highlighted for quick attention. You can filter alerts by type and urgency by clicking on filter tags, and your filter preferences are saved across sessions. This provides a complete, organized view of all local alerts affecting your area.

WHERE IT RUNS

This extension operates exclusively on patch.com domain pages that contain local news and alert content—specifically pages with "/alert", "/news", or "/breaking" in the URL path, or pages that display local news articles and alert listings. It works alongside the free BotGentz companion extension, which provides the necessary DOM access and page interaction capabilities. The alert digest runs entirely within your local browser instance and does not communicate with any external servers or APIs. All alert data extraction, urgency analysis, and filter preferences are processed and stored on your machine, ensuring your browsing activity and alert tracking remain private. It supports all modern Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera) and Firefox when paired with the BotGentz bridge.

HOW TO USE

After installing both BotGentz and this alert digest, navigate to any Patch local news or alert page. Within 1-2 seconds, a panel appears in the bottom-right corner displaying a summary of local alerts with total count, high urgency count, and medium/low urgency count. The "Alerts" section lists all alerts in chronological order with color-coded urgency indicators—each alert shows its type, headline, urgency badge, timestamp, and a brief summary when available. High urgency alerts appear first with a red border and bold text for quick identification. The "Filters" section lets you click on alert type tags to show or hide specific categories—your preferences are saved automatically. The panel provides a complete, at-a-glance picture of all active local alerts in your area.

LOCAL ALERT EXTRACTION AND URGENCY CLASSIFICATION

The alert digest uses a multi-strategy extraction system to locate and parse local alert data from Patch pages. It first attempts to find structured alert elements using selectors based on the site's typical class naming patterns, including "alert-item," "alert-card," "breaking-item," and "news-item." When these selectors fail due to site updates, the tool falls back to scanning page content for alert-like text patterns, looking for elements that contain breaking news keywords or local alert indicators. Each alert is categorized using a comprehensive keyword mapping system: "weather," "storm," "snow," "rain," "wind," "flood," "heat," "cold," "tornado," or "hurricane" maps to Weather; "traffic," "accident," "road closure," "detour," "construction," or "delay" to Traffic; "crime," "police," "shooting," "robbery," "theft," or "burglary" to Crime; "health," "covid," "outbreak," "hospital," "vaccine," or "flu" to Health; "school," "education," "teacher," or "student" to School; and "community," "neighborhood," "event," or "meeting" to Community. Urgency classification uses a tiered keyword system: "breaking," "urgent," "emergency," "immediate," "critical," "alert," "warning," or "danger" maps to High urgency; "developing," "update," "concern," "watch," or "advisory" to Medium; and "notice," "reminder," "information," "announcement," or "update" to Low.

THE PANEL

The alert digest panel is a compact, functional overlay that integrates into the Patch local news page. It can be dragged by clicking and holding the title bar, positioning the panel anywhere on the screen for optimal visibility while you monitor local alerts. The panel includes a built-in snap feature that automatically aligns to the nearest screen edge when released within 48 pixels, keeping your workspace organized. Click the collapse arrow in the top-right corner to minimize the panel to a small icon bubble showing a gear emoji, preserving screen space while keeping the tool accessible. The panel is not resizable in this version, maintaining a consistent compact size that works on all screen resolutions. Press the Escape key to instantly hide the panel; press Escape again to restore it. All position, collapse state, and alert type filter preferences are saved locally using GM_setValue and persist across browsing sessions.

PLEASE NOTE

This extension requires the free BotGentz extension to function—the alert digest does not work standalone. Patch occasionally updates its page layouts and news presentation formats, which may temporarily affect data extraction accuracy. The tool extracts alert data from the visible page content; if alerts are loaded dynamically after page load, you may need to wait a moment or refresh the page for the panel to populate. Urgency classification is based on keyword matching and may not perfectly reflect the actual urgency of every alert. The tool does not store or transmit any data; all alert data extraction, urgency analysis, filter preferences, and settings are processed and saved entirely within your browser. This tool is designed for personal local news monitoring and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Patch or its parent company. Local alerts are provided for informational purposes; always verify critical information through official local news and emergency services.