XContest Live Tracker

Real-time paragliding pilot tracking via XContest Live, right in your terminal.

Connects to XContest's WebSocket, fetches all live pilot positions, and displays the pilot you're following with automatic refresh and sound notifications.

Installation

git clone https://github.com/noeclement/xcontest-tracker.git
cd xcontest-tracker
npm install
npm link

Requires Node.js 18+ (uses native node:crypto).

Usage

Track a pilot

xct "MaxP"

By full name:

xct "Maxime Pinot"

Change refresh interval (default 10s):

xct "MaxP" --interval 10

Set a custom low point alert threshold (default 150m AGL):

xct "MaxP" --low-alt 200

Get notified at every distance milestone:

xct "MaxP" --notify-km 50

Alerts

The tracker keeps running even if the pilot isn't live yet — you'll get a native OS notification with sound when:

• The pilot appears in live tracking
• The pilot takes off (status changes from landed to flying)
• The pilot drops below the AGL threshold (low point alert)
• The pilot passes a distance milestone (e.g. 50 km, 100 km, 150 km...)

The low point detector uses hysteresis to avoid spam: once triggered, it won't fire again until the pilot climbs back above 2x the threshold. It also ignores the takeoff/extraction phase (distance < 3 km).

Works on macOS (Notification Center), Windows (Toast notifications), and Linux (notify-send).

List flying pilots

xct --list

Displays a table sorted by distance flown, refreshed every 10s.

Search for a pilot

xct --search "Pinot"

Displays results and exits.

Displayed info

For each tracked pilot:

• Height AGL (above ground level, prominent) with GPS altitude and ground elevation
• Climb/1m — altitude gained or lost over ~1 min (native XContest data)
• Vario — vertical speed in m/s (calculated between the last two fixes)
• AGL sparkline — altitude graph that builds up over the tracking session
• Distance flown (km)
• Average speed (km/h)
• Wind direction arrow + speed
• Heading — pilot direction arrow (computed from last two fixes)
• Glider, takeoff site, country
• Status: flying / landed
• Google Maps link for exact position

How it works

┌─────────────┐    WebSocket     ┌──────────────────┐
│  Terminal    │◄───────────────►│  live2.xcontest   │
│  (Node.js)  │   HMAC-SHA256   │    .org           │
│             │   handshake     │                   │
└─────────────┘                 └──────────────────┘

1. WebSocket connection to wss://live2.xcontest.org/websock/webclient
2. HMAC-SHA256 challenge-response handshake
3. Subscribe to the live feed (all pilots)
4. Receive positions (LiveFlightInfos) and pilot info (LiveStaticInfos)
5. Display and refresh at regular intervals

Project structure

src/
├── index.js     # CLI entry point, argument parsing, notifications
├── client.js    # XContest WebSocket client (handshake + protocol)
├── store.js     # In-memory store (pilots, flights, search)
└── display.js   # Terminal formatting and display

Notes

• No XContest authentication required (public live tracking data)
• Auto-reconnect on disconnection
• Search is case-insensitive and accent-insensitive
• Only pilots currently live tracking appear (today's flights)

License

MIT