Building an OpenTable Bot

When I write a bot like this I generally prefer using browser automation (like puppeteer). This requires less reverse engineering and is often a lot simpler and faster to implement.

Nice, I had to reserve a top restaurant in Rotterdam the Netherlands by email, I believe I failed because of ProtonMail's "Undo send" feature, which I believe just delays actually sending the mail (I cannot think of any other way it would do it). Frustrating, I wish they had a nice API so I could have my unfair advantage. Privacy is for nerds, and soon, all the best restaurants are too ;) (but kuddos to OP for sharing this code.)

This is awesome and the writeup is great!

I just wonder if posts like this spur them to make any changes to make it more difficult. I'm guessing not unless they get a lot of traction.

I'm not OK with this. You're cheating, and encouraging others to do so because OpenTable lacks the savvy to prevent it. You can say, "Not my fault, OpenTable has no security," but that's just crass IMHO. Sure, you're using it for one reservation, but what's to prevent bots from hoarding and reselling? It's like the toilet paper hoarders of 2020. Or the stock-traders who kept buying property closer to the NYSE to trade faster (and were ultimately given server space on the floor). I hope OpenTable defeats this.