Checks UK retailers for Pokemon TCG restocks and posts alerts to Discord. Currently scaffolded, not yet functional -- Smyths (Luton) is the first retailer being wired up.

• main.ts -- interval job (runs every 15 min, the free-tier minimum), loops through retailer checkers, diffs against known state, alerts on new stock.
• db.ts -- SQLite table tracking last-known stock per retailer/store/product.
• discord.ts -- posts a formatted alert to a Discord webhook.
• kernel.ts -- headless-browser session harvesting (Kernel/Playwright), for getting past Imperva/Akamai-style bot protection. Not implemented yet.
• types.ts -- shared RetailerChecker interface every retailer module follows.
• retailers/smyths.ts -- first retailer, in progress.

Smyths, GAME, and Very all block plain server-side requests with bot protection (Imperva / Akamai). Confirmed by direct testing on 2026-07-20. John Lewis and Hamleys are assumed to be similar but untested. The plan is to use a real headless browser (via Kernel) to solve the challenge once, harvest the resulting session cookies, then reuse those cookies for cheap polling until they expire.

• DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL -- where alerts get posted. Without it, the job still runs and records state, it just won't send anything. \ud83d\udc49 Add DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL here: https://www.val.town/x/CAS98/pokemon-stock-monitor/environment-variables?key=DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL
• KERNEL_API_KEY -- free account at kernel.so, Settings -> API Keys. Needed for kernel.ts to actually harvest a browser session. \ud83d\udc49 Add KERNEL_API_KEY here: https://www.val.town/x/CAS98/pokemon-stock-monitor/environment-variables?key=KERNEL_API_KEY

• Project scaffold (db, discord alerting, interval loop)
• Kernel session harvesting implemented
• Smyths Luton store-stock endpoint captured (needs a DevTools trace of the real "check store stock" request from smythstoys.com -- select Luton, hit a product page, copy the request Chrome's Network tab shows)
• Smyths checker working end-to-end
• GAME / Sports Direct
• Very / John Lewis / Hamleys