Building an Availability Checker for Refurbished Steam Decks in Europe

The Steam Deck has revolutionized portable PC gaming, offering an exciting way to play your favorite PC games on the go. However, getting your hands on a refurbished model can be challenging due to its limited availability. To solve this, I created a Python-based Steam Deck Availability Checker that monitors stock and notifies users when refurbished Steam Decks are available in Europe.

This guide will walk you through how the project works and explain the Python code step by step so that even beginners can follow along and build their own availability checker.

Project Overview

The Steam Deck Availability Checker is a Python script designed to:

1. Periodically check Steam's store for refurbished Steam Decks using the Steam API.
2. Send real-time notifications to you when stock becomes available using the ntfy notification service.
3. Run continuously in the background when added to a scheduler like cron (on Linux) or Task Scheduler (on Windows).

This script is a great way to learn about Python, APIs, and automation while building a useful tool.

How It Works

Here’s the workflow of the script:

1. Check Stock Availability: The script queries the Steam API to see if a specific refurbished Steam Deck model is available.
2. Send a Notification: If stock is detected, the script uses ntfy to send you a notification on your phone or computer.
3. Repeat the Process: You can set the script to run periodically, so you’ll be notified as soon as stock appears.

Now, let’s break down the Python code into smaller, easy-to-understand steps.

Step 1: Import the Necessary Module

from urllib.request import urlopen

We use the urllib.request module, which is built into Python, to send HTTP requests to the Steam API and ntfy. You don’t need to install any additional libraries.

Step 2: Define Important Variables

ntfy_url = "ntfy.sh/YOUR_NTFY_URL"  # Replace with your ntfy URL
timeout = 8  # Timeout to prevent the script from hanging

• ntfy_url: This is the URL for the ntfy notification service. You need to replace YOUR_NTFY_URL with your own ntfy channel URL. To set up your channel, go to ntfy.sh and follow the instructions.
• timeout: This ensures the script doesn’t hang if the Steam API is slow to respond.

Step 3: Check Stock Availability

def parse_availability(data: bytes) -> bool:
    parsed = " ".join(f"{c:02X}" for c in data)
    not_available = "08 00 10 00"
    return parsed != not_available

• The parse_availability function processes the response from the Steam API. It converts the data into a readable format and checks if it matches the code for "not available" (08 00 10 00).
• If the data doesn’t match, it means stock is available.

Step 4: Query the Steam API

def is_available(id_: str) -> bool:
    url = (
        "api.steampowered.com/IPhysicalGoodsService/"
        "CheckInventoryAvailableByPackage/v1?origin="
        f"https://store.steampowered.com&input_protobuf_encoded={id_}"
    )
    with urlopen(f"https://{url}", timeout=timeout) as response:
        data = response.read()
    return parse_availability(data)

• id_: This is a unique identifier for the product (e.g., the refurbished 64GB Steam Deck). The script uses it to query the Steam API.
• url: The API endpoint is constructed using the product ID.
• The function sends a request to the Steam API, reads the response, and checks if stock is available by calling parse_availability.

Step 5: Send a Notification

def notify(name: str) -> None:
    message = f"Version {name} is now available!"
    print(message)
    with urlopen(f"https://{ntfy_url}", data=str.encode(message), timeout=timeout):
        pass

• The notify function sends a notification to your ntfy channel with the name of the available product (e.g., "64GB Steam Deck").
• The urlopen function sends the notification message as data to the ntfy server.

Step 6: Main Script

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Uncomment to test the notifier
    # notify("TEST")

    # Refurbished 64GB in Europe, tested in Poland
    if is_available("COGVNxICUEw="):
        notify("64GB")

• This section is the script’s starting point.
• Uncomment the notify("TEST") line to test your ntfy setup.
• The is_available function checks if the refurbished 64GB model is in stock using the product ID COGVNxICUEw=. If it is, the script sends a notification.

Final Script

from urllib.request import urlopen

# Set this
ntfy_url = "ntfy.sh/YOUR_NTFY_URL"

# We need a timeout to prevent script from hanging
timeout = 8


def parse_availability(data: bytes) -> bool:
    parsed = " ".join(f"{c:02X}" for c in data)
    not_available = "08 00 10 00"
    return parsed != not_available


def is_available(id_: str) -> bool:
    url = (
        "api.steampowered.com/IPhysicalGoodsService/"
        "CheckInventoryAvailableByPackage/v1?origin="
        f"https://store.steampowered.com&input_protobuf_encoded={id_}"
    )
    with urlopen(f"https://{url}", timeout=timeout) as response:
        data = response.read()
    return parse_availability(data)


def notify(name: str) -> None:
    message = f"Version {name} is now available!"
    print(message)
    with urlopen(f"https://{ntfy_url}", data=str.encode(message), timeout=timeout):
        pass


if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Uncomment to test the notifier
    # notify("TEST")

    # Refurbished 64GB in Europe, tested in Poland
    if is_available("COGVNxICUEw="):
        notify("64GB")

Running the Script

Here’s how to get started:

1. Install Python: Ensure you have a recent version of Python installed on your computer. You can download it from python.org.
2. Set Your ntfy URL: Replace ntfy_url in the script with your own URL. Follow the instructions on ntfy.sh to set up your notification channel and install the app on your phone (optional).
3. Run the Script: Save the code to a file (e.g., steam_deck_checker.py) and run it using Python:

   python steam_deck_checker.py

Additional Notes

• On Windows Server, you might need to add ntfy.sh and api.steampowered.com to your trusted sites in IE settings for the script to work properly.
• To run the script periodically, add it to Task Scheduler (Windows) or cron (Linux).

Conclusion

The Steam Deck Availability Checker is a simple yet powerful project that uses Python to solve a real-world problem. It’s beginner-friendly and teaches you how to work with APIs, automate tasks, and send notifications.

Feel free to check out the GitHub repository for the complete code. You can contribute to the project or customize it to monitor other products.

Happy coding!