tCF-data

This repository stores UVA course listings for theCourseForum. It calls SIS. The website does not.

fetch_page.py requests every class-search page for one term and writes data/<term>.json. The term is the SIS code: 1, the two-digit year, then a season digit (8 fall, 6 summer, 2 spring, 1 january). Fall 2026 is 1268.

python fetch_page.py
python fetch_page.py 1268

With no argument, the term is whichever semester has started by today's date. Fall, January, and spring starts through Spring 2030 come from the registrar academic calendar. Summers after 2027, and every season after Spring 2030, use January 2, January 15, May 18, and August 25. Pass a term to fetch a different one.

The file is the class-search listing (subject, number, title, instructors, meetings, enrollment). It is not the separate per-class description page. The script writes the file only after every page succeeds.

GitHub Action

Update course data runs on the schedule in .github/workflows/update-data.yml, and when someone starts it from the Actions tab. The cron line runs once a day at 07:30 UTC. Edit that line to change the time. A scheduled run fetches the term for today's date. A manual run can pass a different term. The job commits data/<term>.json only if the file changed.

What the website does with this file

A developer runs python manage.py fetch_data in theCourseForum2. With no argument, that command uses the same date rule and downloads data/<term>.json from this repository. It does not call SIS, and it does not load the JSON into the website database.