GigWatch is an open-source, self-hosted job watcher. You install it on a machine you control, point it at job or freelance feeds, and it polls those feeds on a schedule, filters the listings against your skills and rules, remembers what it has already shown you, and alerts you when something new matches. It is a software project, not a hardware product, and the repository describes it as standard-library-only, so it runs on a laptop or desktop you already own as well as on a server.
The refresh loop it is meant to replace
The motivation comes from a DEV Community write-up published on 29 September 2026. Its author describes switching between several job boards, reloading each one, and mentally tracking whether a listing had already been seen. That loop is what GigWatch targets: fetch the feeds, compare against a record of previous results, and notify only on what is new and relevant. The author’s own framing is the best summary of the problem, so the tool is worth judging against that specific workflow rather than against job search in general.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsHow a GigWatch cycle works
Each run follows the same sequence. The order matters because filtering happens before alerting, and deduplication happens before filtering counts are reported.
- Poll. Fetch each configured source, whether it is a built-in connector, an RSS or Atom feed, or a JSON endpoint.
- Filter. Apply the category, location, and exclusion filters you configure, then score what remains against your profile.
- Deduplicate. Check each listing against a local state file that records what the tool has already seen, so a listing is not alerted twice.
- Alert. Send new matches to the console, by email, or to Slack, or hold them for a batched digest.
Scheduling is handled either by the built-in watch command, which repeats scans, or by an external scheduler such as cron, described below.
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Filters and relevance scoring
Filters are configurable and include category, location, and exclusion rules. Beyond pass/fail filtering, the README describes a relevance score in which title matches carry more weight than body matches. A skill that appears in a job title therefore ranks higher than the same skill buried in a long description, which tends to reduce noise from listings that only mention a keyword in passing.
The rank command: LLM or heuristic
The rank command scores listings against a profile and explains the result. According to the README, ranking uses an LLM when an API key is configured. Without a key, it falls back to a deterministic heuristic. You can run the whole tool without any AI service, and the heuristic output is repeatable from run to run, which is useful when you want to audit why a listing scored the way it did.
Which sources are built in
The README lists five built-in sources, and the title’s “5 boards” may or may not match the boards you check. The table separates documented built-in connectors from generic feed support and from sources that the README only describes through other routes.
| Source | How the README documents it | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Remotive | Built-in connector | Works without extra configuration |
| We Work Remotely | Built-in connector | Works without extra configuration |
| RemoteOK | Built-in connector | Works without extra configuration |
| Jobicy | Built-in connector | Works without extra configuration |
| Hacker News “Who is Hiring?” | Built-in connector | Works without extra configuration |
| Any RSS or Atom feed | Generic feed support | Use it for boards that publish a feed; availability depends on the site |
| Any JSON endpoint | Generic endpoint support | Use it where a site exposes structured listing data you are permitted to read |
| Described via RSS | Not a dedicated built-in connector; coverage depends on the feed you supply | |
| Upwork | Roadmap item, via a user-supplied export | Not a built-in source as documented |
Support for a source in the README is not a guarantee that the source will always return results. The project does not establish uptime, rate limits, or the terms of use for any external board, so check those terms yourself before polling a site on a schedule.
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Running it: laptop, cron, Docker, or a VPS
The README documents several ways to run GigWatch, and none of them is required. You can install from source or use pip or pipx. Every option below runs the same program; they differ only in whether the machine stays on.
| Setup | What the README documents | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Laptop or desktop | Run directly from the command line | Occasional checks, or testing your filters before automating |
| cron | Scheduled runs | Regular polling on a machine that stays on |
| Docker | Containerized run | Repeatable setup across machines |
| VPS | Always-on remote host | Continuous alerting when your own computer is often off; optional |
A VPS is an option for always-on alerting, not a requirement. If you already have a computer that can run Python, you do not need to buy server hardware, a single-board computer, or any other device to use GigWatch.
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Rank #4
- powful cputhe cpu of the raspberry pi 4 model b adopts the latest arm cortex-a72 architecture, which is also used in high-performance smartphones, and has evolved into a real pc.the operating clock has been changed from pi3's 1.2ghz to 1.5ghz, and the speed has become a different dimension with the updated architecture.
- video output/gputhe on-board gpu of the raspberry pi 4 supports 4kp@60 and newly supports h.265 decoding, opengl es 3.0, etc.as for the video output, two micro hdmis with smaller connectors are installed, and the raspberry pi 4 also supports dual screen output.
- usb 3.0with a new soc, the speed of the raspberry pi 4 around i/o has been improved, and finally usb 3.0 is supported.usb boot is faster and more convenient.
- network&bluetoothgigabit ethernet (wired lan) has also been significantly speeded up from 300mbps of pi 3b + to 1000mbps (logical value).in addition, bluetooth supported version has been upgraded to 5.0, and the transfer speed of pi 4 has been doubled.
- power input connectorthe power input connector of the raspberry pi 4 has been changed to usb type c. it is easier to use than micro usb and can supply a larger current reliably.the power requirement of raspberry pi 4 model b is 5v 3.0a, which is higher than the previous model.
The optional serve command
The serve command exposes what the watcher has collected in four forms:
- a dashboard in the browser
- a JSON endpoint for your own scripts
- an RSS endpoint, so you can read results in a feed reader
- a health probe, which is useful when you run the tool in Docker or on a server
Because serve produces a local feed, it is also the easiest way to read matches without setting up Slack or email.
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Reading the author’s example numbers
The DEV Community write-up reports two examples. They are the author’s own runs, not independent benchmarks, and they should not be read as typical results for any feed or board.
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| Example in the write-up | Jobs fetched | Matching filters | New |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry-run across the author’s configured sources (2026 write-up) | 362 | 22 | Not stated |
| Sample output from one source | 17 | 4 | 2 |
The first row shows how a filtered run can reduce a large feed to a short list. It does not show how many listings any particular board will produce, how the filters were tuned, or how often the results would repeat.
License, pricing, and hosted options
The README states: “The core is free and MIT-licensed.” That is the project maintainer’s statement in the repository documentation, not an independent license review, but it is the basis for using the self-hosted tool without a fee.
The README also lists optional commercial offerings: a hosted tier at $29 per month and a custom-setup option at $99 one-time, both shown in the README as accessed in 2026. Current availability and purchase terms for either offering were not verified, so check the repository for the latest details before relying on them. Neither is needed to run the self-hosted core.
Trade-offs and limits to weigh
- Source dependence. Every built-in or feed-based source can change its format or go offline, and the tool cannot correct that.
- Your own operations. Scheduling, updates, and protecting the local state file are your responsibility on a self-hosted install.
- Ranking quality. Without an API key, ranking is a heuristic. An LLM ranking step needs a key and an external service, which adds cost and a dependency.
- Limited coverage of named sites. LinkedIn and Upwork do not have dedicated built-in connectors as documented, so they depend on RSS or a manual export.
- Unverified outside testing. No independent evaluation of GigWatch’s performance was available when this article was written; the figures above come from the author.
The Bottom Line
GigWatch suits developers and technically confident job seekers who check the same few feeds repeatedly and are comfortable running a command-line tool on a machine they control. It is a weaker fit for anyone who wants a turnkey service with guaranteed coverage of specific sites, or who is not prepared to maintain scheduling and source configuration. Start with one or two sources and a narrow filter, confirm the alerts behave the way you expect, and only then widen the setup.
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