Check Validation API Service

This project is a backend component of a chatbot built on Corezoid for validating fiscal receipts (checks). The chatbot allows users to scan a QR code from a receipt, and then sends the extracted URL to this Flask-based Check Validation API Service for further processing.

The API performs the following tasks:

• Validates the URL format and extracts the receipt identifier.
• Sends a request to the official tax authority's website to retrieve the receipt.
• If the receipt is found, scrapes and parses the HTML page to extract relevant receipt details.
• Returns the extracted data in a structured JSON format data (such as company name, fiscal code, total amount, etc.) for further processing by the chatbot.

Features

• Validates the URL format and extracts the receipt identifier.
• Sends a request to the official tax authority's website to retrieve the receipt.
• If the receipt is found, scrapes and parses the HTML page to extract relevant receipt details.
• Returns the extracted data in a structured JSON format data (such as company name, fiscal code, total amount, etc.) for further processing by the chatbot.
• Utilizes the httpx library for primary web scraping.
• If standard scraping fails (due to bot protection or rate limits), the API can optionally use the paid Scrapfly service for reliable data extraction.
• Utilizes the BeautifulSoup library for parsing data.
• Provides descriptive error messages with status codes.
• Supports environment configuration via .env file.
• Logs all API calls and errors for debugging.

Technologies

• Python 3.8+
• Flask
• httpx
• BeautifulSoup (bs4)
• dotenv
• Scrapfly (optional paid service)