Deploying a Receipt Upload System for quickdumpnow.com and Automating Port Sheet Management with Google Sheets API

What Was Done

This session focused on two parallel infrastructure efforts: deploying a receipt management system for a trailer rental business at quickdumpnow.com/books, and automating port sheet data entry for the JADA sailing calendar system. The receipt system required CloudFront cache invalidation and S3 object key strategy refinement. The port sheet automation involved authenticating with Google Sheets API, inspecting Excel file structures, and building Python tooling to programmatically update spreadsheet data.

Receipts System Deployment

The Problem

The quickdumpnow.com domain had a /books directory prepared locally at /Users/cb/Documents/repos/sites/quickdumpnow.com/books/index.html, but CloudFront was returning the homepage (404 redirect configured) instead of serving the page. This occurred because the S3 object didn't exist yet, and the CloudFront distribution had a custom error response rule redirecting all 404s to the homepage.

S3 Deployment Strategy

We uploaded the books landing page using a dual-key approach:

• books/index.html — Traditional key for explicit file access
• books/ — Bare directory key for clean URL handling

This pattern ensures both https://quickdumpnow.com/books (pretty URL) and https://quickdumpnow.com/books/index.html resolve correctly. The dual-key approach compensates for CloudFront's directory index behavior and provides redundancy.

robots.txt Blocking

We updated /Users/cb/Documents/repos/sites/quickdumpnow.com/robots.txt to block the /books path from search engine indexing:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /books/
Disallow: /books

This prevents the receipt upload page from appearing in search results, appropriate for a private business tool rather than public content.

CloudFront Invalidation

After uploading both objects to S3, we invalidated CloudFront cache paths:

• /books
• /books/*
• /robots.txt

CloudFront invalidations propagate within 30–60 seconds, so immediate verification required waiting for TTL expiration across edge locations.

Port Sheet Automation with Google Sheets API

Authentication Challenge

The port sheet system required read/write access to Google Sheets and Google Calendar. We discovered a scope mismatch: the existing calendar token at ~/.config/gcloud/application_default_credentials.json (Drive scopes) couldn't refresh with calendar-specific credential files.

The solution was creating a dedicated reauthentication script:

• /Users/cb/Documents/repos/tools/reauth_jada_calendar.py — New OAuth flow handler

This script uses the OAuth 2.0 authorization code flow to obtain fresh tokens with both Drive and Calendar scopes, storing credentials in a predictable location for consumption by the main port sheet script.

File Format Inspection

The port sheet template exists as an Excel file (.xls format) with multiple sheets. To programmatically write entries, we needed to understand the exact structure. We used xlrd for legacy XLS inspection:

python3 -c "import xlrd; wb = xlrd.open_workbook('port_sheet.xls'); print([sh.name for sh in wb.sheets()])"

This revealed the sheet names and structure. We discovered that openpyxl handles modern Excel formats better, so we converted the template to XLSX for Python tooling:

pip3 install openpyxl --break-system-packages

Port Sheet Data Model

The JADA Port Log structure includes:

• Template sheet — Standardized entry format with validation rules
• Monthly tabs — One per month (e.g., "April") containing entries
• Entry format — Specific columns for charter name, amount, date, and captain info

For the charter entry "Joseph Zurek | $1,845.72", we created/updated the April 2026 tab with proper column alignment matching the template sheet.

Python Port Sheet Writer

The main automation lives in /Users/cb/Documents/repos/tools/jada_port_sheet.py. This script:

• Authenticates with Google Sheets API using stored OAuth tokens
• Lists all tabs in the Port Log sheet to detect the current month
• Reads existing data from the active tab to prevent duplicates
• Appends new charter entries in the correct row, maintaining formula references
• Handles sheet creation for new months when needed

The script was refined across multiple iterations to correctly use sheetId values (integer identifiers) rather than sheet names when making Sheets API calls, which is required for batchUpdate operations.

Infrastructure Decisions

Why Dual S3 Keys for /books

CloudFront's directory index behavior is inconsistent across configurations. By uploading to both books/index.html and a bare books/ key, we ensure that:

• Legacy clients requesting /books/index.html get the explicit object
• Modern pretty-URL requests get served correctly
• CloudFront cache is populated for both patterns, reducing origin requests

Why Block /books in robots.txt

Receipt uploads are internal business tools. Blocking them from search indexing:

• Prevents accidental exposure of business financial data
• Reduces crawl budget waste on low-value pages
• Signals to search engines that this path is not for public consumption

Why Separate OAuth Flows for Drive vs Calendar

Google's OAuth scopes are granular: Drive and Calendar have separate credential flows. Building a dedicated reauthentication script allows:

• Future expansion to Calendar API features (event creation, reminders)
• Scope updates without rebuilding the entire port sheet system
• Clear separation of concerns between data sources

What's Next

The receipt upload UI at quickdumpnow.com/books is now live. The next phase is building the frontend form to capture receipt metadata (date, amount, charter name, notes) and integrate it with the port sheet system.

The port sheet automation is functional for manual trigger via Python script. Next steps include:

• Integrating a cron job or Cloud Functions trigger to update port sheets on a schedule
• Building an API endpoint to accept charter data from the receipt upload form
• Adding validation to prevent duplicate entries and flag missing data