ferry.fyi

A better tracker for the Washington State Ferry System

An alternative to the WSDOT mobile app. With Ferry FYI, you get:

✨ Polished, modern UI with dark mode support

🔮 Forecasted sailing fullness

⌚ More accurate delay reporting

📢 Filtered WSF bulletins

📷 Traffic cameras: ordered, tagged, and enhanced

⛴️ Supports all WSF routes

🗺️ Shortcuts to VesselWatch

🎫 Link to reserve sailings

Prerequisites

• Docker
• Git LFS
• Heroku CLI

Setting up dev environment

1. Install postgres
   1. Create a database named ferryfyi (CREATE DATABASE ferryfyi;)
2. git clone git@github.com:anstosa/ferry.fyi.git
3. cd ferry.fyi
4. git lfs install && git lfs pull
5. yarn
6. cp .envrc.sample .envrc and fill out .envrc file (use direnv or similar to populate variables)
7. yarn db:migrate to initialize database

Local container stack

For a prod-like local Docker Compose setup with the app, detector runtime, Postgres, and automatic database migrations, see Local container development.

Run the full containerized development stack with yarn dev:up.

Running locally

yarn installs the repository pre-commit hook automatically. It type-checks app changes, synchronizes Capacitor artifacts after native dependency or configuration changes, and compiles Android resources for native edits.

1. Run yarn client
2. Run yarn server (in another terminal)
3. Go to http://localhost:4040

Android testing

From WSL, yarn start:android uses the Windows Android SDK and emulator when it is installed, avoiding WSL graphics issues. It waits for Android itself to finish booting, builds the APK in WSL, then installs and opens it through Windows ADB. It uses the first configured AVD by default; set ANDROID_AVD_NAME to select a specific emulator. Without a Windows SDK, it falls back to the Linux emulator.

Physical device

1. Plug device into Windows via compatible cable
2. Run adb tcpip 5555 on Windows
3. Run adb connect <phone ip>:5555 in WSL
4. Run adb reverse tcp:4040 tcp:4040 in WSL
5. Run npm run start:android to load app onto phone

WSA

1. Install WSA
2. Enable Developer Mode in WSA Settings
3. Open any WSA app
4. Run adb connect <WSA ip from settings page>
5. Run npm run start:android to load app into WSA or run app from Android Studio

Android Release

Use the Publish apps GitHub Action with platform android and the release version, or push an android-v* tag. It starts from a clean checkout, installs dependencies, builds the production web bundle, runs cap sync android, signs the App Bundle, and uploads it to Play internal testing. No local build, sync, or version-code command is required before committing.

iOS development and release

The iOS target is generated from the same Capacitor app as Android and requires macOS, Xcode, and an Apple Developer account for device builds and App Store distribution.

1. Install dependencies with yarn on a Mac.
2. Set AUTH0_IOS_CLIENT_ID to the dedicated Auth0 iOS application, set AUTH0_CLIENT_REDIRECT to fyi.ferry://callback, and add that URL to the Auth0 application's allowed callback and logout URLs. Keep only the Auth0 database connection enabled for the iOS application; the web application retains Google for the /ios account-migration flow.
3. Run yarn open:ios, select the App target in Xcode, and choose the Apple Developer signing team. Keep the bundle identifier as fyi.ferry unless the registered App ID requires a different one.
4. Run yarn ios to build, sync, and launch on a selected simulator or connected iPhone. The iPhone must grant camera and location access for ticket scanning and nearby-terminal features.
5. For a release, use Publish apps with platform ios and the release version, or push an ios-v* tag. The workflow builds, synchronizes, signs, and uploads the TestFlight archive from a clean checkout.

yarn build:ios builds the production web bundle with an iOS-specific cache name and synchronizes it into the Xcode project. Run it again after changing web code or Capacitor plugins. The generated project targets iOS 15 and later.

For automated TestFlight uploads, configure the GitHub Actions credentials in iOS TestFlight release automation, then push an ios-v* tag or run Publish apps manually.

Credits

Thank you to for providing free cross-browser testing.

Weather data and forecasts are provided by Open-Meteo under CC BY 4.0. Ferry FYI uses and summarizes this data for capacity forecasts.