vgde

vgde (Video Game Data Explorer)

vgde is a Python tool for quickly exploring and fetching information about video games using the RAWG Video Games Database API. Enter the name of a game, and vgde provides details such as the release date, rating, description, and more—all right from your terminal.

Features

Fetches Live Game Data
Retrieves up-to-date video game information from the RAWG API.
Rich Output
Displays game name, release date, rating, description, and a background image URL.
Flexible Input
Use interactive prompts or pass the game name directly as a command-line argument.
Robust Error Handling
Gracefully handles network issues, SSL errors, invalid input, rate limiting, and missing API key scenarios.
Developer Mode
Enable detailed debug logging for troubleshooting and development.
Clean Description Display
Removes HTML tags for readable output; truncates lengthy descriptions.
Configurable Timeout
Set request timeout duration via environment variables (1-300 seconds).
Enhanced Security
- API key validation and sanitization
- SSL/TLS certificate verification
- Protection against HTML entity expansion attacks
- Response size limits to prevent memory exhaustion
- Secure API key handling (never logged in debug mode)
Smart Search Suggestions
Provides helpful suggestions when no game is found.
Debug Mode Flag
Run with --debug flag for detailed troubleshooting without changing environment variables.

🛠 Requirements

Python 3.x
requests Python library

🚀 Installation

Clone the repository

 git clone https://github.com/veddevv/vgde.git
 cd vgde

Install dependencies
```
 pip install -r requirements.txt
```

⚡️ Usage

Set your RAWG API key
Obtain a free API key from RAWG and set it as an environment variable:
```
 export RAWG_API_KEY='your_api_key_here'
```
Note: The API key must be between 10-100 characters and will be automatically validated.

Run vgde

Interactive mode
```
python vgde.py
```
Direct mode
```
python vgde.py "The Witcher 3"
```
Debug mode (for troubleshooting)
```
python vgde.py "Portal 2" --debug
```

⚙️ Configuration

vgde can be customized via the following environment variables:

Variable	Required	Description	Default	Valid Range
`RAWG_API_KEY`	Yes	Your RAWG API key (10-100 characters)	—	—
`DEVELOPER_MODE`	No	Set to `true`, `1`, `t`, `yes`, `y`, `on`, `enable`, or `enabled` to enable verbose debug logging	`false`	—
`REQUEST_TIMEOUT`	No	Timeout in seconds for API requests	`10`	1-300

Example:

RAWG_API_KEY='your_key' DEVELOPER_MODE=true REQUEST_TIMEOUT=15 python vgde.py "Portal 2"

Command-Line Options

game_name (optional positional argument): The name of the game to search for
--debug: Enable debug mode for the current run (overrides DEVELOPER_MODE environment variable)

Example with debug flag:

python vgde.py "Cyberpunk 2077" --debug

📝 Example Output

==================================================
Game: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
==================================================
Released: 2015-05-18
Rating: 4.67/5

Description:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a story-driven, open world adventure set in a visually stunning fantasy universe full of meaningful choices and impactful consequences...

Background Image: https://media.rawg.io/media/games/...

🔒 Security Features

vgde implements several security measures to protect your system and data:

API Key Validation: Validates API key format and length before use
SSL/TLS Verification: Always verifies SSL certificates for secure connections
Input Sanitization: Game names are validated and sanitized to prevent injection attacks
Response Size Limits: Enforces maximum response sizes (10MB) to prevent memory exhaustion
HTML Parsing Protection: Guards against HTML entity expansion attacks with character limits
Timeout Bounds: Request timeouts are bounded between 1-300 seconds
Secure Logging: API keys are never logged, even in debug mode
Error Handling: Comprehensive error handling for network, SSL, and API errors

🐞 Troubleshooting

Missing API Key:
Make sure you’ve set your RAWG_API_KEY environment variable.
Invalid API Key:
Ensure your API key is between 10-100 characters. Check for extra spaces or quotes.
No Results Found:
The tool will provide search suggestions. Try:
- Checking the spelling of the game name
- Using the official game title
- Removing special characters or trademark symbols (™, ®, ©)
- Using a shorter or more specific name
Timeouts or Network Errors:
Check your internet connection, or increase REQUEST_TIMEOUT (max 300 seconds).
SSL Certificate Errors:
This may indicate a network security issue. Ensure you’re on a trusted network and your system’s SSL certificates are up to date.
Rate Limiting:
If you receive a rate limit error, wait for the specified time before making another request. The RAWG API has rate limits for free tier users.
Need More Details?
Run vgde with the --debug flag to see detailed error messages and diagnostic information:
```
python vgde.py "Game Name" --debug
```

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