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Suriya Prakash
Suriya Prakash

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Centralized MTurk HIT Catcher with PHP & Userscripts

#mturk #php #userscripts #automation

Managing multiple MTurk accounts can be tedious. What if you could paste multiple HIT set IDs once and let a userscript automatically accept HITs for all connected accounts?

Here’s how I built a centralized MTurk HIT catcher using PHP, a JSON endpoint, and a userscript.

Features

  • Central PHP page to save and manage HIT set IDs.

  • Toggle catching HITs on/off.

  • JSON endpoint for userscripts to fetch IDs.

  • Userscript auto-accepts HITs for multiple accounts.

  • Server rendering using Ngrok for remote access.

PHP Controller (hitaccept.php)

This page allows you to save HIT set IDs, see the current status, and serve IDs as JSON.

<?php
$file = __DIR__ . "/hit_ids.json";
$statusFile = __DIR__ . "/status.txt";

if (isset($_GET["toggle"])) {
  $status = ($_GET["toggle"] === "off") ? "off" : "on";
  file_put_contents($statusFile, $status);
  echo "Status set to $status. <a href='hitaccept.php'>Back</a>";
  exit;
}

if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] === "POST") {
  $data = $_POST["hit_ids"] ?? "";
  $ids = array_filter(array_map("trim", explode("\n", $data)));
  file_put_contents($file, json_encode($ids));
  echo "Saved! <a href='hitaccept.php'>Back</a>";
  exit;
}

if (isset($_GET["json"])) {
  header("Content-Type: application/json");
  $status = file_exists($statusFile) ? trim(file_get_contents($statusFile)) : "on";
  $ids = file_exists($file) ? file_get_contents($file) : "[]";
  echo json_encode([
    "status" => $status,
    "ids" => json_decode($ids, true)
  ]);
  exit;
}

$current = file_exists($file) ? file_get_contents($file) : "[]";
$status = file_exists($statusFile) ? trim(file_get_contents($statusFile)) : "on";
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <title>MTurk HIT Controller</title>
</head>
<body>
  <h2>📋 Paste HIT Set IDs (one per line)</h2>
  <form method="POST">
    <textarea name="hit_ids" rows="6" cols="60"></textarea><br><br>
    <button type="submit">💾 Save IDs</button>
  </form>

  <h3>Current HIT IDs</h3>
  <pre><?php echo htmlspecialchars($current); ?></pre>

  <h3>Status: <?php echo strtoupper($status); ?></h3>
  <p>
    <a href="?toggle=on">▶️ Start Catching</a> |
    <a href="?toggle=off">⏹ Stop Catching</a>
  </p>

  <p>JSON endpoint: <a href="hitaccept.php?json">hitaccept.php?json</a></p>
</body>
</html>
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What it does:

  • Save multiple HIT set IDs.

  • Toggle catching on/off.

  • Serve a JSON endpoint for your userscript.

Userscript for Auto-Accepting HITs

Install in Tampermonkey or Greasemonkey:

// ==UserScript==
// @name         MTurk Central HIT Catcher
// @namespace    yourdomain.com
// @version      1.0
// @description  Accept HITs automatically from set_ids provided by central server
// @match        https://worker.mturk.com/*
// @grant        GM_xmlhttpRequest
// ==/UserScript==

(function() {
    'use strict';

    const SERVER_URL = "https://your-ngrok-url.ngrok-free.app/hitaccept.php?json";
    const FETCH_INTERVAL = 10000; // 10s

    function fetchSetIdsAndCatch() {
        GM_xmlhttpRequest({
            method: "GET",
            url: SERVER_URL,
            onload: function(response) {
                try {
                    let data = JSON.parse(response.responseText);
                    if (data.status === "off") {
                        console.log("⏹ Catcher stopped by server.");
                        return;
                    }

                    let ids = data.ids || [];
                    ids.forEach(id => {
                        let acceptUrl = `https://worker.mturk.com/projects/${id}/tasks/accept_random?format=json`;
                        GM_xmlhttpRequest({
                            method: "GET",
                            url: acceptUrl,
                            onload: function(res) {
                                if (res.status === 200 && res.responseText.includes("task_id")) {
                                    console.log("✅ Accepted HIT:", id);
                                } else {
                                    console.log("❌ No HITs available for:", id);
                                }
                            }
                        });
                    });

                } catch (e) {
                    console.error("Error parsing JSON:", e);
                }
            }
        });
    }

    setInterval(fetchSetIdsAndCatch, FETCH_INTERVAL);
    console.log("🚀 MTurk Central HIT Catcher started, polling every", FETCH_INTERVAL/1000, "seconds");
})();
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Running the Project

  1. Start your PHP server locally: 
php -S localhost:8000
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  1. Expose it to the internet via Ngrok: 
ngrok http 8000
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  1. Replace SERVER_URL in your userscript with your Ngrok URL: 
https://your-ngrok-url.ngrok-free.app/hitaccept.php?json
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  1. Open the Tampermonkey dashboard and activate the script.

  2. Go to hitaccept.php, paste your HIT set IDs, and click Start Catching.

  3. Check your browser console for logs:

  • HIT accepted

  • No HITs available

Summary

With this setup, you can:

  • Centralize multiple HIT IDs.

  • Control the catching process via a web interface.

  • Automatically accept HITs across multiple accounts.

It’s perfect for heavy MTurk users or small teams who need automation without manual repetition.

Top comments (1)

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ss_infotech profile image
SS •

Can anybody build these kind of stuffs... i need to have that... please reply here so we can align..

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