Under the hood

How CampSnag Alerts Work

We check recreation.gov every 90 seconds. The moment a site opens, you get a text with a direct booking link with the exact available dates. Here's exactly how it works.

1

You set an alert

Tell us the park, your date range, and how many nights you need. We store your alert and begin monitoring immediately — no waiting period.

2

We poll recreation.gov every 90 seconds

Our server checks the recreation.gov availability API for every campground we monitor. Every 90 seconds, day and night, including holidays. We check for cancellations, new dates, and any availability that matches your criteria.

Technical details

API sourcerecreation.gov RIDB availability API (public, no auth required)
Poll interval90 seconds per campground
Deduplication30-minute cooldown per campsite to prevent duplicate alerts
Uptime24/7 — Railway cloud hosting with keep-alive monitoring
3

A match is found

When a campsite opens that matches your park, date range, and nights, we immediately build a direct link to that exact campsite on recreation.gov. No searching required on your end.

4

You get a text in under 90 seconds

We send you an SMS via Twilio with the campsite name, available date, and a direct link to the open dates on rec.gov. Here's what it looks like:

🏕 CampSnag: Site D034 at Jumbo Rocks (Joshua Tree) is available July 12–14! Book now → recreation.gov/camping/campsites/...

One tap opens the exact campsite booking page on recreation.gov. Log in and complete checkout — the whole thing takes about 30 seconds.

5

You book it — or we keep watching

If you book the site, great — cancel your alert from the dashboard. If someone else got there first, we keep monitoring. Your alert stays active until you cancel or your subscription ends.

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