What is magpie?

Magpie is a starter template for building a product search website focused on a single hobby, such as collectible dolls, vinyl records, fountain pens, or trading cards. It is built to be as simple as possible: one Python file runs the server and search logic, one HTML file is the entire user interface, and it does not depend on any external Python packages. The project ships already configured as a working example called DollScout, a search site for collectible Barbie dolls, so cloning the repository gives you a complete, running demo rather than an empty shell. The search results come from Shopify's Universal Commerce Protocol, a system that lets anyone search across the product catalogs of many independent Shopify stores at once, without needing permission or an account from each individual store. When someone searches on a site built with Magpie, they see products from real stores and can click through to buy directly from the merchant. The site itself never handles carts or payments, it only helps shoppers find products and sends them onward. Beyond the basic search, the template includes features meant for running a real public website: a cache so repeated searches load instantly, rate limiting to protect against traffic spikes, search engine friendly pages with proper metadata, security headers, a polished interface with filters and a wishlist saved in the browser, and a simple stats page showing cache performance. To turn this into your own hobby focused site, you edit a single configuration file that defines your brand name, search terms, and popular queries, then replace a few placeholder images and legal pages. The project includes ready made instructions for deploying it to Fly.io as an always on web service. It is released under the MIT license.