Add Polymarket trending-bets panel with an independently-scrolling split rail

New backend/app/polymarket.py polls Polymarket's public Gamma REST API
(gamma-api.polymarket.com, no key/wallet needed) for the top 10 markets by
24h volume. Their site itself renders market data entirely client-side —
confirmed by inspecting the raw HTML response, which contains no embedded
listings — so this is the only way to get real data; there's nothing to
scrape from the page. In-memory snapshot like flights.py, not persisted.

Right rail is now a fixed 50/50 split between the Polymarket list and the
markets ticker, each scrolling independently instead of one long list
pushing the other down.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Um48tTvZDrEgDeweFyhPYC

.env.example

@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ FLIGHTS_POLL_SECONDS=300
 RSS_POLL_MINUTES=10
 MARKET_POLL_MINUTES=15
 CONFLICT_POLL_MINUTES=60
+POLYMARKET_POLL_MINUTES=15
 
 # How long an article stays "live" on the globe before aging out of clusters
 ARTICLE_WINDOW_HOURS=72

README.md

@@ -12,9 +12,16 @@ composition diagram when Wikipedia has one.
 
 - **Left rail** — latest news, newest first, auto-refreshing. A 📍 button on
   any geocoded story flies the globe to it.
-- **Right rail** — index/oil ticker with a 7-day sparkline per instrument.
-  Click one to expand its recent-spikes-with-candidate-articles preview
-  (see "Economic Incident History" below for the full log).
+- **Right rail** — top: the 10 highest-24h-volume Polymarket prediction
+  markets (title, leading outcome, volume), via their public Gamma REST API
+  (`gamma-api.polymarket.com`, no key/auth — the same endpoint their own
+  site's frontend calls; their site itself renders market data client-side,
+  so there's nothing to scrape from the HTML). Below that: the index/oil
+  ticker with a 7-day sparkline per instrument, plus a ❄ FROZEN badge on
+  any instrument with a known-stale feed (MOEX) or a ⚠ ERROR badge if its
+  last poll genuinely failed. Click an instrument to expand its
+  recent-spikes-with-candidate-articles preview (see "Economic Incident
+  History" below for the full log).
 - **Center** — the globe. News clusters render as newspaper icons (tinted
   violet→pink by corroborating-source count); conflict events render as
   magenta helmet icons plus a pulsing ring. Clicking a news icon opens a
@@ -203,6 +210,8 @@ into the red dots.
 - `GET /api/conflict-events?hours=168`
 - `GET /api/flights` — latest global OpenSky snapshot, with `is_military`
   per aircraft (see the heuristic caveat above)
+- `GET /api/polymarket` — top 10 trending prediction markets by 24h volume
+  (Polymarket's public Gamma API, no key needed)
 - `GET /api/weather/tiles/{layer}/{z}/{x}/{y}.png` — OWM tile proxy
 - `GET /api/wikipedia/summary?title=`, `GET /api/wikipedia/search?q=`,
   `GET /api/wikipedia/parliament?country=`

backend/app/config.py

@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     flights_poll_seconds: int = 300
     military_ranges_file: str = str(APP_DIR / "data" / "military_ranges.yaml")
 
+    # --- Polymarket trending bets (public Gamma API, no key needed) ---
+    polymarket_poll_minutes: int = 15
+
     class Config:
         env_file = ".env"
 

backend/app/main.py

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from .clustering import build_clusters
 from .config import settings
 from .db import get_session, init_db, SessionLocal
 from .flights import get_latest_flights
+from .polymarket import get_latest_polymarket
 from .ingest import fetch_all
 from .markets import poll_markets, merge_spikes_into_incidents, has_fetch_error, FROZEN_SYMBOLS, INSTRUMENTS
 from .conflict import enabled as conflict_enabled, poll_conflict_events
@@ -68,6 +69,13 @@ def api_flights():
     return get_latest_flights()
 
 
+# ---- Polymarket ---------------------------------------------------------
+
+@app.get("/api/polymarket")
+def api_polymarket():
+    return get_latest_polymarket()
+
+
 # ---- Articles / clusters -----------------------------------------------
 
 @app.get("/api/clusters")

backend/app/polymarket.py

@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+"""Trending Polymarket bets, via their public Gamma REST API
+(gamma-api.polymarket.com) — unauthenticated, no key/wallet required, the
+same endpoint their own frontend calls (the site itself renders market
+data client-side, so there's nothing to scrape from its HTML).
+
+Positions/volumes are high-churn like flights — kept as an in-memory
+snapshot rather than persisted history, same pattern as flights.py.
+"""
+
+import json
+import logging
+
+import httpx
+
+log = logging.getLogger("newsatlas.polymarket")
+
+EVENTS_URL = "https://gamma-api.polymarket.com/events"
+_HEADERS = {"User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0 (NewsAtlas; self-hosted news dashboard)"}
+
+_latest_markets: list[dict] = []
+
+
+def _leading_outcome(event: dict) -> str:
+    """Best-effort one-line summary of where the odds currently sit."""
+    markets = event.get("markets") or []
+    try:
+        if len(markets) == 1:
+            outcomes = json.loads(markets[0].get("outcomes") or "[]")
+            prices = json.loads(markets[0].get("outcomePrices") or "[]")
+            pairs = dict(zip(outcomes, prices))
+            if "Yes" in pairs:
+                return f"Yes {float(pairs['Yes']) * 100:.0f}%"
+        elif len(markets) > 1:
+            best_label, best_price = None, -1.0
+            for m in markets:
+                outcomes = json.loads(m.get("outcomes") or "[]")
+                prices = json.loads(m.get("outcomePrices") or "[]")
+                pairs = dict(zip(outcomes, prices))
+                price = float(pairs.get("Yes", 0) or 0)
+                if price > best_price:
+                    best_label = m.get("groupItemTitle") or m.get("question") or ""
+                    best_price = price
+            if best_label is not None:
+                return f"{best_label} {best_price * 100:.0f}%"
+    except (ValueError, TypeError, KeyError):
+        pass
+    return ""
+
+
+def poll_polymarket() -> int:
+    global _latest_markets
+
+    params = {
+        "order": "volume24hr",
+        "ascending": "false",
+        "active": "true",
+        "closed": "false",
+        "limit": "10",
+    }
+    try:
+        resp = httpx.get(EVENTS_URL, params=params, headers=_HEADERS, timeout=15)
+        resp.raise_for_status()
+        events = resp.json()
+    except Exception:
+        log.exception("Failed to fetch Polymarket events")
+        return 0
+
+    markets = []
+    for e in events:
+        markets.append(
+            {
+                "title": e.get("title", ""),
+                "slug": e.get("slug", ""),
+                "url": f"https://polymarket.com/event/{e.get('slug', '')}",
+                "volume_24h": e.get("volume24hr"),
+                "leading_outcome": _leading_outcome(e),
+            }
+        )
+
+    _latest_markets = markets
+    log.info("Polymarket poll complete: %d trending markets", len(markets))
+    return len(markets)
+
+
+def get_latest_polymarket() -> list[dict]:
+    return _latest_markets

backend/app/scheduler.py

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from .db import SessionLocal
 from .flights import poll_flights
 from .ingest import fetch_all
 from .markets import backfill_market_history, poll_markets
+from .polymarket import poll_polymarket
 
 log = logging.getLogger("newsatlas.scheduler")
 
@@ -55,12 +56,18 @@ def _run_market_backfill_job() -> None:
         session.close()
 
 
+def _run_polymarket_job() -> None:
+    count = poll_polymarket()
+    log.info("Polymarket poll complete: %d trending markets", count)
+
+
 def start_scheduler() -> BackgroundScheduler:
     scheduler = BackgroundScheduler(timezone="UTC")
     scheduler.add_job(_run_rss_job, "interval", minutes=settings.rss_poll_minutes, next_run_time=None)
     scheduler.add_job(_run_market_job, "interval", minutes=settings.market_poll_minutes, next_run_time=None)
     scheduler.add_job(_run_conflict_job, "interval", minutes=settings.conflict_poll_minutes, next_run_time=None)
     scheduler.add_job(_run_flights_job, "interval", seconds=settings.flights_poll_seconds, next_run_time=None)
+    scheduler.add_job(_run_polymarket_job, "interval", minutes=settings.polymarket_poll_minutes, next_run_time=None)
     scheduler.start()
 
     # Kick off an immediate first run of each recurring job in the

frontend/css/style.css

@@ -128,6 +128,22 @@ html, body {
 #leftPanel { left: 0; border-right: 1px solid var(--c-panel-border); }
 #rightPanel { right: 0; border-left: 1px solid var(--c-panel-border); }
 
+/* right rail: Polymarket + Markets each get a fixed 50% and scroll
+   independently, rather than one long list pushing the other down */
+.split-rail {
+  display: flex;
+  flex-direction: column;
+  overflow: hidden;
+  padding: 0;
+}
+.rail-half {
+  flex: 1 1 50%;
+  min-height: 0; /* required for a flex child to actually scroll instead of overflowing */
+  overflow-y: auto;
+  padding: 14px;
+}
+.rail-half:first-child { border-bottom: 1px solid var(--c-panel-border); }
+
 .rail h2 {
   font-size: 12px;
   text-transform: uppercase;
@@ -141,6 +157,28 @@ html, body {
 
 .scroll-list { display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: 2px; }
 
+/* polymarket trending list */
+.poly-item {
+  padding: 8px 0;
+  border-bottom: 1px solid #241533;
+}
+.poly-item a {
+  color: var(--c-text);
+  text-decoration: none;
+  font-size: 13px;
+  line-height: 1.35;
+}
+.poly-item a:hover { color: var(--c-highlight-soft); text-decoration: underline; }
+.poly-meta { font-size: 11px; margin-top: 3px; display: flex; gap: 8px; align-items: center; flex-wrap: wrap; }
+.poly-outcome {
+  background: var(--c-tag-bg);
+  border: 1px solid var(--c-panel-border);
+  color: var(--c-dark-soft);
+  border-radius: 3px;
+  padding: 1px 6px;
+  font-weight: 600;
+}
+
 /* news feed items */
 .news-item {
   padding: 9px 0;

frontend/index.html

@@ -37,9 +37,15 @@
     <div id="newsFeed" class="scroll-list"></div>
   </aside>
 
-  <aside id="rightPanel" class="rail">
-    <h2>Markets</h2>
-    <div id="marketsList" class="scroll-list"></div>
+  <aside id="rightPanel" class="rail split-rail">
+    <div class="rail-half">
+      <h2>Trending on Polymarket</h2>
+      <div id="polymarketList" class="scroll-list"></div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="rail-half">
+      <h2>Markets</h2>
+      <div id="marketsList" class="scroll-list"></div>
+    </div>
   </aside>
 
   <div id="clusterModal" class="modal hidden">

frontend/js/app.js

@@ -719,6 +719,40 @@ async function loadConflictEvents() {
   }
 }
 
+// --------------------------------------------------------- polymarket --
+//
+// Trending prediction-market bets, via the backend's proxy of Polymarket's
+// public Gamma API (no key/auth — see backend/app/polymarket.py). Sorted
+// by 24h volume server-side; this just renders what comes back.
+
+async function loadPolymarket() {
+  const el = document.getElementById("polymarketList");
+  try {
+    const res = await fetch(`${API}/polymarket`);
+    const rows = await res.json();
+    if (!rows.length) {
+      el.innerHTML = `<p class="subtle">No trending markets loaded yet.</p>`;
+      return;
+    }
+    el.innerHTML = rows
+      .map((m) => {
+        const vol = m.volume_24h != null ? `$${Math.round(m.volume_24h).toLocaleString()}` : "";
+        return `
+        <div class="poly-item">
+          <a href="${m.url}" target="_blank" rel="noopener">${escapeHtml(m.title)}</a>
+          <div class="poly-meta">
+            ${m.leading_outcome ? `<span class="poly-outcome">${escapeHtml(m.leading_outcome)}</span>` : ""}
+            ${vol ? `<span class="subtle">${vol} · 24h vol</span>` : ""}
+          </div>
+        </div>`;
+      })
+      .join("");
+  } catch (e) {
+    console.error("Failed to load Polymarket data", e);
+    el.innerHTML = `<p class="subtle">Could not load trending markets.</p>`;
+  }
+}
+
 // ------------------------------------------------------------ markets --
 
 async function loadMarkets() {
@@ -1469,12 +1503,14 @@ async function init() {
   await loadClusters();
   await loadNewsFeed();
   await loadMarkets();
+  await loadPolymarket();
   await loadConflictEvents();
   resizeGlobe();
 
   setInterval(loadClusters, 60_000);
   setInterval(loadNewsFeed, 60_000);
   setInterval(loadMarkets, 5 * 60_000);
+  setInterval(loadPolymarket, 5 * 60_000);
   setInterval(loadConflictEvents, 10 * 60_000);
 }