What does the livestreamer-completion/twitch_channels.py script do?

Question

Python

link to github

#!/usr/bin/env python
""" twitch_channels.py - Queries Twitch for channels of interest.
    Used in conjunction with livestreamer-completion.

    Usage examples:

      ./twitch_channels.py --follows myname
      ./twitch_channels.py --team eg --team teamliquid

"""

from __future__ import print_function

from argparse import ArgumentParser
from functools import partial
from itertools import chain

import requests


API_BASE_URL = "api.twitch.tv"

def api(path, *args, **params):
    insecure = params.pop("insecure", False)
    proto = insecure and "http://" or "https://"
    url = proto + API_BASE_URL + path.format(*args)
    res = requests.get(url, params=params)

    return res.json()


def page_result(res):
    for key, values in res.items():
        if not key.startswith("_"):
            return values

    return []


def iterate_pages(func, limit=25):
    offset, total = 0, limit

    while offset < total:
        res = func(limit=limit, offset=offset)
        values = page_result(res)

        offset += len(values)
        total = res.get("_total")

        yield values


def iterate_pages_result(*args, **kwargs):
    return chain.from_iterable(iterate_pages(*args, **kwargs))


def print_channels(channels):
    for channel in channels:
        channel_name = channel.get("channel").get("name")
        print("twitch.tv/{0}".format(channel_name))


# Twitch APIs
team_channels = partial(api, "/api/team/{0}/all_channels.json", insecure=True)
streams = partial(api, "/kraken/streams")
user_follows = partial(api, "/kraken/users/{0}/follows/channels")


parser = ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument("-f", "--follows", action="append", default=[],
                    metavar="user", help="channels a user is following",)
parser.add_argument("-t", "--team", action="append", default=[],
                    metavar="team", help="channels that are part of a team")
parser.add_argument("-o", "--online", action="store_true",
                    help="Only return the channels that are online")


def main():
    args = parser.parse_args()
    if not (args.follows or args.team):
        return parser.print_help()

    channels = []
    for user in args.follows:
        myuser_follows = partial(user_follows, user)
        channels += iterate_pages_result(myuser_follows, limit=100)

    for team in args.team:
        channels += team_channels(team).get("channels", [])

    if args.online:
        channel_list = ",".join(c.get("channel").get("name") for c in channels)
        online_channels = streams(channel=channel_list).get("streams")
        if online_channels:
            print_channels(online_channels)
    else:
        print_channels(channels)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Answer 1

It is also written there , compiles a list of channels to which the user is subscribed, in order to be used for autocompletion of commands in bash. This is done by making requests to the twitch.tv API and processing json responses. Or do you have more specific questions?

Answer 2

I thought that with this you can get a list of channels and monitor these same channels (when they are online, they started broadcasting).
Why, then, does the author suggest putting this script in cron. (Put it in your crontab to automate the process regularly.)
I'm trying to figure out how to automatically start livestreamer after the streamer starts broadcasting.