A standalone web app for Elite Dangerous players planning rare goods trading routes, with PowerPlay integration.
Beta 2 is out - functional and used regularly by the author, but still a solo hobby project. Expect occasional rough edges. Found a bug or have a feature request? Open an issue - feedback from beta testers is exactly what this release is for. See CHANGELOG.md for what's new.
This is a personal hobby project, provided as-is with no warranty of any kind - see License below for the full terms.
ED Rare Router helps commanders:
- Scan for rare goods near their current location
- Find where rare goods originate and calculate distance from their current system
- Check legality of rare goods across different systems, with restriction details
- See which governments allow or disallow each item
- Build routes manually from scan results (the data is static, so nothing needs updating)
- Quick Scan - one button scans for all rare goods near your current system
- 142 rare commodities covering the major rare goods in Elite Dangerous
- System autocomplete backed by the EDSM API, with caching so repeat lookups are fast
- Lightyear distance calculations between systems
- Results sort closest-first, with unknown systems pushed to the end
- Three-state legality display: Always Legal, Always Illegal, or Conditional
- Shows which governments and superpowers allow or disallow each item
- Handles combined restrictions, e.g. superpower + government pairs like "Federal Democracy"
- Click to expand full legality details for any item
- Fuzzy search for PowerPlay powers, with faction badges
- Finance Ethos is detected automatically from your selected power
- Effective CP divisors are shown with Finance Ethos applied
- Vertical layout - selector panel above results at any screen size
- Optional pagination by distance, with nine page-size options (25-1000 ly)
- Each result shows pad size, cost, permit requirements, and legality
- "Back to top" button at the end of the results list
- Cost is shown as "(Est.)" from curated baseline prices or static costs, or "N/A" when unavailable
- All rare commodity data is static - locations don't change, so there's nothing to keep in sync
- System coordinates and market data are cached locally
- Route planning stays manual - you build routes from scan results yourself
See the API Documentation and Technical Design Document for the full feature writeup.
Not a developer and don't want to install Node.js or use a terminal? There's a packaged build for that:
- Grab the Windows (
-win-x64.zip) or Linux (-linux-x64.tar.gz) build from the Releases page and unzip it anywhere you can write files (Desktop or Documents - avoidProgram Files). - Double-click
ED-Rare-Router.exe(Windows) or run./ED-Rare-Router(Linux). A status window opens and your browser should launch automatically to the app. - First run only: you'll see a short setup form. Everything is optional, but filling in an EDSM "contact" string (your email or a URL) is recommended.
- Close the status window to stop the app.
This build bundles its own Node.js runtime, so nothing needs to be installed. For changing the port, updating to a new release, uninstalling, or troubleshooting, see the Packaged Build Guide.
Building this yourself, contributing, or want more control? See the Developer Guide.
-
Enter your current system - the autocomplete helps you find the right name.
-
Select your pledged power (optional) - Finance Ethos is detected automatically from your power selection. If it applies, you'll see a green message showing the CP divisor reduction. Powers with Finance Ethos: Denton Patreus, Jerome Archer, Li Yong-Rui, Zemina Torval.
-
Click "Scan Nearby Rares" - the app calculates distance and legality for all 142 rare commodities.
Results sort by distance, closest first. Each entry shows:
- Distance from your current system to the rare's origin
- Legality at your current system:
- Green "Legal" = legal everywhere
- Red "Illegal" = illegal everywhere
- Yellow "Conditional" = legal in some systems, illegal in others (click to see which)
- Pad size, cost, permit requirements, and other details
A "Back to top" button appears at the end of the list.
All results show by default. Turn on "Paginate by Distance" to break results into distance ranges - pick from nine page sizes: 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 500, or 1000 light years. Useful when a scan returns a lot of results and you want to focus on a specific range.
Finance Ethos is detected automatically from your selected power - there's no checkbox to toggle. Pick a power that has it, and a green confirmation message appears. Powers with Finance Ethos:
- Denton Patreus (Empire)
- Jerome Archer (Federation)
- Li Yong-Rui (Independent)
- Zemina Torval (Empire)
This is a beta - a few things worth knowing:
- A couple of dataset entries are still being cross-checked against community references (external sources cite ~140 rare commodities, this dataset ships 142). See Data Accuracy Notes.
- Route planning is manual by design - the app calculates distance and legality, you build the route yourself from scan results.
- Bugs, rough edges, and missing features are expected. Open an issue if you hit one, or check TODO.md for what's already planned.
- Developer Guide — building and running from source, npm scripts, project structure
- Documentation Index — every doc in this repo
- CHANGELOG.md — version history and changes
Only README.md and CHANGELOG.md live at the repo root - everything else is under /docs.
R.W. Harper (CMDR Mactavious)
Licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.
This is a personal hobby project, not a commercial product, provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, express or implied - including the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement. No guarantees are made about accuracy, reliability, or fitness for any purpose; you assume all risk associated with using it, and the author and contributors aren't liable for damages arising from its use.
See LICENSE for the full text, or visit gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html for more on GPL v3.0.