diff --git a/backend/coursetable_scraper.py b/backend/coursetable_scraper.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e75895
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/coursetable_scraper.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import requests
+import json
+import datetime
+import time
+
+
+#TODO change these to env variables
+cookies = {
+    'session': 'enter session',
+    'session.sig': 'etner session.sig',
+}
+
+# response = requests.get('https://api.coursetable.com/api/static/catalogs/202301.json', cookies=cookies)
+
+course_dic = {}
+for year in range(datetime.datetime.now().year-6, datetime.datetime.now().year + 6 + 1):
+    for season in range(1, 4):
+        if year not in course_dic:
+            course_dic[year]={}
+
+        data_url = f'https://api.coursetable.com/api/static/catalogs/{year}0{season}.json'
+        response = requests.get(data_url, cookies=cookies)
+
+        if response.status_code == 404:
+            print(f'unable to access {year} {season}')
+            continue
+        else:
+            print(f'scraping {year} {season}')
+
+        course_dic[year][season] = json.loads(response.text)
+        time.sleep(1)
+
+with open('courses.json', 'w') as infile:
+    json.dump(course_dic, infile)
diff --git a/backend/display_courses.py b/backend/display_courses.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d1c406
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/display_courses.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+import json
+import argparse
+
+
+with open('courses.json', 'r') as infile:
+    courses=json.load(infile)
+    new_courses={}
+    for year in courses:
+        if year not in new_courses:
+            new_courses[year] = {}
+
+        for season in courses[year]:
+            if season not in new_courses[year]:
+                new_courses[year][season] = {}
+
+            for course in courses[year][season]:
+                for code in course["all_course_codes"]:
+                    dep=code.split(' ')[0]
+                    num = str(code.split(' ')[1])
+                    if dep not in new_courses[year][season]:
+                        new_courses[year][season][dep]={}
+
+                    new_courses[year][season][dep][num]=course
+
+    courses=new_courses
+
+with open
+
+while True:
+    request=input('enter course:\n')
+    request=request.split(' ')
+    if len(request)==2:
+        year='2023'
+        season='3'
+        dep = str(request[0]).upper()
+        c_num = str(request[1])
+    else:
+        year=str(request[0])
+        season=str(request[1])
+        dep=str(request[2]).upper()
+        c_num=str(request[3])
+
+    try:
+        course=courses[year][season][dep][c_num]
+        print(f'{course["title"]}:')
+        print(f'{course["description"]}\n')
+        print(f'rating: {course["average_rating"]}')
+        print(f'difficulty: {course["average_workload"]}\n')
+
+    except:
+        print('invalid course')
+
+
+
+
+