drcm-bot

Matrix bot written in TypeScript, estimated for use at dR Community Matrix (dRCM). Under the hood, it heavily relies on matrix-bot-sdk.

This bot is in pre-alpha stage of development. Always keep bot's storage backed up. I mean, it's even double on production as we move forward.

Getting Started

Let's cut to the chase and set up local development environment.

Prerequisites

• Node.js and npm;
• user's credentials dedicated for the bot on any Matrix homeserver (access token or username/password pair);
• for the better developer experience, we recommend Visual Studio Code as an IDE.

Package Installation

Use npm to install dependencies:

$ npm install

Receiving Access Token

First things first, if you don't have access token yet, create a new Matrix session via this small command line utility:

$ npm run auth -- --username USERNAME --password PASSWORD [--device-name HOSTNAME]

[INFO] [auth] Access token: ********************************************

Save this access token for the next step. Make sure it isn't leaked.

Adding Configuration

We will need one environment variable overriden to make bot functional. For that, create .env file with this line:

MATRIX_ACCESS_TOKEN=********************************************

By default, persistent bot data is written into storage/bot.json. It is where we keep common state of the bot between reloads. State may consist of information about Regular and Head Members, as well as miscellaneous events.

Encryption is supported by introducing Pantalaimon, the most straightforward reverse proxy without burden to reinvent a crypto storage. Configure credentials accordingly with PANTALAIMON_USERNAME and PANTALAIMON_PASSWORD environment variables. Otherwise, inability to decrypt messages becomes a big limitation: there is no way to handle direct messages and messages in other E2EE rooms.

Starting Bot

Here is the way to start the bot with live reload on your local environment:

$ npm run start:dev

Production Deployment

There is a generic script for running bot on production environment:

$ npm start

Unlike the development script, it has no live reload, because this should be handled separately with CI/CD pipeline. We've made it via Heroku, you can try something else.

Planned Features

• 🗣 Communication Proxy. Acting as a conversation proxy between the Head Members, on one side, and Coming/Regular Members, on other side.

  • 👥 Membership Test. Secret screening process made responsibly through the bot proxy - assign random Head Member as Examiner of adequacy checkup made on a Coming Member. Examiner's identity and conversation with Coming Member will only be seen to Administrators, which allows to perform an audit without compromising their anonymity to lower Head Members.

  • 👀 Secret Feedback. Allow your Regular Members to provide a feedback that only Adminitrators will see. No need to pick them manually!

• 📜 Guideline Acceptance. Let each of All Members to be twice aware of every rule by ticking the boxes every time they receive a new role.

• 🧮 Dot-voting. Everyone should be able to make a poll that boils down to several preferences distributed by the members. Inclusion and exclusion terms are planned too, which can be used for contests and such.