# Overview

This is the documentation for how to set up and run the yoda bot. (`yoda.py`)

This directory contains library code for running Zulip
bots that react to messages sent by users.

This bot will allow users to translate a sentence into 'Yoda speak'.
It looks for messages starting with at-mention of the botname. You will need to have a
Mashape API key. Please see instructions for getting one below.

## Setup

Before running this bot, make sure to get a Mashape API key.
Go to this link:
<https://market.mashape.com/ismaelc/yoda-speak/overview>
This is the API that powers the `yoda`. You can read more about it
on this page.

![yoda api overview](assets/yoda-speak-api.png)

Click on the **Sign Up Free** button at the top and create
an account. Then click on the **Documentation** tab. Scroll down to the
bottom, and click on the **Test Endpoint** button.
This will add the Yoda Speak API to your default application. You can
also add it to a different application if you wish. Now click on the
**Applications** tab at the top. Select the application that you added
the Yoda Speak API to. Click on the blue **GET THE KEYS** button.

On the pop-up that comes up, click on the **COPY** button.
This is your Mashape API key. It is used
to authenticate. Store it in the `yoda.conf` file in the bot's
directory.

Example input:

    @mention-bot You will learn how to speak like me someday.

If you need help while the bot is running just input `@mention-bot help`.

## Running the bot

Here is an example of running the "yoda" bot from
inside a Zulip repo:

    cd ~/zulip/api
    bots_api/run.py bots/yoda/yoda.py --config-file ~/.zuliprc-prod

Once the bot code starts running, you will see a
message explaining how to use the bot, as well as
some log messages.  You can use the `--quiet` option
to suppress some of the informational messages.

The bot code will run continuously until you kill them with
control-C (or otherwise).

### Configuration

For this document we assume you have some prior experience
with using the Zulip API, but here is a quick review of
what a `.zuliprc` files looks like.  You can connect to the
API as your own human user, or you can go into the Zulip settings
page to create a user-owned bot.

    [api]
    email=someuser@example.com
    key=<your api key>
    site=https://zulip.somewhere.com