mirror of https://github.com/zulip/zulip.git
75 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
75 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
# About bots
|
|
|
|
Bots allow you to
|
|
|
|
* Send content into and out of Zulip.
|
|
* Send content to and from another product.
|
|
* Automate tasks a human user could do.
|
|
|
|
A bot that sends content to or from another product is often called an
|
|
**integration**.
|
|
|
|
### Pre-made bots
|
|
|
|
Zulip natively supports integrations with over one hundred products, and with
|
|
almost a thousand more through Zapier and IFTTT. If you're looking to add an
|
|
integration with an existing product, see our
|
|
[list of integrations](/integrations), along with those of
|
|
[Zapier](https://zapier.com/apps) and [IFTTT](https://ifttt.com/search).
|
|
|
|
## Anatomy of a bot
|
|
|
|
You can think of a bot as a special kind of user, with limited permissions.
|
|
Each bot has a **name**, **profile picture**, **email**, **bot type** and **API key**.
|
|
|
|
* The **name** and **profile picture** play the same role they do for human users. They
|
|
are the most visible attributes of a bot.
|
|
|
|
* The **email** is not used for anything, and will likely be removed in a
|
|
future version of Zulip.
|
|
|
|
* The **bot type** determines what the bot can and can't do (see below).
|
|
|
|
* The **API key** is how the bot identifies itself to Zulip. Anyone with the
|
|
bot's API key can impersonate the bot.
|
|
|
|
## Bot type
|
|
|
|
The **bot type** determines what the bot can do.
|
|
|
|
Bot type | Permissions | Common uses
|
|
---|---|---
|
|
Incoming webhook | Send messages into Zulip | Third party integrations
|
|
Outgoing webhook | Send messages into Zulip, read messages where the bot is addressed | Third party integrations, most custom bots <!-- # ignorelongline -->
|
|
Generic | Anything the bot creator can do | Automating tasks, bots that listen to all messages on a stream
|
|
API super bot (self-hosted only) | Anything any user can do | Mirroring
|
|
|
|
It's generally best to pick the most restricted bot type that is sufficient
|
|
to do the task at hand. Anyone with the bot's API key can do anything the
|
|
bot can.
|
|
|
|
A few more details:
|
|
|
|
* **Outgoing webhook**: The bot can read private messages where the bot is a
|
|
participant, and stream messages where the bot is [mentioned](/help/mention-a-user-or-group). When the
|
|
bot is PM'd or mentioned, it POSTs the message content to a URL of your
|
|
choice. The POST request format can be in a Zulip format or a
|
|
Slack-compatible format.
|
|
|
|
This is the preferred bot type for interactive bots built on top of Zulip
|
|
botserver.
|
|
|
|
* **Generic**: Note that if you truly want to impersonate yourself
|
|
(e.g. write messages that come from you, rather than from a look-a-like),
|
|
you'll need to use your **personal API key**.
|
|
|
|
* **API super bot**: You cannot create this from the web interface. Contact
|
|
`support@zulipchat.com` if you'd like information on how to set this up.
|
|
|
|
## Adding bots
|
|
|
|
By default, anyone other than guests can [add a bot](/help/add-a-bot-or-integration) to a
|
|
Zulip organization, but administrators can
|
|
[restrict bot creation](/help/restrict-bot-creation). Any bot that is added
|
|
is visible and available for anyone to use.
|