zulip/api_docs/running-bots.md

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# Interactive bots
Zulip's API has a powerful framework for interactive bots that react
to messages in Zulip.
## Running a bot
This guide will show you how to run an existing Zulip bot
found in [zulip_bots/bots](
https://github.com/zulip/python-zulip-api/tree/main/zulip_bots/zulip_bots/bots).
You'll need:
* An account in a Zulip organization
(e.g. [the Zulip development community](https://zulip.com/development-community/),
`<yourSubdomain>.zulipchat.com`, or a Zulip organization on your own
[development](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/development/overview.html) or
[production](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/production/install.html) server).
* A computer where you're running the bot from.
**Note: Please be considerate when testing experimental bots on public servers such as chat.zulip.org.**
1. Go to your Zulip account and
[add a bot](/help/add-a-bot-or-integration). Use **Generic bot** as the bot type.
1. Download the bot's `zuliprc` configuration file to your computer.
1. Download the `zulip_bots` Python package to your computer using `pip3 install zulip_bots`.
*Note: Click
[here](
writing-bots#installing-a-development-version-of-the-zulip-bots-package)
to install the latest development version of the package.*
1. Start the bot process on your computer.
* Run
```
zulip-run-bot <bot-name> --config-file ~/path/to/zuliprc
```
(replacing `~/path/to/zuliprc` with the path to the `zuliprc` file you downloaded above).
* Check the output of the command. It should include the following line:
INFO:root:starting message handling...
Congrats! Your bot is running.
1. To talk with the bot, at-mention its name, like `@**bot-name**`.
You can now play around with the bot and get it configured the way you
like. Eventually, you'll probably want to run it in a production
environment where it'll stay up, by [deploying](/api/deploying-bots) it on a server using the
Zulip Botserver.
## Common problems
* My bot won't start
* Ensure that your API config file is correct (download the config file from the server).
* Ensure that your bot script is located in `zulip_bots/bots/<my-bot>/`
* Are you using your own Zulip development server? Ensure that you run your bot outside
the Vagrant environment.
* Some bots require Python 3. Try switching to a Python 3 environment before running
your bot.