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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.
You'll need:
- An account in a Zulip organization
(e.g. the Zulip development community,
<yourSubdomain>.zulipchat.com, or a Zulip organization on your own development or production 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.
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Create a bot, making sure to select Generic bot as the Bot type.
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Use the following command to install the
zulip_botsPython package:pip3 install zulip_bots -
Use the following command to start the bot process (replacing
~/path/to/zuliprcwith the path to thezuliprcfile you downloaded above):zulip-run-bot <bot-name> --config-file ~/path/to/zuliprc -
Check the output of the command above to make sure your bot is running. It should include the following line:
INFO:root:starting message handling... -
Test your setup by starting a new direct message with the bot or mentioning the bot on a stream.
!!! tip ""
To use the latest development version of the `zulip_bots` package, follow
[these steps](writing-bots#installing-a-development-version-of-the-zulip-bots-package).
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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 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.