Faculty bot (Discord)

Introduction

This project features a Discord bot with the intent to reduce the administration overhead for faculty related tasks. The bot takes care of verifying new server members.

Setting up the bot

• To run the code itself, first you need The Rust Programming Language. Install this using:

  curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

  and choose the stable toolchain.

• Download the project and execute:

  cargo build --release

  inside the primary folder using Windows Terminal or any zsh/bash on *nix systems. This will compile a release-optimized build of the bot.

• Create a .env file with the following content:

  DISCORD_TOKEN=
  
  # PostgreSQL format e.g. postgres://dbuser:dbpass@localhost:5432/db_name
  DATABASE_URL=
  
  PREFIX=
  
  MAILUSER=
  MAILPW=
  SMTP_SERVER=
  SMTP_PORT=
  
  POSTGRES_USER=
  POSTGRES_PASSWORD=
  POSTGRES_DB=
  
  # optional, but recommended if you want logs
  RUST_LOG=warn

• To register the bot, you'll need to register an application at Discord's Developer Portal. The Token should be filled in the .env file under the DISCORD_TOKEN key.

Launching

1. Fill the .env and config.json files with the necessary information.

Easiest Method

• Review and edit the docker-compose.yml file as needed.
• Launch with the following command:

  docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml --env-file .env up

Easy Method

• Use either the launch_bot.sh or launch_bot.ps1 scripts.

Hard Method

• Install Postgres 13.
• Install the Rust Toolchain.
• Run the faculty_manager.sql file to initialize the database.
• Use your favorite process manager to keep the bot running. Notable mentions include:
  • pm2
  • systemd
  • openrc

Bot Settings

To enable the bot to communicate with channels, you need to edit the config.json file and add the IDs of the required channels and roles. Ensure these channels and roles are created before launching the bot.

Roles

• staffrole: This is the management role, which can edit the bot via commands.
• verified: Assigned to users after they verify their accounts. Use this role to control access to certain channels.
• mealplannotify: This role will receive notifications when a new meal plan is posted.

Channels

• logs: Where log files are posted. Useful for staff.
• greetings: Where new members are welcomed.
• news: Where important information for everyone is posted by the bot.
• xp: Where level-up notifications are posted.
• rules: Where server rules are located.
• ads: Where external members can post ads. Ads are automatically deleted after a specified amount of time set in the settings.
• createChannel: When a user joins a channel with this name, a temporary voice channel will be created.
• mealPlan: Where meal plan updates are posted.

Settings

Here you may specify other adjustable settings of the bot.

• adstimeout: The time in milliseconds before an ad in the ads channel gets deleted.
• CharsForLevel: The number of characters in a message that equal 1 XP.
• postMealplan: (bool) Activates the meal plan posting functionality.
  • mealplan: (url) The URL to download the meal plan, e.g., http://www.meal/one.pdf.
  • mealplan-check: (u16) Minutes between meal plan update checks.
  • postOnDay: (String) The weekday on which the check and post occur ("Monday" - "Sunday").
  • postAtHour: (String) The hour at which the plan will be posted, e.g., 18:00:00 and 18:30:00 both post at 6 PM for precision's sake.
  • mealplansettings: (list) Default settings for the converter. Change if applicable.
    • density: 400
    • quality: 100
    • flatten: true
    • width: 768
    • height: 512

Commands

• help: Displays general information.
• rulesupdate <"new rules">: Updates the server rules. Only usable by staffrole.
• sendmessage <"message">: Lets the bot send a message to a channel initially, which can later be updated with the rulesupdate command. Only usable by staffrole.
• verify : The bot checks the mail inbox and assigns the student the verified role.
• xp: Displays current XP and level.
• register: Registers Discord Slash Commands. Only usable by members with the MANAGE_GUILD permission.

Thanks

Feedback is appreciated.