Helpful Friend

A Discord chat bot.

Requirements

• Node.js - tested on v20.10.0
• A Discord app (create one here: https://discord.com/developers/applications)
  • You'll need to allow "Message Content Intent" on the application

How to use

1. Run npm install to install the dependencies.
2. Copy config.sample.js to config.js and fill out the required options. Keep this file safe as it includes your bots credentials. Don't commit it.
3. Add the bot to your Discord server (see: https://discordjs.guide/preparations/adding-your-bot-to-servers.html#creating-and-using-your-invite-link) When generating the OAuth2 URL, check the "bot" scope and under "Bot Permissions" check "Send Messages", "Embed Links", "Attach Files", "Connect", and "Speak". If you add more features to the bot, remember you may need to update these permissions in the future.
4. Run npm start to start the bot. Use tmux or screen if you want to keep it running.
5. Check it's working by running <command_prefix>status, for example !status.
6. Run !help to see a list of commands you can run.

How to make changes

You can run npm run start:dev if you want to autoreload the app when you make changes.

Functionality for the bot is written in the modules directory. modules/RNG.js is a good simple example of the structure of a module. You need to export a class and pass the constructor a bot reference as an argument.

this.commandMap is what links a chat message to a function call. Each key is the string that is looked for in chat messages and the value is what function is called when a message contains that string/command.

this.helpText is what's shown when the help command is used.

Methods in the class that are commands (i.e. they're referenced in the commandMap) must have the arguments command, messageObject, bot. You can have other private methods in the class if you wish.

Finally to enable your new command, you'll need to import it by adding the name of the file to modules/index.js