How to self-host any of the ModernBots

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Prerequisites

• You have to have a VPS/Homelab/Raspberry Pi.
  • It is highly reccomended to run a GNU/Linux distrobution. I will not provide any support for non-Linux solutions.
  • If you do not have a VPS, Ploxhost 🇺🇸, HostKey 🇳🇱, Vultr 🌐, Cockbox 🇱🇹, and Hetzner 🇩🇪 are good options.
  • I do not reccomend Raspberry Pis, but if you have one lying around, it's better than nothing.
  • DO NOT use Repl.it or Heroku. They have extremely poor performance, and will probably fail at saving data in the database.
• You have to have (very minimal) CLI and Linux knowledge

Step 1: Installing dependencies

• Download and install MongoDB
• Download and install Python 3
  • If you are running GNU/Linux, there's a very good chance Python is pre-installed, so don't worry about this

At this point in time, it's a good idea to open up the terminal (and ssh into your VPS if needed)!

• Clone/download the repo of the bot you want to self host (either DropBot, ModernBot, or ContentBot)
  • Many people think this is forking the repo, which isn't. DO NOT fork any of the repositories unless you plan on contributing code!
  • To clone the repository with the CLI, type in git clone https://github.com/modernbots/BOTNAMEHERE and hit Enter, replacing BOTNAMEHERE with the name of the bot you want to self-host
• cd into directory of the repo you cloned/downloaded
  • I.e. type cd dropbot and hit Enter
• Type python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt and hit Enter

Step 2: Making the bot with Discord

• Go to the Discord Developer Portal
  • Sometimes it can be buggy and take you to the main Discord webapp. If this happens, just close the site and click the Discord Developer Portal link again.
• Click the "New Application" button in the top-right
• Give it a name (this will be the name of the bot, which you can change later), and click the "Create" button
• (Optional) upload an image into the "APP ICON" section to give the bot a profile picture, and type in a bio into the "DESCRIPTION" section (this will appear in the bot's bio)
• Open the side menu and click on "Bot"
  • You may have to click the button at the top-left with the 3 lines in order to see the sidebar
• Under "Build-A-Bot", click the "Add Bot" button, then click the "Yes, do it!" button
• Turn the "PUBLIC BOT" switch OFF

If you are self-hosting ModBot, scroll down to Privileged Gateway Intents and turn ON "SERVER MEMBERS INTENT".

• Under "TOKEN", click the "Copy" button

NEVER give this token to anyone else!

Step 3: Setting the bot up

• Back in the terminal, type echo "DISCORD=, paste the token you copied, " > .env and hit Enter
  • It should look like echo "DISCORD=abcdefg" > .env
• Type sed -i 's/"info", "tasks"]/]/ ./src/bot.py and hit Enter
• Type python3 src/bot.py and hit Enter

To have the bot still running when you close the session, install and run tmux before running this command!

Step 4: Inviting the bot

• Go back to the Discord Developer Portal and open the app you created
• Open the sidebar and click on "Oauth2", then click on "URL Generator"
• Under "SCOPES", check the "bot" AND the "applications.commands" boxes
• Under "GENERAL PERMISSIONS", check the "Administrator" box
• Copy the URL at the bottom and open it in a new tab
• Select your server from the dropdown, click the "Continue" button, click the "Authorize" button, and fill out the hCaptcha if needed

Congrats! The bot is now in your server!