Develop a Hubot Bot

Hubot Bot Quick Start Guide
The fastest way to start developing a Hubot bot is to use the Hubot boilerplate code we provide. It is a simple Node.js application that requires Hubot and the Rocket.Chat adapter.
The bot can then be executed using a bin file in production, or via the package scripts locally using npm run local or yarn local.
Get the Hubot Bot Boilerplate Code
Navigate to the folder where you want to work with the bot, open up the terminal and execute the following commands to pull the code and install all the dependecies.
1
git clone https://github.com/RocketChat/hubot-rocketchat-boilerplate
2
cd hubot-rocketchat-boilerplate
3
npm install
Copied!
Next, create a .env file and enter the configuration information of your bot user.
1
export ROCKETCHAT_URL=myserver.com
2
export ROCKETCHAT_USER=mybotuser
3
export ROCKETCHAT_PASSWORD=mypassword
4
export ROCKETCHAT_ROOM=general
5
export ROCKETCHAT_USESSL=true
Copied!
Adjust the content to fit your server and user credentials. 
Make sure your bot user(mybotuser) has a bot role assigned to it.
For more information on how to create a bot user please refer to this section.1. Create a bot user​
Run your code by executing this command
1
source .env
2
bin/hubot
Copied!
After executing the last command, hubot will try to connect to the Rocket.Chat instance and then will listen to messages in general room or any channel specified:
1
$ bin/hubot 
2
audited 102 packages in 1.798s
3
​
4
2 packages are looking for funding
5
  run `npm fund` for details      
6
​
7
found 1 low severity vulnerability
8
  run `npm audit fix` to fix them, or `npm audit` for details
9
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:05 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [startup] Rocket.Chat adapter in use
10
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:05 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [startup] Respond to name: Hubot
11
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:05 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [startup] Respond to alias: hubot.bot
12
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:05 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [connect] Connecting {
13
  username: 'hubot.bot',
14
  password: '12345',
15
  ldap: false,
16
  host: 'localhost:3000',
17
  useSsl: false,
18
  timeout: 20000,
19
  rooms: [ 'test-bot' ],
20
  allPublic: false,
21
  dm: false,
22
  livechat: false,
23
  edited: false,
24
  integrationId: 'js.SDK',
25
  roomCacheMaxSize: 10,
26
  roomCacheMaxAge: 300000,
27
  dmCacheMaxSize: 10,
28
  dmCacheMaxAge: 100000
29
}
30
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:05 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [connect] Connected
31
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:05 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [login] Logging in hubot.bot
32
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:06 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [subscribe] Preparing subscription: stream-room-messages: __my_messages__
33
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:06 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [subscribe] Stream ready: 2
34
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:06 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [reactive] Listening for change events in collection stream-room-messages
35
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:06 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [joinRoom] Calling (async): ["ZgMPgTerjXmKyGzH4"]
Copied!
Test your Hubot Bot
To test if your bot has  successfully been connected, login to your server as a different user, go to the channel specified in the configuration of the bot and type this message.
1
@mybotuser what time is it
Copied!
The bot will reply and you will also see changes in the logs on your terminal.
1
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:56 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [received] Message in room ZgMPgTerjXmKyGzH4
2
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:56 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [received] Message Nyyg4oX7M7FQ6N6ka from rodriq
3
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:13:56 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO Filters passed, will receive message
4
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:14:04 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [received] Message in room ZgMPgTerjXmKyGzH4
5
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:14:04 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [received] Message RPeaSjJThPNhZ7WSw from rodriq
6
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:14:04 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO Filters passed, will receive message
7
[Tue Nov 23 2021 12:14:04 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)] INFO [sendMessage] Calling (async): [{"msg":"@rodriq It's 12:14 and 4 seconds","bot":{"i":"js.SDK"},"rid":"ZgMPgTerjXmKyGzH4"}];
Copied!
Another command:
1
mybotuser rc version
Copied!
This message will also appear in the terminal window:
1
[Fri Sep 27 2019 23:40:20 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)] INFO [received] Message in room GENERAL
2
i Sep 27 2019 23:40:20 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)] INFO [received] Message AvnvCca3Do8PPfRCB from docsUser
3
[Fri Sep 27 2019 23:40:20 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)] INFO Filters passed, will receive message
4
[Fri Sep 27 2019 23:40:21 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)] INFO [sendMessage] Calling (async): [{"msg":"You're on Rocket.Chat 1.2.0-rc.0, using Hubot 3.3.2.","bot":{"i":"js.SDK"},"rid":"GENERAL"}]
5
[Fri Sep 27 2019 23:40:21 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)] INFO [sendMessage] Calling (async): [{"msg":"Adapter version 2.0.0-development, using version 0.2.9 of the SDK.","bot":{"i":"js.SDK"},"rid":"GENERAL"}]
6
[Fri Sep 27 2019 23:40:21 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)] INFO [received] Message in room GENERAL
Copied!
Run a Hubot Bot
Running in production
With the example above, you can run the bot in production using the following command:
1
bin/hubot -a rocketchat
Copied!
There are executables for different environments that all run the Hubot binary:
bin/hubot - for Linux/Unix
bin/hubot.cmd - for Windows
Procfile - for Heroku
Before running, make sure your production environment has the required environment variables for the adapter, url, user, name and pass. As an alternative, you can add them as command-line parameters, like -a rocketchat.
Environmental variables should be populated on the server before the launch (see configuration). The launcher will also install npm dependencies on every run, if booting in a fresh container (this isn't required when working locally).
See more information on deployment configurations here.
Advanced instructions
Configuration
When running locally, dotenv is used to load configurations from the .env file. That makes it easier to set environment variables.
Please a full list of environmental variables here Broken link​
Please pay attention that if ROCKETCHAT_URL is using https://, you MUST setup websocket pass-through on your reverse proxy (for example, NGINX) with a valid certificate (not self-signed). Directly accessing Rocket.Chat without a reverse proxy via https:// is not possible.
Adding scripts
Scripts can be added to the ./scripts folder, or by installing node packages and listing their names in the external-scripts.json array. There is an example of each in this repo but neither is required.
Checking example scripts
The boilerplate comes pre-packed with two scripts as demos for manual tests. In each of the following script, you can talk to a bot in a public channel by prefixing the bot's username or in direct messages without the bot's username.
what time is it or what's the time - Tells you the current time
rc version - Gives you version info about Rocket.Chat and Hubot (two messages)
Deploy your Hubot Bot
Deployment using Docker
Clone the bot and navigate into it's directory by running
1
git clone https://github.com/RocketChat/hubot-rocketchat.git
2
cd hubot-rocketchat
Copied!
Next, start the docker container by running
1
docker run -it -e ROCKETCHAT_URL=<your rocketchat instance>:<port> \
2
    -e ROCKETCHAT_ROOM='' \
3
    -e LISTEN_ON_ALL_PUBLIC=true \
4
    -e RESPOND_TO_DM=true \
5
    -e ROCKETCHAT_USER=mybotuser \
6
    -e ROCKETCHAT_PASSWORD=mybotpassword \
7
    -e HUBOT_NAME=bot \
8
    -e EXTERNAL_SCRIPTS=hubot-help,hubot-diagnostics \
9
    rocketchat/hubot-rocketchat
Copied!
The first time you run the docker container, the image needs to be pulled from the public docker registry, which takes some time. Subsequent runs are super fast.
On the container launch, hubot will try to connect to the Rocket.Chat instance and then will listen to messages in all public rooms:
1
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:54 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Starting Rocketchat adapter version 1.0.11...
2
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:54 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Once connected to rooms I will respond to the name: rocketbot
3
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:54 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO I will also respond to my Rocket.Chat username as an alias: mybotuser
4
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:54 GMT+0000 (UTC)] WARNING No services ROCKETCHAT_ROOM provided to Hubot, using
5
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:54 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Connecting To: <rocketchat_instance>
6
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:55 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Successfully connected!
7
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:55 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO
8
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:55 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Logging In
9
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:55 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Successfully Logged In
10
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:55 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO rid:  []
11
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:55 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO All rooms joined.
12
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:55 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Preparing Meteor Subscriptions..
13
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:55 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Subscribing to Room: __my_messages__
14
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:55 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Successfully subscribed to messages
15
[Sun Sep 29 2019 16:49:55 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Setting up reactive message list...
Copied!
3. talk to your bot
On the server, login as a regular user (not the BOT user), go to general or any other room, and try the following command:
1
mybotuser time
Copied!
You can also talk to the bot using its alias:
1
rocketbot time
Copied!
Both commands result in the same output:
.
If you are not running Linux (i.e. if you are on a Mac or PC), you cannot use $PWD to mount the volumes. Instead, read the If you are using Boot2Docker... note to determine the absolute path where you must place the git-cloned directory.
Adding scripts
To include your own scripts, you can use the following Docker command:
1
docker run -it -e ROCKETCHAT_URL=your rocketchat instance>:<port> \
2
    -e ROCKETCHAT_ROOM='' \
3
    -e LISTEN_ON_ALL_PUBLIC=true \
4
    -e RESPOND_TO_DM=true \
5
    -e ROCKETCHAT_USER=mybotuser \
6
    -e ROCKETCHAT_PASSWORD=mybotpassword \
7
    -e HUBOT_NAME=bot \
8
    -e EXTERNAL_SCRIPTS=hubot-help,hubot-diagnostics \
9
    -v $PWD/scripts:/home/hubot/scripts \
10
    rocketchat/hubot-rocketchat
Copied!
Deployment using Yeoman
​Yeoman generator allows you to generate a Hubot bot using the Rocket.Chat adapter. Yeoman uses the latest versions of Hubot and Rocket.Chat adapter module, which enable asynchronous processing in ES6 Javascript, and introduce various bug fixes.
Development for different versions of adapter
v2.x.x
Standard
In a Hubot instance once hubot-rocketchat is added by npm or yarn, you can replace the package with a development version directly:
cd node_modules from the bot's project root
rm -rf hubot-rocketchat to delete the published version
git clone [email protected]:RocketChat/hubot-rocketchat.git to add dev version
cd hubot-rocketchat move to dev path
npm install install dependencies
Linked
Setting up a locally linked package is easier for continued development and/or using the same development version of the adapter in multiple bots.
Change directory to your development adapter path
npm link or yarn link to set the origin of the link
Change directory to your bot's project root
npm link hubot-rocketchat or yarn link hubot-rocketchat to create the link
v1.x.x and v0.x.x
Docker-compose
If you want to use docker-compose for this task, add this for v0.1.4 adapter (this must be inserted in your docker-compose.yml):
1
# hubot, the popular chatbot (add the bot user first and change the password before starting this image)
2
hubot:
3
image: rocketchat/hubot-rocketchat:v0.1.4
4
environment:
5
    - ROCKETCHAT_URL=your-rocket-chat-instance-ip:3000 (e.g. 192.168.2.240:3000)
6
    - ROCKETCHAT_ROOM=general
7
    - RESPOND_TO_DM=true
8
    - ROCKETCHAT_USER=username-of-your-bot
9
    - ROCKETCHAT_PASSWORD=yourpass
10
    - BOT_NAME=bot
11
    - GOOGLE_API_KEY=yourgoogleapikey
12
# you can add more scripts as you'd like here, they need to be installable by npm
13
    - EXTERNAL_SCRIPTS=hubot-help,hubot-seen,hubot-links,hubot-diagnostics,hubot-google,hubot-reddit,hubot-bofh,hubot-bookmark,hubot-shipit,hubot-maps
14
links:
15
    - rocketchat:rocketchat
16
# this is used to expose the hubot port for notifications on the host on port 3001, e.g. for hubot-jenkins-notifier
17
ports:
18
    - 3001:8080
Copied!
If you want your bot to listen to all public rooms and all private rooms it is joined to, leave the env ROCKETCHAT_ROOM empty like in the example above and set the env LISTEN_ON_ALL_PUBLIC=true.
Please pay attention to some external scripts that are in the example above, as some of them need your Google-API-Key in the docker compose file.
Version information and compatibility
The examples above use Hubot v3 and Rocketchat.Chat adapter v2, using the new [Rocket.Chat JS SDK][sdk for Rocket.Chat instances 0.60.0 onward.
v2 contains major breaking changes. Starting with this version:
CoffeeScript BOTs will no longer be supported, all new bot scripts should be written in NodeJS 8 compatible JavaScript
Only Hubot v3 will be supported
​Rocket.Chat Server version 0.63.0 or higher is supported
Yeoman generator support is discontinued, you should start your project with our hubot v3 boilerplate​
​NodeJS 8 or later is required for operations
The latest ES6 syntax in NodeJS 8, including the popular async-await, is fully supported
Hubot versions
Versions of hubot-rocketchat prior to v2 are incompatible with Hubot v3
This bot is written in ES6 and intended to run on Node v8+. To run a bot on older versions of Node would require compilation with Babel to use the full ES6 feature set.
Adapter versions
Older versions of the adapter (before v0.1.4) are incompatible with more recent versions of Rocket.Chat (v0.35+). Please report an issue, if you find specific version mismatch.
NOTE: releases between 0.35.0 and 0.37.1 are not recommended for hubot operations.
Rocket.Chat adapter v1 uses CoffeeScript, which makes extention of classes in JavaScript ES6 troublesome.
v1 versions of the adapter are only compatible with 0.37.1 and higher of Rocket.Chat Server. However, you should be able to continue using v1 adapter and CoffeeScript bots with the most up-to-date version of the server.
If you are writing CoffeeScript bots, you need Hubot v2.x and v1.x.x or v0.x.x of the adapter. Please see instructions for v1.x.x and v0.x.x of the adapter.
Additional information
For more examples on building and scripting your bot, please see Hubot documentation.
Contributions and discussions
Please see our documentation on contributing, then visit the issues to share your needs or ideas.
If you want to contribute to the development or improvement of this adapter, pull requests are welcome.
Feel free to join us in the #hubot channel to discuss hubot, and any scripts you might be working on.