otouto

The plugin-wielding, multipurpose Telegram bot.

Public Bot | Official Channel | Development Group

otouto is an independently-developed Telegram API bot written in Lua. Originally conceived as a CLI script in February of 2015, otouto has since been open-sourced and migrated to the API, and is being developed to this day.

The Manual
Setup
Plugins
Control plugins
administration.lua
Liberbot-related plugins
List of plugins
Style
Contributors

Setup

You must have Lua (5.2+), lua-socket, lua-sec, and lua-cjson installed. To upload files, you must have curl installed. To use fortune.lua, you must have fortune installed.

Clone the repository and set the following values in config.lua:

• bot_api_key as your bot authorization token from the BotFather.
• admin as your Telegram ID.

Optionally:

• time_offset as the difference, in seconds, of your system clock to UTC.
• lang as the two-letter code representing your language.

Some plugins are not enabled by default. If you wish to enable them, add them to the plugins array.

When you are ready to start the bot, run ./launch.sh. To stop the bot, send "/halt" through Telegram. If you terminate the bot manually, you risk data loss. If you do you not want the bot to restart automatically, run it with lua bot.lua.

Note that certain plugins, such as translate.lua and greetings.lua, will require privacy mode to be disabled. Additionally, some plugins may require or make use of various API keys:

• gImages.lua & youtube.lua: Google API and CSE keys (google_api_key, google_cse_key)
• weather.lua: OpenWeatherMap API key (owm_api_key)
• lastfm.lua: last.fm API key (lastfm_api_key)
• bible.lua: Biblia API key (biblia_api_key)
• cats.lua: The Cat API API key (optional) (thecatapi_key)
• apod.lua: NASA API key (nasa_api_key)
• translate.lua: Yandex API key (yandex_key)
• chatter.lua: SimSimi API key (simsimi_key)

---

Plugins

otouto uses a robust plugin system, similar to that of yagop's Telegram-Bot. The aim of the otouto project is to contain any desirable bot feature within one universal bot framework.

Most plugins are intended for public use, but a few are for other purposes, like those used alongside Liberbot, or for use by the bot's owner. See here for a list of plugins.

A plugin can have five components, and two of them are required:

Component	Description	Required?
action	Main function. Expects msg table as an argument.	Y
triggers	Table of triggers for the plugin. Uses Lua patterns.	Y
cron	Optional function to be called every minute.	N
command	Basic command and syntax. Listed in the help text.	N
doc	Usage for the plugin. Returned by "/help $command".	N

The on_msg_receive() function adds a few variables to the msg table for your convenience. These are self-explanatory: msg.from.id_str, msg.to.id_str, msg.chat.id_str, msg.text_lower, msg.from.name.

Return values from action() are optional, but they do effect the flow. If it returns a table, that table will become msg, and on_msg_receive will continue with that. If it returns true, it will continue with the current msg.

When an action or cron function fails, the exception is caught and passed to the handle_exception() utilty (in utilities.lua) and is either printed to the console or send to the chat/channel defined in log_chat in config.lua.

Interactions with the bot API are straightforward. Every binding function shares the name of the API method (eg sendMessage()). An additional function, sendReply(), accepts the msg table and a string as an argument, and sends the string as a reply to that message.

Several functions used in multiple plugins are defined in utilities.lua. Refer to that file for usage and documentation.

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Control plugins

Some plugins are designed to be used by the bot's owner. Here are some examples, how they're used, and what they do.

Plugin	Command	Function
control.lua	/reload	Reloads all plugins and configuration.
control.lua	/halt	Shuts down the bot after saving the database.
blacklist.lua	/blacklist	Blocks people from using the bot.
shell.lua	/run	Executes shell commands on the host system.
luarun.lua	/lua	Executes Lua commands in the bot's environment.

---

administration.lua

The administration plugin enables self-hosted, single-realm group administration, supporting both normal groups and supergroups. This works by sending TCP commands to an instance of tg running on the owner's account.

To get started, run ./tg-install.sh. Note that this script is written for Ubuntu/Debian. If you're running Arch (the only acceptable alternative), you'll have to do it yourself. If that is the case, note that otouto uses the "test" branch of tg, and the AUR package telegram-cli-git will not be sufficient, as it does not have support for supergroups yet.

Once the installation is finished, enable administration.lua in your config file. You may have reason to change the default TCP port (4567); if that is the case, remember to change it in tg-launch.sh as well. Run ./tg-launch.sh in a separate screen/tmux window. You'll have to enter your phone number and go through the login process the first time. The script is set to restart tg after two seconds, so you'll need to Ctrl+C after exiting.

While tg is running, you may start/reload otouto with administration.lua enabled, and have access to a wide variety of administrative commands and automata. The administration "database" is stored in administration.json. To start using otouto to administrate a group (note that you must be the owner (or an administrator)), send /gadd to that group. For a list of commands, use /ahelp. Below I'll describe various functions now available to you.

Command	Function	Privilege	Internal?
/groups	Returns a list of administrated groups (except the unlisted).	1	N
/ahelp	Returns a list of accessible administrative commands.	1	Y
/ops	Returns a list of the moderators and governor of a group.	1	Y
/desc	Returns detailed information for a group.	1	Y
/rules	Returns the rules of a group.	1	Y
/motd	Returns the message of the day of a group.	1	Y
/link	Returns the link for a group.	1	Y
/kick	Removes the target from the group.	2	Y
/(un)ban	Bans the target from the group or vice-versa.	2	Y
/changerule	Changes an individual group rule.	3	Y
/setrules	Sets the rules for a group.	3	Y
/setmotd	Sets the message of the day for a group.	3	Y
/setlink	Sets the link for a group.	3	Y
/alist	Returns a list of administrators.	3	Y
/flags	Returns a list of flags and their states, or toggles one.	3	Y
/antiflood	Configures antiflood (flag 5) settings.	3	Y
/(de)mod	Promotes a user to a moderator or vice-versa.	3	Y
/(de)gov	Promotes a user to the governor or vice-versa.	4	Y
/(un)hammer	Bans a user globally and blacklists him or vice-versa.	4	N
/(de)admin	Promotes a user to an administrator or vice-versa.	5	N
/gadd	Adds a group to the administrative system.	5	N
/grem	Removes a group from the administrative system.	5	Y
/glist	Returns a list of all administrated groups and their governors.	5	N
/broadcast	Broadcasts a message to all administrated groups.	5	N

Internal commands can only be run within an administrated group.

Description of Privileges

#	Title	Description	Scope
0	Banned	Cannot enter the group(s).	Either
1	User	Default rank.	Local
2	Moderator	Can kick/ban/unban users.	Local
3	Governor	Can set rules/motd/link, promote/demote moderators, modify flags.	Local
4	Administrator	Can globally ban/unban users, promote/demote governors.	Global
5	Owner	Can add/remove groups, broadcast, promote/demote administrators.	Global

Obviously, each greater rank inherits the privileges of the lower, positive ranks.

Flags

#	Name	Description
1	unlisted	Removes a group from the /groups listing.
2	antisquig	Automatically removes users for posting Arabic script or RTL characters.
3	antisquig++	Automatically removes users whose names contain Arabic script or RTL characters.
4	antibot	Prevents bots from being added by non-moderators.
5	antiflood	Prevents flooding by rate-limiting messages per user.

antiflood

antiflood (flag 5) provides a system of automatic flood protection by removing users who post too much. It is entirely configurable by a group's governor, an administrator, or the bot owner. For each message to a particular group, a user is awarded a certain number of "points". The number of points is different for each message type. When the user reaches 100 points, he is removed. Points are reset each minute. In this way, if a user posts twenty messages within one minute, he is removed.

Default antiflood values:

Type	Points
text	5
contact	5
audio	5
voice	5
photo	10
document	10
location	10
video	10
sticker	20

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Liberbot-related plugins

Note: This section may be out of date. The Liberbot-related plugins have not changed in very long time. Some plugins are only useful when the bot is used in a Liberbot group, like floodcontrol.lua and moderation.lua.

floodcontrol.lua makes the bot compliant with Liberbot's floodcontrol function. When the bot has posted too many messages to a single group in a given period of time, Liberbot will send it a message telling it to cease posting in that group. Here is an example floodcontrol command: /floodcontrol {"groupid":987654321,"duration":600} The bot will accept these commands from both Liberbot and the configured administrator.

moderation.lua allows the owner to use the bot to moderate a Liberbot realm, or set of groups. This works by adding the bot to the realm's admin group and making it an administrator. You must configure the plugin in the "moderation" section of config.lua, in the following way:

moderation = {
    admins = {
        ['123456789'] = 'Adam',
        ['246813579'] = 'Eve'
    },
    admin_group = -987654321,
    realm_name = 'My Realm'
}

Where Adam and Eve are realm administrators, and their IDs are set as their keys in the form of strings. admin_group is the group ID of the admin group, as a negative number. realm_name is the name of your Libebot realm.

Once this is set up, put your bot in the admin group and run /modadd and /modhelp to get started.

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List of plugins

Plugin	Command	Function	Aliases
help.lua	/help [command]	Returns a list of commands or command-specific help.	/h
about.lua	/about	Returns the about text as configured in config.lua.
ping.lua	/ping	The simplest plugin ever!
echo.lua	/echo ‹text›	Repeats a string of text.
gSearch.lua	/google ‹query›	Returns Google web results.	/g
gImages.lua	/images ‹query›	Returns a Google image result.	/i
gMaps.lua	/location ‹query›	Returns location data from Google Maps.	/loc
youtube.lua	/youtube ‹query›	Returns the top video result from YouTube.	/yt
wikipedia.lua	/wikipedia ‹query›	Returns the summary of a Wikipedia article.	/w
lastfm.lua	/np [username]	Returns the song you are currently listening to.
lastfm.lua	/fmset [username]	Sets your username for /np. /fmset -- will delete it.
hackernews.lua	/hackernews	Returns the latest posts from Hacker News.	/hn
imdb.lua	/imdb ‹query›	Returns film information from IMDb.
hearthstone.lua	/hearthstone ‹query›	Returns data for Hearthstone cards matching the query.	/hs
calc.lua	/calc ‹expression›	Returns conversions and solutions to math expressions.
bible.lua	/bible ‹reference›	Returns a Bible verse.	/b
urbandictionary.lua	/urban ‹query›	Returns the top definition from Urban Dictionary.	/ud
time.lua	/time ‹query›	Returns the time, date, and a timezone for a location.
weather.lua	/weather ‹query›	Returns current weather conditions for a given location.
nick.lua	/nick ‹nickname›	Set your nickname. /nick - will delete it.
whoami.lua	/whoami	Returns user and chat info for you or the replied-to user.	/who
eightball.lua	/8ball	Returns an answer from a magic 8-ball.
dice.lua	/roll ‹nDr›	Returns RNG dice rolls. Uses D&D notation.
reddit.lua	/reddit [r/subreddit ¦ query]	Returns the top results from a subreddit, query, or r/all.	/r
xkcd.lua	/xkcd [query]	Returns an xkcd strip and its alt text.
slap.lua	/slap ‹target›	Gives someone a slap (or worse).
commit.lua	/commit	Returns a commit message from whatthecommit.com.
fortune.lua	/fortune	Returns a UNIX fortune.
pun.lua	/pun	Returns a pun.
pokedex.lua	/pokedex ‹query›	Returns a Pokedex entry.	/dex
currency.lua	/cash [amount] ‹cur› to ‹cur›	Converts one currency to another.
cats.lua	/cat	Returns a cat picture.
reactions.lua	/reactions	Returns a list of emoticons which can be posted by the bot.
apod.lua	/apod [date]	Returns the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day.
dilbert.lua	/dilbert [date]	Returns a Dilbert strip.
patterns.lua	/s/‹from›/‹to›/	Search-and-replace using Lua patterns.
me.lua	/me	Returns user-specific data stored by the bot.

---

Style

Bot output from every plugin should follow a consistent style. This style is easily observed interacting with the bot. Titles should be either bold (along with their colons) or a link (with plaintext colons) to the content's source. Names should be italic. Numbered lists should use bold numbers followed by a bold period followed by a space. Unnumbered lists should use the • bullet point followed by a space. Descriptions and information should be in plaintext, although "flavor" text should be italic. Technical information should be monospace. Links should be named.

Contributors

Everybody is free to contribute to otouto. If you are interested, you are invited to fork the repo and start making pull requests. If you have an idea and you are not sure how to implement it, open an issue or bring it up in the Bot Development group.

The creator and maintainer of otouto is topkecleon. He can be contacted via Telegram, Twitter, or email.

There are a a few ways to contribute if you are not a programmer. For one, your feedback is always appreciated. Drop me a line on Telegram or on Twitter. Secondly, we are always looking for new ideas for plugins. Most new plugins start with community input. Feel free to suggest them on Github or in the Bot Dev group. You can also donate Bitcoin to the following address: 1BxegZJ73hPu218UrtiY8druC7LwLr82gS

Contributions are appreciated in any form. Monetary contributions will go toward server costs. Both programmers and donators will be eternally honored (at their discretion) on this page.

Contributors
Juan Potato
Tiago Danin
bb010g
Ender
Iman Daneshi
HeitorPB
Akronix
Ville
dogtopus

Donators
n8
Alex
Brayden Banks