cron

README

Cron Bit

This IRC bot runs a series of pre-determined irc commands on a schedule. It also accepts new commands from trusted users. These users need to be passed to the bot via an env var, and the bot restarted because:

1. The permissions the bot potentially needs (like chanops for setting topics) means the bot could be easily abused
2. Restarting the bot is a conscious decision, and so is less likely to be done accidentally/ through security flaw

These commands are useful for a number of reasons:

1. We can update topics regularly
2. We can send daily messages, like news headlines, or daily calendar updates

Things to consider:

1. Predetermined commands are hardcoded to a file
2. Ephemeral commands (as in: added via irc) are not persisted: they will go away when the bot restarts.
3. Changes/ new commands require the bot to be restarted

Configuration

Configuration comes from the environment:

1. SCHEDULE_TOML - see below; a toml file containing pre-determined commands
2. SASL_USER and SASL_PASSWORD - username/password combo for your IRC server
3. SERVER - IRC server to connect to, in irc://servr:port / ircs://server:port form
4. VERIFY_TLS - whether, on TLS enabled servers, to verify certs; useful for self-signed localhost server
5. TZ - timezone to apply schedules to, in Asia/Seoul / Europe/London form; if empty, loads UTC
6. ALLOW_LIST - comma seperated list of nicks which are allowed to update schedules

Predetermined commands

Consider the file schedule.toml, which is determined by the env var SCHEDULE_TOML

[set-topic]
schedule: "@midnight"
command: "TOPIC"
target: "#my-chan"
args: "Welcome to my channel. The date is {{ .Date }}"