Automate it¶

Great, now you're all ready to go, you have installed pleroma-bot and created a config for your needs. But where's the fun in all of that if you have to run it manually everytime, right?

There a few options for running the bot automatically, you can choose to use whichever is more relevant for you.

Daemon mode¶

pleroma-bot can keep running in the background by launching it in daemon mode:

$ pleroma-bot -d

By default, it will re-run every 60 minutes. You can override this behaviour with --pollrate or -p. This will run it every 15 minutes:

$ pleroma-bot -d -p 15

Systemd service¶

The AUR package will automatically install the systemd service pleroma-bot.service.

If you installed pleroma-bot by other methods, you can manually install it:

The pleroma-bot.service file can be found at the root of the code repository

[Unit]
Description=Stork (pleroma-bot)
Documentation=https://robertoszek.github.io/pleroma-bot
After=network.target

[Service]
Environment=PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
# Uncomment this line if using venv
# ExecStart=/path/to/venv/bin/pleroma-bot -d --config /etc/pleroma-bot/config.yml --log /var/log/pleroma-bot/error.log --skipChecks
ExecStart=pleroma-bot -d --config /etc/pleroma-bot/config.yml --log /var/log/pleroma-bot/error.log --skipChecks

If you're using a virtual environment you may have to edit the service file first

System-levelUser-level

$ sudo cp pleroma-bot.service /etc/systemd/system/pleroma-bot.service
$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo systemctl start pleroma-bot

$ cp pleroma-bot.service ~/.config/systemd/user/pleroma-bot.service
$ systemctl --user daemon-reload
$ systemctl --user start pleroma-bot

Skip first-run checks¶

It's worth noting that you can use the argument --skipChecks, which will ignore all of the first-run checks (e.g. no user folder found, no posts/toots in the target Fediverse account, etc).

Most importantly, if you pass this argument you can rest assured no input will be asked during the run (like the starting date for tweet gathering).

Which makes it perfect for our purposes of running it on a timer with no manual intervention.

$ pleroma-bot --skipChecks

Run on a timer¶

If you prefer not using the daemon mode, you can instead opt to run pleroma-bot on a timer of your choosing.

Cron¶

Fan favourite and well-known. If you have trouble figuring out cron schedule expressions, you can use this site to analyze them.

First, start by editing your current crontab:

$ crontab -e

In our example, we'll add some lines at the end of the crontab, which will:

Post new tweets (every 10 min.)
Update profile info (everyday at 6:15 AM)

Using PyPi Using AUR package Using Git

Feel free to omit "1> /dev/null" Its main use here is to drop any output from the standard output, in case you have configured cron to send you emails if any commands generate output

System-wideVirtual environment

# Post tweets every 10 min
*/10 * * * * pleroma-bot --noProfile --skipChecks -c /path/to/config.yml -l /path/to/error.log 1> /dev/null

# Update pleroma profile with Twitter profile info every day at 6:15 AM
15 6 * * * pleroma-bot --skipChecks -c /path/to/config.yml 1> /dev/null

Note

If you have issues with cron running the bot you may have to specify the absolute path of your Python executable:

*/10 * * * * /usr/bin/python /usr/local/bin/pleroma-bot

# Post tweets every 10 min
*/10 * * * * cd /path/to/your/venv/ && . bin/activate && pleroma-bot --noProfile --skipChecks -c /path/to/config.yml -l /path/to/error.log

# Update pleroma profile with Twitter info every day at 6:15 AM
15 6 * * * cd /path/to/your/venv/ && . bin/activate && pleroma-bot --skipChecks -c /path/to/config.yml -l /path/to/error.log

You can freely omit 1> /dev/null. Its main use here is to drop any output from the standard output, in case you have configured cron to send you emails if any commands generate output

# Post tweets every 10 min
*/10 * * * * pleroma-bot --noProfile --skipChecks -c /path/to/config.yml -l /path/to/error.log

# Update pleroma profile with Twitter info every day at 6:15 AM
15 6 * * * pleroma-bot --skipChecks -c /path/to/config.yml -l /path/to/error.log

You can freely omit 1> /dev/null. Its main use here is to drop any output from the standard output, in case you have configured cron to send you emails if any commands generate output

# Post tweets every 10 min
*/10 * * * * cd /path/to/cloned/repo/ && python3 -m pleroma_bot.cli --noProfile --skipChecks -c /path/to/config.yml -l /path/to/error.log

# Update pleroma profile with Twitter info every day at 6:15 AM
15 6 * * * cd /path/to/cloned/repo/ && python3 -m pleroma_bot.cli --skipChecks -c /path/to/config.yml -l /path/to/error.log

Systemd timers¶

You can achieve the same results with Systemd timers. The choice of which one to use (cron or systemd timers) it's really up to you, basically whichever one fits more your needs.

Create a service file with the following content:

/etc/systemd/system/pleroma-bot@.service

[Unit]
Description=Bot that mirrors Twitter accounts on the Fediverse

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/pleroma-bot --skipChecks -c /path/to/config.yml -l /path/to/error.log %i

Also, create 2 timer files with the following content:

/etc/systemd/system/pleroma-bot-tweets.timer

[Unit]
Description=Run pleroma-bot every 10min

[Timer]
Unit=pleroma-bot@.service
OnCalendar=*:0/10
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

/etc/systemd/system/pleroma-bot-profile.timer

[Unit]
Description=Run pleroma-bot with noProfile at 6:15am

[Timer]
Unit=pleroma-bot@noProfile.service
OnCalendar=*-*-* 6:15:00
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Enable and start the timers:

# systemctl enable pleroma-bot-profile.timer
# systemctl --user start pleroma-bot-profile.timer
# systemctl enable pleroma-bot-tweets.timer
# systemctl --user start pleroma-bot-tweets.timer